Getting started with Broadway in Sing'Theatre

The first thing I said to my friends on Discord as soon as I left the studio on Tuesday was, "This is some conservatory shit." As much as I was not prepared for how intense it would be, musical theatre class was incredibly fun and an absolute career booster for any young actor.

I wandered into the old dilapidated building, glancing at the directory to make sure I was at the right place. Apart the occasional pedestrian crossing over to the MRT entrance on the other side, Tan Quee Lan Street was a ghost town - presumably because of the Bugis Junction cluster next door which had deterred crowds from the surrounding area. Suddenly conscious of the viral threat, I snatched my hands away from the handrails of the lift. The lift doors opened.

I was in a shady, dim-lit corridor with not a single speck of sunlight in sight. I was pessimistically assessing my chances of being mugged when I saw it - "Sing'Theatre / Please ring on the doorbell for assistance." A lady greeted me at the door and I was brought to a holding room. On the white wall in front of me were press shots of the latest Showstoppers production, which were illuminated by overhanging stage lights. I checked out the autographed poster and caught a couple of familiar names and faces - Tiara Yap from SGAG, LASALLE-trained actress Su Paing Tun and so on.

A couple of vocal trills and sirens wafted out of the studio and into the corridor. Moments later, a cheerful-looking Vanessa Kee emerged from one of the rooms. She explained that the adult Stage Door class was held at the studio at the very end of the shady corridor, which was surprisingly bright, not at all shady, and had actual windows overlooking Bugis district. No matter what, I was happy to finally be back in the training game again.

At 7.30PM sharp, the participants for the day had arrived, and we began with acting warmups and theatre games. I had been out of action for a while and I was slightly rusty, but I came into this class armed with a fair bit of prior training and a bit of athletic stamina and flexibility which I have been working on for the last few months. I conquered the warmups fairly easily, which I considered a win.

Well, I thought I was in the clear. Let that be a lesson to myself not to count my chickens before they hatch.

Vanessa was happy to announce that due to the reopening of Broadway in America, musical theatre show licenser Music Theatre International was hosting a global event which allowed theatres across the world to stage a fundraiser using classic Broadway songs for free, courtesy of the various organizers and sponsors. It meant that our non-audition beginner level class was up for some insane choreography and memorization work as we jumped straight into rehearsals for the show - in our instructor's words, this semester we will operate at the same intensity as the Showstoppers class, the one I was admiring on the wall only moments earlier.

I was led through the dance segment of an entire song on day one, lesson one. The class gave us absolutely no chances and I was wildly struggling to match the incredible pace of the choreography of (deep breath) Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins. And that's with 5 years of childhood ballet experience and plenty of effort trying to get back to my peak. Granted, I was never an adept mover, but I'm hopeful that with plenty of practice, I would get used to the intensity that musical theatre demands from those who dare to try it.

A real performance opportunity and actual credits in my resume had somehow arrived in front of me. It was the best possible chance to get started, and I'm only too happy to seize it. I'm ready to give my all in the next eleven weeks and eventually get into the audition-only classes. While I have no idea how the next 4 years would go, I know that I'm one step closer to New York City.

Now I can sleep at night.