3/1/2008 1150pm

I have just watched Wild Wild Rose the musical (野玫瑰之恋). This is my first musical that I have watched in my entire life… Haha… The drawing factor is inevitably the lead actor, Thomas Ong (王沺裁) J It’s also partly because I wanna enrich myself and my desire to learn more about culture and to get more exposed that caused me to watch the musical. I didn’t regret one bit in catching the musical… It’s not perfect as there is still room for improvement. For e.g. one of the casts, manager Chen, I feel that he ought to dress in a more sophisticated manner / more high class in order to distinguish himself from those who have lower status than him in the musical. However, he only appeared in one scene and so, this ain’t a very big issue ;) Here are the spoilers… Don’t read it if you intend to catch the musical later today J

The Spoilers

This musical is adapted from a movie with the same title and I think similar storyline, Wild Wild Rose. This is a sad story that happened in Hong Kong… Deng Shi Jia (played by 焦媛 who is the female lead actress) is a lady nightclub singer who is very popular, especially among the men. She sings well and dances with no abandon… She is able to stir the crowd with her great singing and excellent albeit quite flirtatious dance movements J As the title of the musical suggests, she’s very wild and is as pretty as a rose. Her immense popularity caused another female singer to be green with envy and red with spite… She felt that Shi Jia posed a great threat to her. There goes the cat-fight and this is a highly entertaining sight as you get to see the performers fight shamelessly and uncouthly. Hair pulling, slapping, biting of arm, throwing punches are involved in this cat-fight J Really exciting haha… Hence, needless to say, Shi Jia is an impulsive and bad tempered woman. She’s easily provoked and agitated. As she is young, talented and pretty, this makes her more stubborn, barbaric and “fearless” in the nightclub since she is highly sought after by men. Liang Han Hua, played by Thomas, is a pianist who aspired to be a teacher. However, there was recession during that time and Hua didn’t manage to land himself a job as a teacher. Upon recommendation by Xiao Liu, he managed to get a job as a pianist in the nightclub that Jia and Liu were working in. He replaced the position of Lao Huang, who is Jia’s friend. Hence, Jia didn’t have a good impression of Hua as she feels that Hua stole the “rice bowl” of Lao Huang. Hence, Hua felt guilty. However, this clearly ain’t the case as Lao Huang had to take care of his wife, who was severely ill and thus, he couldn’t concentrate on his work and always reported to work late and applied for leave. This caused him to be fired. Jia showed her compassionate side by speaking up for him in the presence of manager Chen. As Jia isn’t a tactful person, her rudeness nearly resulted in her getting fired as well. Actually the sequence is a little messy in my description here… The cat-fight happened after Lao Huang lost his job. So back to the cat-fight… As the 2 actresses were fighting fiercely, Jia took something (I think it’s something that is made of glass) and wanted to hurl it onto her enemy but at the nick of time, Hua managed to grab hold of her hand to prevent disaster from happening… It is of little wonder that Jia was pissed with Hua’s interference. So she asked her men to give Hua a good thrashing. Hua, a refined looking young man, made everybody roll their eyes in disbelief. He was clearly outnumbered yet he managed to gain the upper hand and defeated those men. Who would have thought that he would be so good in whipping people up especially when he seems like a gentleman… Jia was impressed by Hua’s capability and her bad impression of him quickly dissolved. Jia then made a bet with Xiao Liu and another chap that she would be able to make Hua fall head over heels with her within 10 days. After all, there was no man who managed to escape from her clutches. In fact, all men crave for her as she has a great sex appeal J The stake of the bet was that if Jia didn’t manage to make Hua fall in love with her, Jia would be reduced to a beast. Xiao Liu objected and requested for the bet to be called off. He told Jia that Hua is different from the men in nightclub. Hua is a man who treats relationships seriously and Liu doesn’t want his friend to be hurt. Furthermore, Hua is already engaged and Liu felt that Jia shouldn’t toy with Hua’s feelings given that so many things were at stake. However, Jia is no silly lass. She pointed out that Liu was not having the intention of protecting Hua. Rather, it was because Liu was interested in Jia and hence, he was jealous that Jia hoped to hitch Hua up and not him. Liu was stumped by Jia’s candidness. Jia went ahead with her plan.

