President’s Star Charity 2016 to pay tribute to S R Nathan

SINGAPORE — This year’s President’s Star Charity will have several highlights, including a special tribute item to S R Nathan and a solo dance item performed by Zoe Tay.

The theme for 2016’s show is “Just Like You”. Explained Lum Wai Loon, senior producer, Mediacorp Studios: “The theme encapsulates the fact that we wanted to send across the message that every one of us has a role to play and everyone, whether you have a special need or not, can contribute to charity.”

The charity show, now in its 17th year, will be hosted by Chua Enlai and Glenda Chong. It is part of the annual President’s Challenge, which has 58 beneficiaries this year.

It will also feature Singapore’s former President, the late S R Nathan, in a special way. “S R Nathan passed on quite recently, and we thought it would be most appropriate for the President’s Star Charity to pay tribute to him,” said Lum, recalling that Mr Nathan was part of many past performances. “To commemorate him, we would like to reprise the act he did in 2007 – he recited the Desiderata with a school choir as backup singers. We have pulled up the footage, and redone the music with Taufik Batisah performing the singing portion.”

In addition, said Lum, “Tony Tan will appear together with Mrs Tan in a video. He will interview six-year-old kids. There are some precocious kids who say some of the darndest things to our President, so it’s going to be very funny and endearing to watch.”

Another segment will see Zoe Tay embodying a peacock through Chinese dance. “I have to work very hard on the expressions and the body movements, to have the feel and spirit of a peacock. Peacocks are supposed to be very sharp and elegant,” she explained. “It’s very interesting and very challenging for me. When I was a girl, I would go to the disco and dance, but I haven’t been dancing for a long time. After my first lesson, every part of me ached for many days. I have to wear long nails and my hand were cramped up.”

Despite the hard work, the actress said it was rehearsing for such a meaningful performance has been “very satisfying”. She added: “If I can conquer it, I think it’ll be pretty awesome.”

Other acts this year will include the cast members of Broadway musical Wicked performing the song Defying Gravity; Taiwanese star Chyi Yu giving a rendition of her 1979 hit The Olive Tree; song numbers by Tanya Chua and Sezairi Sezali; Rebecca Lim playing the piano; and celebrities including Tay Ping Hui, Kym Ng and Udaya Soundari dancing and singing along with the ITE Show Choir.

Catch the President’s Star Charity 2016 on Oct 23 at 7.30pm, live on Mediacorp TV Channel 5 and simulcast on Toggle.