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Theatre review: Saturday Night Fever The Musical

SINGAPORE — It was a film like no other. It introduced disco to the world. It turned a TV actor into a global superstar. It made dancing in white three-piece suits and twirling dresses hip. And, most importantly, it revolutionised the music world with the electrifying catchy harmonies of the Bee Gees. Yes, it’s Saturday Night Fever, which was transformed into a live stage musical that’s currently playing at the MasterCard Theatre at Marina Bay Sands.

It was a night of reliving the disco era with Saturday Night Fever The Musical.

It was a night of reliving the disco era with Saturday Night Fever The Musical.

SINGAPORE — It was a film like no other. It introduced disco to the world. It turned a TV actor into a global superstar. It made dancing in white three-piece suits and twirling dresses hip. And, most importantly, it revolutionised the music world with the electrifying catchy harmonies of the Bee Gees. Yes, it’s Saturday Night Fever, which was transformed into a live stage musical that’s currently playing at the MasterCard Theatre at Marina Bay Sands.

And if you are a fan of the ground-breaking 1977 film, you will enjoy the stage musical version. Saturday Night Fever The Musical is almost a frame-for-frame adaptation of the film. It tells the story of young Italian-American Tony Manero who turns to dancing every weekend at his local club in Brooklyn to escape the tantrums of his dysfunctional family.

With a string of hits from the movie soundtrack such as Stayin’ Alive, Night Fever, Disco Inferno and More Than A Woman — plus a few Bee Gees extras including Tragedy and Jive Talkin’ — the coming-of-age story comes alive on stage through the energetic performances of Broadway actor Brandon Rubendall (as Manero) and the largely Filipino ensemble.

Rubendall — from the moment he strutted on stage with Stayin’ Alive — proved that not only could he sing the Bee Gees’ earworms effortlessly, he could also dance up a storm; especially during You Should Be Dancin’, one of the many exhilarating dance segments in Act 1 and which is worth the ticket price alone.

It also helped that the tall, lanky actor is head and shoulders above the rest of the cast with an impressive sculpted physique, which he showed off in a literally “brief” moment during one scene to many wolf-calls from the audience.

Rubendall is also well supported by the actresses who play the main women in Tony’s life: Fellow New Yorker Jenny Rubali who, as Tony’s dance partner Stephanie Mangano, could more than hold her own when treading the boards, while Filipino Mikkie Bradshaw almost stole the show as Annette, the girl who has a huge crush on Tony. She also delivered a stirring, power ballad rendition of Yvonne Elliman’s If I Can’t Have You.

It was also good to see that the musical did not shy away from the movie’s darker themes, such as pre-marital pregnancy, gang violence and racism. However, dialogue is not the musical’s strongest suit. In Act 2, where there are more dramatic moments, scenes such as where Tony roughs up Stephanie after the dance finals and when he tries to talk his pal Joey out of jumping off a bridge can be rather baffling to those who have never seen the film as key lines were not well-delivered.

Thankfully, the musical sequences, as well as the seamless set changes, more than lift up the three-hour show. Though it ended rather lamely with the mushy How Deep Is Your Love, the cast made up for it with a pulsating curtain call as they dived into a Saturday Night Fever Megamix, with Rubendall demanding the audience to get up and dance. Many of us did. And why not? When you’ve got the Night Fever, baby, you know how to show it. Marguerita Tan

Saturday Night Fever The Musical runs at the MasterCard Theatre @ Marina Bay Sands till Oct 4. Tickets from S$95 to S$175 are available from Sistic.

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