Over at the other side, Hua pleaded with his mum and fiancée that he hoped to quit his job as he felt that the place he was working in was an indecent and complicated place. However, both women urged him to stay on to the job as it is not easy to find job during recession period. Hence, Hua eventually relented. Both women could never fathom how wrong their decision was as their action drove Hua to another woman gradually. As Hua decided to stay on and continued working in the nightclub, Jia used the opportunity and tried to get close with Hua physically during rehearsals. Hua behaved indifferently to her advances and even promised his fiancée that he would stay away from Jia when her fiancée witnessed how Jia behaved intimately with Hua during one of the rehearsals. 8 days have passed and one of the chaps teased Jia that she would lose in the bet. Jia appeared to be very confident of herself however, deep down inside, she was also greatly puzzled and worried over Hua’s coldness and nonchalance towards her.

Upon seeing that the flirtatious tactic doesn’t work on Hua, Jia decided to improvise on her approach and she used flirting and provocative advances. She knows that Hua loves pride and so he couldn’t stand provocations and hence, the ploy worked and he stopped keeping a distance away from Jia. There was one scenario in which Jia tried to earn more money by keeping a rich customer company for supper and this made her earn $2500. This amount is considered little but she still went ahead with it… Many despised her for being so cheap in terms of ethic values. Even Liu, who had been carrying torches for her for many years also felt this way. There was one scene in which Hua chanced upon Jia meeting Lao Huang secretly. Needless to say, while many people thought that Jia was being materialistic, the reality is that she was trying to come up with money to help Lao Huang so that his wife would be able to go for operation. This was a major turning point for both Hua and Jia as Hua was overwhelmed by Jia’s kindness. He could no longer control the feelings that he had for Jia and he hugged her tightly and confessed to her all the feelings that he had been suppressing inside him all this while. He admitted that he was actually bewitched by Jia right from the start and he had been restraining himself but to no avail as his mind was filled with thoughts of her. Jia reminded him that he already had a fiancée but such words fell on deaf ears. So that’s how the romance began between the two protagonists.

On one occasion, Hua shouted at Jia in other people’s presence when Jia tried to behave intimately with him. The chap who took part in the bet teased Jia that she had lost the bet. Jia admitted defeat and claimed that she is no longer a human being now. Liu was relieved that Jia lost the bet and that Hua didn’t fall for Jia.

The next scene shows how sacrificial Hua’s fiancée was. She waited patiently for Hua as he reached home late so as to inform him the good news: Hua can now become a teacher!!! She managed to plead for a teaching position successfully with the principal. Hua was apparently not excited by the good news. He told his fiancée and mum that he had no inclination to leave the nightclub as he was able to command a higher pay in the nightclub as opposed to being a teacher. Both women were surprised by Hua’s sudden change of mind. His fiancée then pitifully said that she would ask the principal to withdraw the offer after getting Hua’s inappreciative response (that he doesn’t want to be looked down upon that it’s his fiancée who begged with the principal so that he’s able to be a teacher). She also decided to support Hua’s decision as she saw that Hua composed music well. Hua demanded to know how she managed to get hold of his music repertoire. She cried as Hua treated her with hostility and probably, she was also aware that the song was not written for her but for another woman.

True enough, Hua played the piano and serenaded his newly composed song to Jia. Jia was touched and love is also engulfing Jia as she begins to treat Hua’s love seriously. So she revealed her past to Hua. Her parents died while she was young. She was married once and she was greatly in love with her ex-husband. Her ex-husband is a triad leader and is not one to be trifled with. Her ex forced her to commit crimes which Jia declined and she was abused by him. He later ended up in jail due to his illegal activities. After having filed for divorce, Jia no longer harboured any hope on men and hence, she regularly has flings with men. She toys with men’s feelings and every relationship doesn’t last long. Jia questioned Hua if he was afraid that she would one day abandon him and find herself another man. Hua jokingly replied that he would kill her if that day ever comes. Jia commented that Hua would commit suicide after murdering her so that both of them would never be separated after they are dead… Just as both of them were getting lovey-dovey, Lei Lao Da appeared. Lei is Jia’s ex-husband. He demanded Jia to return to his side and threatened her if she decided otherwise. He tried to drag Jia home but to no avail as Hua intervened after seeing Lei and Jia involved in a tussle. A brutal fight took place and before you know it, Hua was handcuffed. Hua had used a chair and hit on Lei’s head and it was a severe blow. Hua was sentenced to 4 months prison.

