Two musicals take you back to the classroom

IT IS rare to get an original English musical written in Singapore. But the collaboration between musician weish and Checkpoint Theatre promises to break new ground in the local theatre scene. weish (full name: Chew Wei Shan, lower case intentional) has been a rising star on the music scene for several years. She gained prominence as one half of the electronic duo .gif before venturing out on her own.

Checkpoint Theatre has been a steadfast advocate for local writing for over a decade. Whereas most companies find it easier and cheaper to buy scripts from Broadway and the West End to stage here, Checkpoint has taken pains to nurture local creatives for the long haul, producing acclaimed playwrights such as Faith Ng, Lucas Ho and Myle Yan Tay.

This April, weish and Checkpoint are set to premiere Secondary: The Musical, a production inspired by weish’s own experience as a literature schoolteacher, before she became a full-time musician. She says: “There are so many stories from the ground that I wanted to incorporate into this musical, stories of real struggles of people I’ve lived alongside during my years as a teacher.