28 April 19

Doing a musical in Hong Kong is bound up with 4 hurdles:
(1) who can compose prepossessingly;

(2) who can write great lyrics outpouring the composer’s feelings and thoughts;

(3) where to find a group of gifted stage multi-talents who can act, sing and dance at the same time; and

(4) where to find the big bucks who will invest in an expensive production since musical is an intricate art consuming loads of supports.

I beg to differ that up to now, there has not been any single musical from Hong Kong which can compete or match the standards of an international show.

The famous stage producer Ko Chi Sum made a number of small-scale musical works in Hong Kong and his prescription seems to follow the celebrated musical Mamma Mia: using the music pieces of a popular band or singer and interweave the songs as strands in the rug. The product is small but pleasing. This is a clever approach as popular songs can almost guarantee the good ticket receipts for a musical.

Ko recently produced a musical Beyond, Really Love You. In 80s and 90s there emerged in Hong Kong a band called Beyond consisting of 4 young men with uncommon and appealing character. Their songs pursued higher spiritual meanings and values such as the key issues surrounding the world like poverty and discrimination. They challenged the social prejudice and barriers of Hong Kong at that time. They evolved from an underground rock & roll band into Cantorock superstars. Their songs such as Amani, The Glorious Years and Truly Love You had captured an entire generation, impacting even now the boyhood and girlhood in Hong Kong and the Mainland China. Sadly, at the peak of their career, the band leader Wong Ka Kui fell off a stage in Tokyo and finally passed away. However, the music of Beyond is always unforgettable―they have stood the test of all time. Their talent, sensuality, charisma and wisdom endeared them to millions, as did the humility and human kindness that these young men demonstrated during their golden days.

The musical by Ko is however not a biography of Beyond. It is simply about the conflicts of 2 members King and Victor in a boy band. They rocketed to stardom from street buskers. Their different visions on music cleaved themselves from the group. Would all be able to team up and rework again?

What strikes me tremendously is the successful performance of 4 newborn stars: Bosco Ng, Michael Chan, Oscar Tse and Wayne Ip. They are green but powerful. There is a wonderful aura of innocent energy in what they did. Their acting and singing are all natural, unpretending and spontaneous. I can feel they have worked extremely hard but showed no sign of physical and mental exertion. The free spirit of the youth is really what matters. It is like what Kenny Rogers said, “Well, I don’t think everything necessarily that I touch turns to gold, but I think I get great joy out of it regardless of whether it is successful or not.” The carefreeness of these 4 performers is owing to the beauty that they sang because they loved to; not because they were calculating some monetary return.

There will be a long and winding road that leads the 4 boys to the door of success, especially in the depressing market environment of the pop music in Hong Kong. I do wish they would remember what Kenny Rogers said and persisted in their dream chase. Pity in Hong Kong most people are not cultural and do not support creativity. Art and the economy are in some sense out of synchrony.

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