OBSERVER: Hidden Times
The scourge that is sexual harassment was the theme of Small Ripple Theatre’s original production Hidden Tunes, performed at the Clayton Community Centre. It was an earnest, well-intentioned musical delivered by an energetic troupe of actors and musicians that, while engaging, could labour the point at times.
Set in a prestigious musical academy, the show tells the story of an aspiring pair of young musicians whose dreams are derailed when one of them is sexually harassed by their professor. The fallout from this heinous act is felt throughout the whole academy community.
Text, music and lyrics were written by a team comprising Jun Bin Lee, Bowie Lei, Eileen Pan and Yu Zhi with Jun a strong creative force in all three elements. The story followed a standard narrative structure for a musical where dramatic scenes are interspersed with songs which furthered the narrative. Spoken and sung in Mandarin, an English translation of the text and lyrics was given via surtitles. The text tends to tell rather than show the story and lacked subtlety when making a point.
Hidden Tunes cast of seven actors, accompanied by its band of five musicians, had a great youthful energy and zest about them. All of the actors had fine singing voices though they varied somewhat in their acting abilities. The two lead characters were played by Lansy Feng (playing Xiao Qian) and Eunice Yujia Du (A Jia) who both gave strong, passionate performances.
Director and choreographer Sarah Yu worked with musical director Yvonne Chi to successfully combine Mando-pop music with traditional Chinese instruments. An unusual and daring approach which created a unique style, albeit one that was occasionally a little over-the-top and consequently detracted from the story.
Hidden Tunes was Small Ripple Theatre’s second production. The creative team at work here show great promise in producing musicals that focus on telling stories from or about Asian culture and society. Review by Peter Murphy