Sharon Au to play Mrs Lee Kuan Yew opposite Adrian Pang in The LKY Musical

SINGAPORE — The main roles for the highly anticipated The LKY Musical were announced today (April 13). Actress Ms Sharon Au will be playing the role of Mrs Lee Kuan Yew opposite Mr Adrian Pang, who had previously been announced as the musical’s lead, playing the titular role of founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Young actor Benjamin Chow will play the role of opposition politician and Mr Lee’s rival, Mr Lim Chin Siong, while Broadway Beng actor Mr Sebastian Tan will act as Mr Koh Teong Koo, a rickshaw puller who had saved Mr Lee’s life during the Japanese Occupation in World War II.

The musical, which spans the story of Mr Lee from his early days at Raffles College to the founding of independent Singapore, will open on July 24 at MasterCard Theatre, Marina Bay Sands. It is expected to run for three to four weeks and will have a total cast of between 20 to 30 people.

Ms Au described playing Mdm Kwa Geok Choo as “the role of a lifetime”. “Every actor would love to embrace the role of Mrs Lee. She was — and is — the perfect Asian wife and woman,” she said.

For Mr Pang, playing Mr Lee will be a “mammoth undertaking”. “He is such an iconic man (who is) shrouded in myth and legend,” he said, adding that he plans to “deconstruct this in a way to show the man behind the myth. To capture his life against the backdrop of a very, very young Singapore was a very intriguing prospect.”

As for the other main characters, Mr Chow said stepping into the shoes of Lim Chin Siong was “very daunting”. “He is a compelling character, an influential and controversial figure in history but largely invisible in the national narrative. He’s deliciously mysterious (for an actor to play),” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Tan’s character, Koh Teong Koo, is set to represent the “everyman” in the production. “It’s a little known fact that he saved Lee Kuan Yew’s life (during World War II). He’s also the only person who’s not political. Maybe I’ll do a Broadway Beng segment in the middle of it,” he good-naturedly quipped.

The manner in which to approach the musical’s topic was something its creators grappled with.

Mr Tan Choon Hiong, director of Metropolitan Productions, which produced the musical, recalled how people had asked him if he was sure he wanted to proceed with a musical on Mr Lee. But he is confident the “mega-million dollar project”, which has been three years in the making, will be a fitting tribute and “a production that will make Singaporeans proud.”

He added that Mr Lee’s early years tells “a very dramatic story and is the most appropriate one to be featured in a musical”.

Composer Mr Dick Lee, who will provide the music, said he had to think of an appropriate approach to it. “Was it going to be LKY Cha-cha-cha?” he said, referring to the catchy line from one of his earliest popular musicals, Beauty World. “(But) I couldn’t see a fun production where he’s dancing in a rally.”

Instead, he described the story during those early years as somewhat like a “thriller”. “The things he went through before 1965 was a roller coaster ride with so much intrigue and danger,” he said, adding that he then approached it as a “chamber musical”.

In charge of crafting the story was acclaimed novelist Ms Meira Chand, who is writing for the stage for the first time.

While she did not exactly come in from the cold — her famous book A Different Sky was set in pre-independence Singapore — there were some difficulties, including fleshing out the love story between Mr and Mrs Lee, given their private nature.

She and the team had looked at all available materials, including non-fiction books, archives and documents. “We can interpret materials in the public domain but we have no right to make things up,” said Ms Chand, who added that there were two strong themes that had surfaced: The idea of “right against might”, citing the fight of Mr Lee and his peers against colonialism and communism, and “making the impossible possible”. “We forget how young Lee Kuan Yew and his friends were and how they had nothing but passion and ideals,” she said, adding how Mr Lee’s recent death “crystalised the essence of the era we’re talking about”.

The organisers pointed out that because the musical takes place during the early years, there were no changes given the recent circumstances. But Mr Pang also noted how Mr Lee’s passing has given the production “added significance and poignancy”.

Mr Lee added: “If you take away the political context, it’s a story of a man and his dream. If anything, his passing has made it more significant.”

Rounding up the collaborators for The LKY Musical are the musical’s director Steven Dexter, lyricist Stephen Clark and scriptwriter Tony Petito.

The LKY Musical will not be the only show featuring the character of Mr Lee this year. Actor Lim Kay Tong is also set to play him in the upcoming movie 1965.

(The LKY Musical opens on July 24 at MasterCard Theatres, Marina Bay Sands. Tickets from SISTIC.)