West End star Jeon shines in epic musical

THE Korean musical star Na-Young Jeon is the best thing about the folktale-turned-musical The Great Wall: One Woman's Journey. As the lead in this original Singapore production by Glowtape Productions, she is incandescent physically and vocally, and carries much of the 2½-hour epic on her slender shoulders. The West End actress even eclipses co-star Nathan Hartono who, having emerged first runner-up in Sing! China 2016, has an arguably bigger marquee value than she does here.

Jeon plays the role of Meng Jiang Nu, a woman whose husband Fan Qi Liang (Hartono) is conscripted to work on the construction of the Great Wall of China during the reign of the Qin dynasty. Missing him terribly, she sets off to find him, only to learn that he is dead and buried under the wall. As myth has it, her tears and cries are so powerful that part of the wall collapses to reveal his corpse.

Glowtape producer Grace Low has assembled an impressive roster of creatives including Darren Yap as director, Jean Tay as playwright and David Shrubsole as composer and lyricist. But while the musical is far more accomplished than other recent original musicals such as Detention Katong and Tropicana, it is not without flaws.