Frogway The Musical Revived

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Author: teropong | August 16, 2007 - 10:24 am

Michael Veerapen revives an old musical for today’s audiences. The things we do when we’re young and naïve often come back to haunt to us when we least expect it. Okay, perhaps the word “haunt” is a bit of an exaggeration, particularly in this instance. But who would have thought that jazz maestro Michael Veerapen would have ever written the score for a musical about a singing frog?

Yet he did. It was way back in 1979 and when the musical was staged a year later, it became a success. It could have, perhaps, even been described as legendary. Nonetheless, there was no way that Veerapen had envisioned that Frogway the Musical would make a comeback.

“Saidah Rastam heard me talk about it in the past and it was one of the earliest English musicals,” Veerapen says during an interview. “I happened to find the original script and was excited.”

That led to talk about a possible revival, which meant Veerapen also had to listen to the original score.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he says with a laugh. “We were so young, 23 or 24. I had a good laugh.”

No doubt, there were good bits but some bits were “horrible”. Veerapen, now 51, also contacted Marcel Nunis, who wrote the script. And together they looked at it again. Nunis worked on developing the characters while Veerapen worked on the music.

The tale seems an amusing one. Eddy, a singing frog, faces rejection from his community simply because frogs aren’t supposed to sing. Spurned by those around him he decides to leave the pond and forsake the love of his life in a bid to seek fame and fortune.

That magical place is just further down the river at the Swamp.

Here, with the help of two cunning agents, a Snake and a Stork, Eddie’s singing talent propels him to stardom. He reaches the top of the entertainment world, culminating in the opportunity to perform on Frogway.

But fame, fortune and decadent living eventually take their toll on the star. Blinded by pride and faced with rejection, he turns to the dark side, dumping his best friend Freddy the Toad. He, however, stumbles upon a plot by agents to rob him of his fortune and to kill and eat him.

“It’s fun and good family entertainment,” Veerapen says.

It may appear to be light-hearted production but it isn’t frivolous.

“Fundamentally, it is about someone who tries to do the unconventional,” he explains.

“Eddy is very much like us. It’s about trying new ideas and new technologies. It’s about Malaysians who have broken the conventional mould.”

Nunis, who now resides in California, has more than 50 plays to his name and runs Fresno’s fringe festival The Rogue, was also excited when he heard that the musical could be revived.

“He was happy that I wanted to do it,” says Veerapen.

The musical is thus being produced with the same energy as it was before but it is tighter and with the advantage of some maturity, it’s going to be better.

Back then, the play featured many who went on to become well known performers – Jayasankaran, Indi Nadarajah and Lewis Pragasam – to name a few.

This time around, the cast is equally impressive. The role of Eddy will be played by Vince Chong, winner of the first season of Akademi Fantasia. Directing the musical is Harith Iskandar, who also plays Smiley the Snake, while former Miss Malaysia Elaine Daly plays the other “baddie”, Suzanne Stork. Ash Nair, a finalist in Season Two of Malaysian Idol takes on the part of Eddy the Toad.

The production will also feature the talents of Sean Ghazi who oversees musical staging, Saidah Rastam who is musical director and Shegar who is designing the costumes.

The fact that the industry has evolved so much also means that the right technology is available and that there are so many experts to ensure that Frogway is presented as it should be.

“Back then we didn’t have the expertise,” Veerapen says. “Everybody was an amateur.”

One of the most challenging aspects of reviving Frogway was going back to something that was written more than a quarter of a century ago.

Veerapen says: “It was interesting to see whether after 27 years, you can critique your own work.”

Frogway runs from Aug 23 till Sept 2. Showtime is 8.30 pm from Monday to Saturday with matinee shows on Saturday and Sunday at 3pm. There is no show on Aug 30. Tickets are priced at RM100, RM80 and RM60. For students and seniors, there is a 50% off full ticket prices. For matinees and Monday and Tuesday shows, there is a 15% off full ticket prices. For tickets, call The Actors Studio (03-20941400/0400) or email tickets@theactorsstudio.com.my.

As a show of support and solidarity, Frogway, the musical, is going to have a special showcase to help raise funds for veteran actress Azean Irdawaty’s escalating medical bills. The cast and crew are dedicating a matinee show on Aug 25 as a fundraiser for Azean who is stricken with breast cancer.

Tickets are available at prices of RM150, RM200 and RM250 for this special fund-raising matinee. There will also be a general information awareness campaign about the disease. For more information concerning the event as well as Azean’s predicament, please contact Iqmal (012-3101646 / email iqmal@alamorphosis.com).

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