Character building in The LKY Musical

SINGAPORE — The LKY Musical is arguably the highlight theatre production for the next few weeks. But before it opens, here’s a refresher course on who you can expect to see onstage — and some of the stories behind the actors’ take on them.

LEE KUAN YEW (played by Adrian Pang)

In a musical about Lee Kuan Yew, there’s obviously no tougher role to play than the man himself. But Adrian Pang says he feels no pressure — because he knows he’s not going to please everyone.

“The very prospect of this production has elicited a lot of different opinions. Some people think, ‘Oh my god, it’s the best idea in the world’ and some think it’s the worst idea in the world. I think I’ve just been very conscious that, entering into this enterprise, you’re not gonna please everyone. In fact, chances are, you’re probably gonna step on somebody’s toe any way you turn! And in a strange kind of way, knowing that has lifted any kind of pressure off me,” he quipped, adding that at the very least, he hopes it’ll be taken as “good entertainment”.

How did he get into his very important character’s head? Via the very important woman in his life. “One thing that has stood out to me has been the relationship between Mr and Mrs Lee. Mrs Lee was a very private person, but you could tell she was the anchor in his life. The very public man was able to go home at the end of the day, after fighting his fights, and this one person was always gonna be there for him — and she never made a song and dance about that.”

KWA GEOK CHOO (played by Sharon Au)

It’s been a long time since Sharon Au took to the stage and here she is, playing the only female character in a musical — and it’s Mrs Lee Kuan Yew. “I’m excited but I think I’m getting some sort of anxiety attack,” joked Au, who was last seen on stage in the Mandarin show Happy Ghost in 2003.

She’s taking it seriously, of course — and even went into the whole “method acting” mode preparing for her role, such as slowing down and changing her speech patterns. “I will always think a little bit more before words come out of my mouth, which has never been my style,” she elaborated.

Au said she also got all “maternal” with the cast and Adrian, adding that it was important to try to recreate the close chemistry between the Lees. “If you see the show, they are not very affectionate physically but there’s just some form of magic between the two. So I spent a lot of time with him so that we could feel comfortable in each other’s presence; and people have been giving us feedback that a genuine passion for each other has been showing.”

LIM CHIN SIONG (played by Benjamin Chow)

Perhaps the most curious presence in the musical is the character of Lee’s erstwhile political partner-turned-rival, Lim Chin Siong. And one of the things young actor Benjamin Chow did to get into his character was read the biography Comet In Our Sky.

“I feel like, as an actor and a Singaporean, I’ve been given something very precious and I have to be very careful about in portraying him,” said Chow. “To be detained without trial three times — my goodness, what a life!”

What makes him an exciting character to play? “I feel I can relate to him on quite a number of levels: He’s such a passionate individual and that, I suppose, is where the charm is. I do relate to his fury, because I’m sure we’ve all been in a situation where we’ve witnessed what we perceive to be an injustice of some kind. That sort of anger is quite exciting to play as a character.”

Of course, there were some hiccups along the way. “(Lim) is a flawless Hokkien speaker and I clearly like my English,” quipped Chow. “But I’ve a wonderful mentor in Sebastian (Tan), who speaks fluent Hokkien. Offstage, during rehearsals, I’ll go: ‘Okay, so how do I say ‘hello, everybody?’”

KOH TEONG KOO (played by Sebastian Tan)

He’s the least-known character in the musical but the rickshaw puller Koh Teong Koo played a pivotal role in Singapore history, reckoned Sebastian Tan. “He actually saved Lee Kuan Yew’s life during the Japanese Occupation so in a way, he changed history. Without him, there might not be a Lee Kuan Yew — Singapore’s history might have been different,” said Tan.

He added: “But I think, most importantly, he represents the everyday man. He is the only non-political character, a good cushion to the otherwise heavily political characters we have in the story.”

Except for the odd newspaper article, and the fact that his family is now in Hong Kong, not much is known about Koh, said Tan, who added his personal stamp in bringing the character to life. “It gave me more liberties to create the character as I saw him. Hopefully, I’ve created one that the audience will like.”