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Heathers the Musical Live in Hong Kong

Welcome to Westerberg High, where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather. It’s going to take a Veronica and a mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count and reveal that everyone fears being a nobody, but it’s murder being a somebody…

In 2010, Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy turned the iconic 1988 movie Heathers, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, into a musical – Heathers the Musical. And as illogical as it sounds mostly it works, there’s even a film version.

To celebrate their 10th Anniversary local music school Amusix is bringing Heathers the Musical live to Hong Kong on the 13-14 May at The Box, Freespace in West Kowloon. Director Joul Jacquin spoke to bc magazine about his new production.

What attracted you to put on Heather’s the Musical in Hong Kong?
I’m not a big fan of musicals. I thought that Grease was my only favorite. But the soundtrack of Heathers is wonderful. As a music school for over 10 years, we’ve done many types of performances from bar shows to big venues, to touring around Asia. A bigger project was the next step to celebrate 10 years of the school. The major thing about this show is that the music is played live by the students of Amusix, in a rock band formation.

Have you made any ‘local’ changes to make the show more relevant?
Not really, the talented cast is very eclectic due to HK’s multicultural society.

The film the musical is based on is quite old, do you think it still resonates with a very changed modern youth who exist on social media?
We’ve made a few changes to make it modern, but otherwise, the problems are still the same: ‘popular’ girls, bullies, anorexia, and people who don’t even know you exist. The High School Society.

What were you looking for when casting?
Characters that match at best the role and are ready to spend 6 months on a project. And I think we did pretty well on that. I love this cast. They know what compromise for each other. means.

Can you introduce yourself and Amusix to our readers?
I have been a gweilo in HK for +17 years now. As BC magazine readers know, I was the frontman of a band called Dr. Eggs till it was over my head and I chose to spend more time on productions with young artists at Amusix. We are not only coaching music but we are producing some of them. Let’s say I’m sharing my experience from the past with them. They are fresh. They want to go. They want to play.

What do you hope the audience can draw from the show?
Heathers remind you how important decisions you take are important for your life. Be kind to your friends and also to your enemies. This is a micro-society. Be good for everyone. Be sunshine. it will always pay.

Heathers the Musical
Date: 13-14 May 2023
Venue: The Box, Freespace, West Kowloon Cultural District
Tickets: $450, $280 from Amusix

Bon Appétit! – Macau Fringe Festival

Entitled A Feast of Creativity! Bon Appétit! and adopting the concept “All around the city, our stages, our patrons, our artists”, the 16th Macau Fringe Festival looks to offer an arts banquet for an entire city.

2017’s banquet includes a hairdresser’s salon turned into a musical. A recreation of an entertainment house at Beco da Felicidade and a funeral at the Ruins of St. Paul’s in the middle of the night. Organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, The Macau Fringe Festival runs from 13 to 22 January 2017 and features 23 programmes at multiple venues.

Zuò Zuò Tea House reveals the solitude and secrets of Rua da Felicidade by combining elements of dance and music and digging into the history of Macau’s red-light district. Mobile Kitchen invites people from the cultural field to take the role of chefs and share their cuisine, whether refined or homely, and encourage the public to savour the flavour of life.

In Antiwords, produced by Czech Republic Spitfire Company, two actresses drink beer after beer, bragging and arguing in an explosive mix of nonsensical humour and imagination. Circolando’s Night which debuts on the first day of the Festival features a trio of men who through their intensely physical and emotional expression ask questions of language and aesthetics.

In Good Hands, by Catherine Ireton, is a live musical set in a hairdressing salon about secrets and trust. The Magnificent 4 uses the human body as an instrument and a choreography that makes use of the legs and hand-clapping in creating a unique tempo.

In 5 Women, Dutch choreographer Kevin Pollak joins hands with five dancers at a birthday party set in a café where, through dance and movement, secrets that cannot be shared emerge. The Smooth Life is a puppet show set to Arabian music that tells the true story of the life of the director Husam Abed in a Palestinian refugee camp.

