Watched a chinese musical (my first, actually) with some of my colleagues over the weekend. It's called "天冷就回来".
I didnt really know what to expect of it at first, cos all i knew was that it featured many of 梁文福's songs, many of which I really loved back in the 80s and 90s. They belong to a unique classification of songs which we call 新谣, which refers to 新加坡创作歌谣, which literally means "songs created by Singaporeans".
I remember, back in my Secondary school days, we grew up listening to these wonderful songs written by a group of spirited and enthusiastic young (at that time lah!) Singapore singers who formed the backbone of the 新谣 movement. Names like 梁文福, 巫启贤, 黎沸辉, 洪邵轩 were like household names to all the youngsters then, who listened to 新谣. Many of the songs still bring back fond memories of the old'o days... Ahhh.. How time flies...
Anyway, back to the musical.
I kinda enjoyed the whole experience, given that almost all the songs they sang were familiar tunes. The story-line was fairly interesting as well - it depicts the struggles and love-life of a young Singaporean 阿乐 , who lost his fiancee(?)小静to an illness, and subsequently left Singapore to pursue his dreams in the US. There, he met up with a bunch of fellow Singaporeans who had similarly migrated to the States in search of their dreams, and they became close friends, in particular, with 阿强and Rose.
Not unexpectedly, Rose and 阿乐fell for each other, and there's the usual "i love you, i love you not" dilemma involved. And rather surprisingly, the script included a gay relationship, protrayed by 阿强and his ex-lover 俊强, which made the musical a little weird at times, especially when the 2 male actors belt out mushy love songs expressing the love they once shared and then lost. I think some members of the audience even felt tickled by this turn of events, and the occasional giggles were heard in the Drama centre at various points in the show.
But some songs were performed very well. I particularly liked songs like 如果你不小心想起我， 恋之憩，and surprisingly, even 新加坡派. This last song used to irk me everytime i listened to it in the past, but I guess hearing a large group sing in, especially in the context of them missing their hometown, brings the song to life once more, and made it that much more palatable and meaningful.
All in all, i have to say it was a very good experience, relieving the songs which accompanied many of us through our teens and growing pains. It really felt like a blast from the past, for that 2+ hours we spent in the theatre.
