Imperfect impersonation
By Serene Ong, channelnewsasia.com | Posted: 16 November 2009 1650 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Theatre production company Zebra Crossing has done a brave thing. It bought the rights to award-winning film and Broadway hit Victor/Victoria, incorporated local artistes in the cast and managed to rope in famed jazz singer Laura Fygi for the first staging of the musical in Asia.

All this, said artistic director Loretta Chen in a Reuters interview, in the name of showcasing that "Asia has talent... and that Asians can make their mark".

Regretfully, as much as this reviewer longs to build a pedestal for the fruit of this worthy ambition, it's undeniable that the show – featuring songs by eminent American composer Henry Mancini and British lyricist Leslie Bricusse – sits uncomfortably on Singapore soil.

The nagging discomfort is sustained by a number of reasons. As a musical extravaganza that earned Julie Andrews a Best Actress Golden Globe and a Tony Award nomination (which she eventually turned down), some in attendance have nurtured expectations of a Broadway-standard revival – assumptions that are promptly pushed aside as soon as the lights are turned down.

For all their technical expertise, the supporting ensemble seem generally devoid of the dynamism and expressiveness required in a musical of this stature. Even though troupers redeem themselves in subsequent jazz jives, the first impression casts a shroud of inadequacy throughout the show.

And perhaps the odd amalgam of accents shares the blame. As a story set in 1930s Paris, this factor is a frequent distraction. Exceptionally grating is the pretentious French one which has an unwitting knack of reducing the show into the likeness of a school production whenever it occurs. A pity, really, especially when the set designs and orchestra are anything but mediocre.

Fygi, commanding attention with her deep, sultry voice, plays down-and-out singer Victoria Grant who is persuaded by gay cabaret performer, Carroll "Toddy" Todd (Matt Grey), to disguise herself as Count Victor Grazinski for a shot at fame as an expert female impersonator. She succeeds, but things get complicated when a Chicago mobster (Jake Macapagal) falls in love with "him".

The easy chemistry between Fygi and Grey runs on pleasantly enough, but the show hardly leaps into the realm of a jaunty, sweet romance – between Fygi and Macapagal, that is – as a lumbering pace settles in the second Act.

Even perky, light moments in the show are debatable. Short and Sweet Festival director Nicole Stinton's ditzy turn as a gangster's moll may be considered one of the most spirited performances by a musical comedian, but it can certainly rankle the nerves of some at the same time.

On a not-so-charitable note, the production bears the unfortunate weight of "impersonating" a world-class act. For all its good intention, Zebra Crossing is likely to find a more agreeable audience for works that have not hit a worldwide high note.


- CNA/so