Being able to showcase talents

IT won't be a variety show, but a host of "differently abled" performers will showcase their talents this Saturday in the original musical, A Nation In Concert 2014: A Wetlands Adventure.

"The challenge was to weave a narrative around their various talents so that it's not just a variety show," promises director Jonathan Lim, well known for his popular comedy sketch show Chestnuts.

To do this, Lim and playwright Desmond Sim went to the different participating organisations to watch them perform, and then came up with a story about a community trying to put up a concert. Nothing like borrowing from real life for a stage drama, right?

The theme then centred on the biological diversity at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. The musical is presented by the Rotary Club of Pandan Valley this year. It was first presented in 2005, and then in 2006 and 2008 before it went on a six-year hiatus.

"The producer went to further his studies," explains Lim, who has been involved from the start. To get an idea of the production's scale, more than 100 "differently abled" volunteers from the Association for Persons with Special Needs (ASPN), Handicaps Welfare Association, Singapore Association for the Deaf, and the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped are involved in this year's musical, along with participants from four schools. There is also a cast of 10 professional actors involved on a volunteer basis, who provide the dramatic support.

The whole project began in 2005, says Lim, to bring together the performing troupes from the various associations. Some of the performers are even from the original shows.

"The bonus is that these 'vonfident in their performance, and we've also seen their level of involvement go up," he notes. Almost all the groups have been with them from the beginning.

Look out for the percussion group and the dancing group, ReDeafination, as well, whose hip hop moves will delight and then stun, as you realise that the dancers can't hear the music. Then there is a band whose members are visually handicapped, Latin dancers in wheelchairs, and percussion players who can't count time but play by memory and watching ensemble signals. The youngest performer is 14 and the oldest is in his 60s.

"Their training is strategised so cleverly around their abilities and needs," says Lim. "And they work so hard . . . so we feel a bit more special when we perform with them."

'A Nation In Concert 2014: A Wetlands Adventure' will be held at the Sands Theatre in Marina Bay Sands on Nov 8. There will be two shows, at 3pm and 7.30pm. Tickets priced from S$35 to S$100 are available from Sistic. The production costs of this musical have been fully sponsored and all net proceeds from the show will be channelled to participating charities and voluntary welfare organisations