band of brothers (and sisters!)

i remember remarking to someone (filip? edward?) sometime in freshman year that if you put enough singaporeans together you can accomplish anything. the production of this musical is really putting that thesis to the test, and so far club singapore has done me proud in the overwhelming amount of support that has appeared from every direction.

about 15 singaporeans come to penn every year, so we're a club of less than 60 after you take away all the people who graduate after 3 years - yet we've found enough talent to constitute a cast of 13 (alright, 1 thai, 1 half-malaysian, 1 chinese-who-studied-in-singapore, 1 american who's an honorary singaporean), a full band, and a pretty darn good crew. they come from many places - freshmen to seniors, nus exchange students, australian exchange students, southeast asians, miscellaneous friends... and they make it happen, somehow.

i think the most bandied-about example of initiative and resourcefulness was when i emailed my four stage managers mentioning for them to 'uh, if possible, go source for where we can rent/borrow a projector screen'. the next day, i get a matter-of-fact email from yexiang telling me that our plucky nadia had obtained a projector screen - apparently she walked into williams hall, picked it up from an empty classroom, and walked straight out with it... and stored it in her dorm for about a month.

what else? the bureaucratic savvy and experience of fellow senior kevin pang has been much appreciated in sourcing for a set - barking down several loose ends with shitty facilities managers, digging up a key lead with the performing arts shop and the tools they have available, and finally coming to the conclusion that we could get better and cheaper backdrops from home depot. the club singapore committee has been working ceaselessly in order to ensure funding for the musical, as well as pumping up the publicity machine; our very talented choreographer lionel (freshman!) has lent his personal flair to us hand-eye-coordination-issue-kids; our homegrown musicians are putting in some heavy-duty rehearsal time, and they've come a long long way from the motley crew that was first assembled (!); my sai-kang right-hand man, russell, has been my administrative rock; shijie found us superb rehearsal locations in huntsman hall everyday (as well as contributing his half of caleb's apartment to our shifting rehearsal schedule); yexiang, yinwei, nadia, and carolyn have been soldiering through the numerous ultrashitty jobs i throw at them without complaint (ranging from subtitling - putting all the lyrics on powerpoint; to creating cardboard taxis on demand); dennis and faith 'volunteered' to do the program respectively.... caleb and me have been surrounded by the most superb service support team we could ask for.

and our cast - well, i expected them to come back from spring break not having learnt anything at all... then i could scream at them, guilt-trip them, declare extra 7-hour rehearsals and whip them into shape army-style... but they actually surprised me by memorising large amounts of what was assigned to them (well, certain people.) and they're bringing it to life, that they are! it is happening, it is happening...