This is not a review, it’s a heads up. My Friday night was spent in Indicine, KLPac, watching the musical workshop performance for The Edge, an upcoming musical written by Nick Choo, directed by Chris Ling.

Six people’s lives are turned upside-down when someone near and dear to them decides to take the plunge — off the ledge of a building. Suddenly the mother, brother, girlfriend and three close friends are forced to reexamine their individual histories with the boy, in the process learning things both startling and redeeming about themselves and one another — about family and friends, love and betrayal.

THE EDGE is a musical that explores the complex relationships between these six persons and a young man moved to the point of despair.

Please note that this is a workshop performance in KLPac’s IndiCine. The full production is slated for 2009 in KLPac’s Pentas 2.

Written by: Nick Choo
Directed by: Chris Ling
Featuring: Ho Soon Yoon, Samuel Tseu, Michael Chen, Zalina Lee, Janet Lee & Sheryl Chong.

24 – 26 July @ 8.30pm / 27 July @ 3pm
Entrance by minimum donation of RM10
IndiCine, Level 2, KLPac

There are no clear heroes or villains in this musical, which I liked. Just a group of interconnected people, flaws gaping wide,  making mistakes and cooking up the pressure that leads to a man standing on the edge, willing to let it all go.

Video preview of a rehearsal session here (other videos are available on Youtube, you just have to look)

Watching it in Indicine was kinda cool especially with the monologues, when each character sang while a spotlight cast a long, dark shadow across the room. Almost like being left to deal with your darker side which has been made visible.

This being a workshop to get feedback, the musical is not complete yet, but the large, shiny potential is there. The cast/ crew is doing a good job so far, and I’ve seen enough to be so very hopeful on how this will turn out. The voices – holy hell, I teared at some of the scenes (as discreetly as I could, anyway).

Sometimes the characters border upon caricaturing themselves – for those familiar with Avenue Q (“the internet is really really great, for porn:), where Bert and Ernie of Sesame Street have their latent homosexual relationship heavily paradied, you’ll probably find some similarities between Rod (the repressed gay man) and one of the characters in The Edge (though he does get more human later).

Or perhaps there is a stereotype for portraying bitchy gay men that everyone understands – one of our more modern archetypes. Or, I have a nasty habit of lumping things together under one broad generalisation. Hmm.

[ Gratuitous link to Avenue Q performance of "If you were gay" ]

To me, the one person who seemed the most complex was the one who never appeared in it. The musical effectively paints a murky picture of the enigmatic man . 6 people from around him start to narrate how their relationships worked, and I can see so many things about him, but more I didn’t understand. Did he really have nowhere else to go?

I have more questions, but none I want to state here (and give away the plot).

(cast l-r: Samuel Tseu, Janet Lee, Sheryl Chong, Michael Chen, Ho Soon Yoon, Zalina Lee)

I’m mentioning The Edge here because for those seeking theatre with queer characters, this is one of them. Yes, this post is here just to say – there is a gay character coming out in a Malaysian musical (not the first genderqueer one though, mind).

You have only till Sunday 3pm to catch this – sorry for the very late update. Otherwise, keep a look out for The Edge, and wait for the full production (tentatively scheduled for February 2009).

The Edge @ KLPac

The Edge @ Facebook

All photos stolen from the Facebook group, because the flyer doesn’t do it for me. Credit for photos go to owners.