Funeral for the Living, directed by Daisuke Sagawa and performed by Japanese company Theatre Moments, debates issues of life and death. While The Other Side of the Sacred produced by Macao choreographer Candy Kuok in cooperation with Nina Dipla takes the audience on a journey that mixes dance, poetry and music.

In Weaving Landscape: Night Tide, the Associação de Arte e Cultura – Comuna de Pedra use different materials as a medium of creativity, making use of body language and installation art to explore the relationship between body, fabrics and all living things.

There’s also a range of extended programmes including Thematic talks: Foreign Theatre – Body, Memory and Labour and Fringe Reviews 2017, where artists and performing groups in different fields will share their creation experiences. For the full programme see www.macaucityfringe.gov.mo, tickets are on sale now from Macauticket.

Macau Fringe Festival
Date: 13-22 January 2017
Venue: various
Tickets: MacauTicket
More info: www.macaucityfringe.gov.mo

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: 10-12 June 2016

A fantastic musical adventure about an out-of-this-world car that flies through the air and sails the seas. Face Productions’ summer show Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the musical, based on the 1968 film version of Ian Fleming’s children’s book, and featuring an unforgettable score by the Sherman Brothers (Mary Poppins) is one adventure that audiences will find Truly Scrumptious.

An eccentric inventor, Caractacus Potts finds an old race car on a scrap heap and sets about restoring it with the help of his children Jeremy and Jemima. They soon discover the car has magical properties including the ability to float and fly. Trouble occurs when the evil Baron Bomburst desires the magic car for himself. The family joins forces with Truly Scrumptious and Grandpa Potts to outwit the dastardly Baron and Baroness and their villainous henchman, the Child Catcher in the mysterious land of Vulgaria.

Filled with unforgettable songs, including the Academy Award nominated title song, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a high-flying fun-filled adventure that first opened in London’s West End in 2002 and was the longest-ever running show at the London Palladium. The Face Productions show is directed by Candice Caalsen, who headed last year’s award-winning Legally Blonde.

In addition to the full version, Face Academy offers an abridged interpretation to showcase younger performing arts talents in Hong Kong.

Cast
Caractacus Pott – Samuel J Craig
Jenny Potts – Charlotte Blyth
Jemima Potts – Jorja Townson
Grandpa Potts – Terry Hart
Truly Scrumptious – Michelle Edwards
Lord Scrumptious /Baron Bomburst – Angus Scott
Baroness Bomburst – Moe Moss
Toymaker /Ensemble – Kirill Voloshin
The Childcatcher /Ensemble – Barry O’Rouke
Boris – Conor O’Grady
Goran – Jade Elizabeth du Toit

Production Team
Director: Candice Caalsen
Assistant Director: Conor O’Grady
Choreographer: Claire Johnson
Musical Director: Enrico Narvaez
Vocal Director:Jessica Peralta
Producer: Kenix Ho

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Date: 10-12 June, 2016
Venue: HKAPA, Drama Theatre
Tickets: $395 from HKTicketing
More info:
10-12 June – 7:30pm
12 June – 3pm

By Face Academy
11-12 June – 11am
11 June 3pm
$275

Into the Woods

Into-the-Woods-poster

Stephen Sondheim’s epic musical Into the Woods brings together many of the Grimm brothers’ best known fairytales including Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and Little Red Riding Hood. Framed by a moving story about a childless couple who long to have a family of their own. With a challenging and captivating score, dark comedy and physical theatre, Face Productions brings an exciting new edge to this classic Broadway and West End musical.

When the baker and his wife are cursed to be childless by the witch from next door, the only way to break her spell is to venture into the woods to find four mysterious ingredients. With a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold, they must create a potion to appease the Witch and restore her former beauty. On their way, they cross paths with familiar characters: each with a wish of their own. Who will make it out of the woods alive? And will we find truth in the old adage of happily ever after?

