Monday August 28, 2006
A slice of nostalgia
By SARAS M. MANICKAM
Picture this: a story of friendship and family that is sown with seeds of estrangement right from the very beginning. Throw in a setting of old Ipoh town back in the good old days; blend with two dozen songs and you have Broken Bridges, a musical that sweeps the audience upon a nostalgic wave.
The musical opens entertainingly and quickly gets the story in motion. Ming and Leong are childhood friends whose fathers own a coffee shop and a fruit store respectively. Leong is content to stay home and continue with the business. It is Ming who wants to chart his own destiny beyond the narrow confines of Ipoh – what he wants to do, he does not know, except that it has nothing to do with the coffee shop or with Ipoh. Thus the stage is set for estrangement with father, friend and town.
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A colourful scene from the musical Broken Bridges. |
Is there the tiniest bit of remorse in Ming? Not really, just a whine about how little his father understood him. As an ending, it was deeply unsatisfactory.
The storyline of Broken Bridges had too many unanswered questions. Whatever happened to soppy Siew Yee? One wonders why a self-assured and opinionated girl like Mei Ling succumbs to suicide.
In the case of Ming and his father, they don’t meet for 10 years, then they meet, and then Ming does his disappearing act.
Nevertheless, discounting these gaps, the play holds one’s attention from beginning to end, reflecting Joe Hasham’s deft control. The characterisation of small town people was spot on.
Broken Bridges had a marvellous energy that captured the warmth of a small town while the ensemble of dancers had an infectious exuberance. Most of the actors moved easily in their roles. The beggar lady (Fang Chyi) with the incredible voice unfortunately had only a bit role. Wong (Colin Kirton), Ming’s father, Chan (Monti), and Leong (Ho Soon Yoon), his son, had wonderful singing voices which Ming (Douglas Lim) sometimes struggled to match them.
Kirton’s Wong revealed a man who loved his son and was proud of him but was unable to reach out to him. His stage presence overshadowed the weaker Ming and other supplementary characters. His was perhaps the most unforgettable role in the play; his lines the most memorable: “I live in you, Ming. You have my eyes but not my heart.” Lines that many parents will surely echo.
Broken Bridges is one local homegrown musical that is definitely worth watching.
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