This is another major turning point for both Hua and Jia. Unable to cope with societal pressure and the stress of livelihood, their relationship was strained despite Hua chose to return to Jia’s home even after Hua’s mum threatened to disown him if he followed Jia. The pressure that the 2 protagonists faced was great as their friends felt that they would be better off if they were separated. During Hua’s imprisonment, Jia quitted her job so that it would not give others the impression that she was supporting Hua financially. Hence, the business in the nightclub that Jia was working in went downhill and Liu decided to work for Lei. He tried to persuade Jia in returning to Lei’s side as it’s no secret that Lei always gets what he wants. Jia made her stand clear that she belongs to Hua now and there is no way that she would leave him. She asserted that since Liu decided to work for Lei, they would no longer be friends now. Liu coldly replied that this form of relationship is better as Jia feels more for him now since they are no longer friends (something like your feelings are more intense towards your enemy as opposed to a casual friend). Later, Liu proceeded to find Hua. He jeered Hua and told him that it’s just a matter of time that Jia would ditch him since Hua is no longer capable of getting a good job with decent pay like before. Hence, Jia would definitely choose him over Hua. Hua’s ego was bruised especially after having a difficult time in finding job that is able to provide him with a decent salary. There was one job offer for Hua but he had to settle for a much lesser pay and had to lie to the public about his real identity as he was infamous for the fight between him and Lei. The boss who was also Hua’s friend advised him to break up with Jia as she would impede on his progress. Hua was belligerent and gave up on the job offer given by his friend. He resorted to drinking which resulted in him having a row with Jia as his shabby look and splurging on beer got on the nerve of Jia. Jia pleaded with Hua to allow her to be a singer again so that they would no longer need to face monetary woes. However, Hua objected as he didn’t want to give others the impression that he’s relying on a woman. Jia was flushed with anger by Hua’s silly pride and she retorted that Hua should not accept his fiancée’s help either since Hua’s fiancée has been looking after his mother all this while. Jia continued that Hua actually despised her job and hence, he forbade her to work. Hua then accused Jia of hitching another man when Jia tried to run out of the house. Jia was heartbroken by Hua’s allegation. She went to look for her friend who also encouraged her repeatedly to let go of this relationship for the benefit of both of them, especially so for Hua. If Jia broke up with Hua, Hua could then return to his fiancée’s side and probably, his fiancée would be able to secure a teaching position for Hua. This is clearly better than the state that they are in now where neither of them has any income. Jia was saddened by how things had turned out and she knows she could no longer be stubborn now. And so she returned to be a nightclub singer and broke up with Hua. She gave his fiancée and his mum the address and cash. She put on a façade and claimed that she no longer cared for Hua anymore. The cash was served as a form of compensation to Hua. Both Hua’s mum and fiancée could see that Jia seemed to be hiding things from them but Jia went off without explaining further with tears flowing down her cheeks. Hua begged his mum and fiancée to tell him Jia’s whereabouts. His fiancée was quick to forgive him as she said she can imagine this is just a nightmare for the 2 of them and now is the time to wake up. She urged Hua to forget Jia and start afresh with her. However, Hua pledged his love for Jia and proclaimed that he couldn’t live without Jia…

The last scene where Hua managed to locate Jia was a less clear-cut scene. It’s difficult to tell what happened to the 2 protagonists. Probably, it’s subject to personal interpretations.

Insights

Hmmm… You are wrong if you think that Thomas is the highlight of the musical. It’s Perry who stole the limelight. Before this musical, I know nothing about anybody else involved in the musical other than Thomas. Haha… Thomas is part of the reason why I decided to catch the musical J However, the one who catches everyone’s attention is the female lead, Perry. She caught my breath right from the very first scene which she appeared. She was able to be fully engaged in her character that you would feel that Perry = Deng Shi Jia. She’s super sexy so much so that I don’t think this musical is suitable for people who are addicted to pornography haha J She danced with no reservation and she was professional in the sense that she didn’t mind other actors touching her due to the necessity of the musical… I think her singing was quite good even though there was one old lady who mentioned that her singing was incomparable to that of the original singer, 葛兰. She commented that it’s blatant that Perry is not a singer. However, the old lady’s friends were quick to jump to Perry’s defence. They told her that Perry’s singing was actually not bad and she shouldn’t be so demanding. After all, Peggy was not trained to be a singer in the first place… And she spoke well in Mandarin despite being a Hong Konger… To think I could overhear so many stuffs in the washroom haha… But I must say thumbs up for Peggy. I am totally impressed by her professionalism and her charisma… Wa I feel blown away… Her acting is great that I don’t feel she’s acting… I think to be a successful performer, you need to put aside your pride and not to be overly self conscious. Must be courageous and act with all your heart, mind and soul that you yourself are convinced you are what your character is J

I feel that the storyline could be enhanced. There are parts that are a little draggy. Probably it’s also due to time constraint that disallows the musical to be buffed up with richer content… I am not too sure. After all, this is my first time in catching musical J I also feel that Mr Jia could be animated with more actions so as to make his character livelier. The dance movements could be wilder so as to be more visually appealing to the audiences.

