Read our latest review of Detention Katong, Dream Academy’s newest comedy-musical starring local artistes.
Dream Academy’s newest comedy-musical stars songbird Inch Chua, YouTube star Munah Bagharib and wonderboy Benjamin Kheng who dabbles the music with words written by the theatre company’s founding figure, Selena Tan. What is the result of this power group? A laugh-until-you-cry experience with throwback memories to the nostalgia of school life.
The opening night of Detention Katong was a star-studded one, and unsurprisingly so. A group of Singapore’s most influential figures and talented artistes were in the audience in full force, full support.
As most ‘90s kids would agree, the musical brought back the best of childhood memories; especially the story’s take on how social media shaped our lifestyle when it was first introduced in the early 00’s.
The leading lady of the show, Valerie Choo stole the performance with her good looks and near-perfect chops as she lead the role of a model student at the fictitious Geylang Girls Secondary School. In the scenes with on-stage childhood BFF Terence Tay (who plays Luke, a stereotypical school boy), Valerie belts out Eyes Closed and Changing Chords, hitting notes to send chills down your spine. From the goody-two-shoes who reigns Queen Bee with the popular and over-zealous students, to the girl who eventually finds comfort in friendships with the school’s bad apples, Valerie shone through her versatile role with her graceful movements, captivating the audience with a soulful voice.
The exciting mix of our beloved theatre veterans (Suhaimi Yusof, Neo Swee Lin and Sebastian Tan) and new faces (Natalie Yeap and Kimberly Chan to name a few) resulted in a performance with Singapore’s industry’s finest.
Musical Director, Elaine Chan thoughtfully crafted music to demonstrate the joys and confusions of being a youth. With elements of EDM and KPOP influence, Detention Katong is beautifully welded together with modern theatre sing-alongs.
Detention Katong captures every detail of our secondary school lives and is one that shouldn’t be missed – especially Singaporeans lah.
Additional Information
Photo Credits: Dream Academy
Written by Yun Quek and Yvonn Ong
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