“人与剧的青春期”

Reviewer: Zekson Tan | 陈迦笙
Performance: 2 March 2017

幽默和诙谐一向来是 Dream Academy 擅长的元素，这一次的原创音乐剧《Detention Katong》也不例外。戏里妙趣横生的对白，搭配着原创的歌曲及编舞，让观众在欢笑声中再次去经历那充满着欢愉和矛盾的青春校园时光。从同学之间的互动与相处以及师长凭成绩对学生先入为主的偏见，到家长与孩子之间的沟通和社交媒体所带来的各种现象和霸凌等等，这部音乐剧除了以风趣的对白大胆的反讽本地的教育制度和现象，也精准的捕捉了处于青春期的学生们所面对的种种问题。

然而当戏里的角色们演绎着青春时期的懵懂、碰撞及矛盾的同时，《Detention Katong》也不禁让人觉得像是一部正在经历着“青春期”的音乐剧一样，充斥着绚丽、创新与精彩等元素，但是却与成熟和完整还有一段距离。就像青春期的学生们只差岁月的磨练一样，《Detention Katong》这部音乐剧欠缺了一个能够妥善兼顾和处理主次之分的情节编排和比重。

《Detention Katong》看似是以中学校园现象和问题为主轴，但随着剧情的推进，却又渐渐的把故事的焦距挪移到了家长和孩子之间的沟通问题上。然而在这过程中，却还是继续的把时间和戏份分给了其他的情节，像是交代老师们的背景及之间的互动和情愫、充满着幽默和反讽的家长日和体育课等等。虽然这些环节都为《Detention Katong 》增色不少，但是却让整部音乐剧的焦点也跟着模糊起来。尤其这些情节是由Sebastian Tan及Suhaimi Yusof 等一票拥有深厚实力的资深音乐剧和喜剧演员担纲演出，给予观众的印象和冲击力度更是深刻。以至于在回顾整场音乐剧的时候，反而是这些精彩的环节让人留下深刻的记忆，而让人多少忽略甚至是遗忘了由那群年轻演员饰演的学生所带出来的故事和互动才是这部音乐剧的主轴，让整部音乐剧显得有点主次不明。

《Detention Katong》整体上来说其实质量并不差，也维持着Dream Academy一贯优良的喜剧元素，让观众能够在笑声中去体验整部戏。另外难能可贵的是，这部音乐剧也看见了一批实力不俗且充满潜力的本地新生代音乐剧演员的出现。但是剧情主次不明的缺陷，却让整部音乐剧的水准只停留在类似于人的“青春期”一样，拥有着许多不错和美好的部分，但就是欠缺了至关重要的一个元素。身处青春期的人们缺少的，是岁月的历练和成长；而《Detention Katong》欠缺的，就是那游走于故事主次之间的轻重和拿捏。

“Prepare to be detained.”

Reviewer: Jocelyn Chng
Performance: 18 February 2017

2017 has somehow been designated a year of musicals – the local theatre calendar this year is marked with a slew of nine musicals, and Detention Katong is first off the block.

Let’s start with the positives – the biggest strength of this musical is its cast. While previous musicals staged by local companies have tended to suffer from uneven casting, the cast of Detention Katong is rather consistent in terms of technical ability. Most of the cast is adept at pulling off the oft-mentioned triple threat skills required of a musical theatre performer: singing, dancing and acting. It is heartening that the scene is slowly stepping up to the demands of musical theatre with an increasing numbers of young performers trained in this genre.

The other nice thing is the set by Denise Low and Melissa Ho. Simple and functional, it quite niftily demonstrates that it is possible to put up a good show without the elaborate, expensive sets so often associated with big budget musicals.

As with every school report card, there is always room for improvement. Firstly, the material has potential – the gist of the story is that people are not always what they seem, which can conceivably provide good fodder for the twists and turns of a musical plot. Unfortunately the book takes too many twists down unrelated side alleys, making for a rather confusing ride.

Secondly, not all the musical numbers are well incorporated. Some feel like tokenistic inclusions, such as “Discipline Mistress’ Lament,” which awkwardly references S&M, and Mr Saw, the school counsellor’s “Early Daze,” which does little to further the plot and unexplainably incorporates psychedelic multimedia projections. There is also a ballet-parody number lampooning the system of balloting for entry to Primary school, which at best vaguely relates to the Secondary school context of the musical.

Some of the scenes with singing, dancing schoolgirls and teachers is reminiscent of Spring Awakening, especially when Amanda, our deceptively goody two-shoes leading lady, belts out the word “Mama” close to the beginning of the musical. But there are memorable numbers, like “Eyes Closed,” also sung by Amanda.

However, by the end of the performance, I cannot help but feel more like I have attended a work-in-progress showing than a finished musical.

There is a reason why most of the big famous Broadway musicals take years and years of workshopping off-Broadway, with trials in different cities, before making it to Broadway. Now that we have made some headway in developing musical theatre talent in Singapore, perhaps it is also time to re-look and reflect on the creative process in order to develop stronger musicals that we can call our own.