Into the Woods opened on Broadway in November 1987 to massive critical acclaim winning several Tony Awards, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical. While Disney’s 2014 film adaptation, directed by Rob Marshall and featuring an all-star cast including Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Anna Kendrick, earned US$212 million worldwide, as well as three Academy Award nominations and three Golden Globe nominations.

Into-the-Woods

Face Productions – whose recent productions include Hairspray (2013), Footloose (2014), and Legally Blonde (2015) – revival has Conor O’Grady at the Director’s helm, with Roy Rolloda and Jessica Peralta as the Baker and Baker’s Wife respectively, Candice Caalsen as the Witch, and Sophie Connell as Little Red Riding Hood. Choreographed by Claire Johnson, with Enrico Narvaez as Musical Director, the show features many professional and veteran performers, a live band, and some of the highest calibre community theatre performers in Hong Kong.

Cast
Baker: Roy Rolloda
Baker’s Wife: Jessica Peralta
Witch: Candice Caalsen
Little Red Riding Hood: Sophie Connell

Director: Conor O’Grady
Choreographer: Claire Johnson
Musical Director: Enrico Narvaez

Into the Woods
Date: 4-7 February, 2016
Venue: HK City Hall, Theatre
Tickets: $395 from Urbtix
More info:
4-6 February – 8pm
7 February – 7:30pm

Into the Woods Junior
Face Academy: $275
6–7 February – 10.30am and 2.30pm

Into the Woods

Into-the-Woods-poster

Into-the-Woods

Cast
Baker: Roy Rolloda
Baker’s Wife: Jessica Peralta
Witch: Candice Caalsen
Little Red Riding Hood: Sophie Connell

Director: Conor O’Grady
Choreographer: Claire Johnson
Musical Director: Enrico Narvaez

Into the Woods
Date: 4-7 February, 2016
Venue: HK City Hall, Theatre
Tickets: $395 from Urbtix
More info:
4-6 February – 8pm
7 February – 7:30pm

Into the Woods Junior
Face Academy: $275
6–7 February – 10.30am and 2.30pm

Udderbelly Festival – 4 December, 2015 – 14 February, 2016

It’ll be interesting to see over the next couple of months if the ‘there’s nothing to do in Hong Kong’ brigade will open their wallets to support the inaugural Udderbelly Festival Hong Kong which takes place at the Central Harbourfront event space from the 4 December-14 February. Centered around the iconic Udderbelly, a 410-seat pop-up theatre in the shape of an upturned cow (specially brought to Hong Kong from the UK) the festival features a smorgasbord of shows and will sit alongside The AIA Great European Carnival. The Udderbelly cowshed will be full of entertainment, music, food, comedy (lots of comedy) and family fun throughout the holiday season. Udderbelly has proved a huge hit with audiences at the Edinburgh Festival for over 10 years and on London’s South Bank for the past seven.

Udderbelly Festival
Date: 4 December, 2015 – 14 February, 2016
Venue: Central Harbourfront
Tickets: see individual event
More info:
Check the events diary for schedule

Legally Blonde The Musical @ Shouson Theatre – 4-7 June, 2015

Face Productions’ highly anticipated summer show, Legally Blonde, appears at the Shouson Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre, from 4 – 7 June. The hilarious Broadway and MTV smash-hit musical, inspired the novel and the 2001 Hollywood movie of the same name, tells the story of blonde bombshell Elle Woods as she embarks on a journey to win back her ambitious boyfriend Warner. Captain of Delta Nu Sorority at UCLA, tireless advocate of the colour pink, and proud parent of Bruiser the chihuahua, Elle is left broken-hearted when Warner dumps her in favour of finding someone more “serious”.

Starring: Samantha van den Esschert, Nathan Koval, Joms Ortega
Director: Candice Caalsen
Choreography: Claire Johnson
Musical Director Enrico Narvaez

Legally Blonde The Musical
Date: 4-7 June
Venue: HKAC, Shouson Theatre
Tickets: $395, $295, $320, $220 from URBTIX
More info:
8pm, 4-6 June
3:30pm, 6-7 June

Junior Version
6-7 June 11am
$275, $175, $200, $100