Overall, “Wild Wild Rose” is still commendable. It’s amazing to know that they performed in Cantonese in Hong Kong before they headed over to Singapore. So those Hong Kong performers had to brush up on their Mandarin within a very short period of time… Hence, initially you may have difficulty in grasping what they are saying. However, after a couple of minutes, you will get used to their way of speaking. Anyway Perry was the one who was featured in the musical the most and she really speaks Mandarin really well! :D I still thought she was from China haha… Thomas also managed to break away from his usual characters as well. He has proven that he does not only have a pretty face, he can also act well and dance relatively well J His singing was ok but I prefer Perry’s hee… But it’s an undeniable fact that both acted really well and they are definitely gems that are worth polishing J Oh ya, Liu sang a song in the musical and one of the dancers attracted lots of attention because she glaringly stood out from the rest as she was plumper. There was one scene where he held the plump dancer and Perry on each of his side. Quite an interesting sight to watch. If the director wants to catch audience’s attention, it’s smart to use such idea too. After all, arts have no boundary.

Behind the scenes

I can never imagine that I managed to see Thomas after having gone to the loo after the performance. I thought I was dreaming. As many people have left, I saw a few people chatting with him. I plucked up my courage and asked if we could take a photo together. He pleasantly agreed :D He’s really nice as I didn’t expect him to take the initiative to offer to take the photo. It’s not easy to take a good photo without the help of others unless you always practise 自拍 haha… He even apologized for not taking a good shot as his hand was a little shaky and the image was a little blur. I asked another supporter to help us take a photo together and so I have 2 photos of Thomas and I together!!! J Really excited even till now haha… And he even used 2 hands to thank me when I stretched out my hand to congratulate him for his great performance!!! His hands were warm. I expected them to be cold due to nervousness. Looks like I have underestimated him haha. He’s a sincere nice chap J Not arrogant at all… After me, the lady who helped us take a photo together wanted her mum to pose together with Thomas. Thomas was very friendly towards the old granny. He asked for her feedback and enquired if she enjoyed the musical and songs. When the lady wanted to take second photo, her phone memory was full and she asked Thomas to wait a while for her to delete the pictures. Thomas smiled and replied no problem and he patiently waited. After the second shot, he told them to catch the musical a second time if they have the time (there is discount for people who have already watched it for one time). I wanted to catch it the second time but due to time constraint, I have to settle for one time. Well, it’s better than none J Thomas smiled at us before he adjourned to the rest room J Oh ya, I happened to bump into a behind-the-scenes- crew. He helped me and another of her friend to get autographs from Thomas and Perry!!! Whohoho!!!

Even though the ending was a sad one, it serves to remind us that there is more to romance than what we think. Relationships between partners are not just about romance, feelings, etc, there is more to it. If both parties are not financially independent, the relationship will inevitably be strained. The importance of remaining composed is highlighted in this musical too. The use of violence to resolve differences is a stupid act as the price that you have to pay is your future. Of course, this doesn’t only apply to violence, it can also be referring to the decisions that we make in our daily lives. Are we thinking them through carefully or are we acting merely on impulse? Also, if you are not a 小女人，then don’t get yourself a male chauvinist…

Even though this musical is fictional, it still makes me feel disheartened as I didn’t expect Hua to be so easily lured by Jia. I know Jia has a great personality and her sex appeal is very high, still, his fiancée has done a lot for him too. How could he have forgotten that? He knows Jia for barely a year and he’s ditching his fiancée just for the sake of Jia… Is it true that men always succumb to unrelenting temptations? Are 男人全部都是坏东西? Haiz…

I think the songs that were choreographed into the musical are excellent as most of them brought out the gist of what each character is trying to express J Kudos to all those who are involved in the “Wild Wild Rose The Musical”. It’s a musical worth watching. Hopefully there would be more to come so that more people could appreciate Chinese cultures and oldie songs. 葛兰’s songs are GREAT!!! I am glad I got a chance to know them through this play J It’s a lighthearted play at times and is slightly emotional at the end. I expect musical/play’s tempo to be very slow. Looks like I am greatly mistaken ;) The tempo is very fast… It’s good erm but I feel that it would be better if the tempo was slowed down at the ending where Jia sacrificed herself by letting go of her relationship with Hua so as to liberate him J

All in all, “Wild Wild Rose” definitely deserves applause given the tight schedule that the cast faces and the lack of maturity in the arts scene in Singapore J Clapppppp!!!!! Please support if you have the time and $.