Singapore’s bid as Asian cultural center

The sets, designed with a painstaking eye for efficient performance and audience appeal by Martin Heaps, who was also responsible for the eye-popping scenery of Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard and Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat are now packed and ready for shipping to New York. With the performances over, the actors have also gone home to America, the Philippines or are staying put in Singapore. If plans do not miscarry, the next time they will see one another and also the next time those sets will be unfurled on stage will be in a theater in New York for the Broadway stint of Judah Ben-Hur.

With book, music and lyrics by Ellen Sanborn and David M. Sanborn, Judah Ben-Hur is based on the immortal novel written by Lew Wallace. As most of you doubtless remember, this was twice turned into a motion picture. One was a silent screen version that starred Ramon Navarro. The other one was a grand Hollywood epic that won 11 Academy Awards in 1957 with Charlton Heston in the lead. It is probably the only movie in history where hero and villain get to duel to death in a magnificent chariot race.

Set in Roman-occupied Judea, it tells the story of Judah who was betrayed by his childhood friend Messala. He is sentenced to row in the galley of a warship. His mother and sister are sent to prison and all their possessions taken by the government. He regains his freedom after he saves the life of an officer of the fleet. He returns to Jerusalem, reunites his family and then thanks to a horse trading sheik gets to meet Messala in that climactic race.

Ben Hur is one of the greatest novels ever written. It is a truly enjoyable read. And best of all, it is a story that goes beyond Ben-Hur’s oppression and eventual revenge. It goes far beyond the love story of Judah and Ester or the liberation of Miriam and Tirzah from the valley of the lepers. It is also known as The Tale of the Christ because it tells of how Judah crossed paths with Jesus Christ and how the encounter taught him to forgive and conquer hatred.

The novel made for a great motion picture. It also makes for a good entertaining musical with several memorable songs. This was what theater-goers found out when Judah Ben-Hur has its world premiere in Singapore late last year at the brand new NUS University Cultural Center with its state-of-the-art facilities.

Why Singapore? This is because the Lion City was willing to pull out all the stops towards its goal of taking theater in Asia to a fresh, new level. They have hosted Miss Saigon, Into the Woods and others. So why not a new musical on its pre-Broadway run. That way, when Judah Ben-Hur becomes a hit in New York, it will always be said that it originated from Singapore. This, I must admit, is very, very clever of them.

But while Singapore has the finances and the will to mount something like Judah Ben-Hur, there is really no leaving Filipinos behind when a musical presentation of this magnitude is concerned. Eugene Villaluz, former New Minstrel and now a solo performer and record producer, played the pivotal role of the horse-trader Sheik Ilderim in several performances and got to perfom three show-stopping songs. Young singer Carol Banawa of The Little Mermaid did the same as the female lead Ester, who gets to do the beautiful love songs. Dancer and actor Paolo Alcedo of Powerdance is also in the ensemble. All three performed exceedingly well and there is a good chance that they will be part of the cast when Judah Ben-Hur goes to Broadway.

But before that happens, plans are now afoot to bring Judah Ben-Hur to Manila for a limited run before it goes to New York. Should this occur, we will surely feel proud to have Eugene and Carol and Paolo performing in the original cast of a musical. Great. But then it is also a musical spearheaded by Singapore, which craves recognition as the art and cultural center of Asia and intends to bring in foreign revenues by enticing tourists to come and watch their world-class cultural presentations.

We have the talent. We have the know-how. Would that we also have the same government support that the arts get in Singapore.