Student Blog: Our Show Was Almost Cancelled

Just last week, we completed our show "The Evolution of Musical Theater" which was a song cycle style of show with music from musicals throughout time from the Golden Age of Broadway to contemporary musicals. The show was broadcasted online via YouTube Live and we had 3 shows in total with no live audience members.

It was a simple show with the hybrid of musical theatre and broadcast media as we move towards the digital world. Everything was under control at first until... we had our first COVID-19 positive case in our company. The COVID-19 situation in Singapore is very unstable even though we are working towards endemic life. At this moment, people getting the virus are all around me and it's inevitable now.

The first person to be positive was a classmate of mine, 3 weeks into the rehearsals, and we have been rehearsing unmasked. Thankfully it was also the Lunar New Year period and we had a few days of public holiday therefore she didn't miss much of the rehearsals.

Unluckily, we all had to start rehearsing with the mask on and started to take the Antigen Rapid Test (ART) daily for a week. Little did we know that it was the beginning of something bigger. Ever since the Lunar New Year holiday, the COVID-19 positive cases multiplied by 10 daily with 20,000 cases a day in Singapore.

Just as my classmate was about to recover, a BA (Hons) Acting student with whom we share contextual studies classes tested positive and we just had a class together. And that prolonged our masked-up rehearsals and daily ART taking. Our rehearsals were difficult because it's hard to act and sing with a mask on. And also our rehearsal studios needed to be sanitized for 12 hours after a confirmed COVID-19 positive case therefore we had to cut rehearsal time by an hour.

After that, we managed to be unmasked for 1 rehearsal before our Assistant Stage Manager from the Diploma in Theatre Production and Management (TPM) tested positive and we had to do it all over again. At this point, we were 1 week before production week and the TPM students were not allowed in the rehearsal room because a lot of them were falling sick. So we had to be independent and work it out ourselves.

Luckily, or so I thought, the TPM students were back, though there was a shortage of manpower and many had to do double jobs. We managed to do our sitzprobe before our production week. All seemed fine right? Nope... we went through another round.

During production week my classmate fell sick and was sent home. When she visited the doctor, she was asked to be isolated for 3 days in case she is positive. That means she won't be back till the 1st show and will miss all the blocking and plotting and dress runs. And also, it was uncertain if she would be back. Subsequently, our Pianist and Stage Manager tested positive 3 days before opening night. That was when I felt like it was the end. It was a 2 person orchestra and now it's a 1 man orchestra, we are down with 1 cast and everything seems to lead towards a canceled show.

The director and producer assured us to leave the contingency plans to them. Which we did. For the Stage Manager, the Deputy Stage Manager took over the calling of the show. As for my classmate, they called in a senior to sing her parts as a booth singer. As for the pianist, the musical director took over the keys. He was supposed to support the music with the synthesizer and Cajon but we are left with only the piano. Luckily, the Head of Video Broadcast is a percussionist and was able to support some songs that desperately need the Cajon. And finally, my classmate returned just in time for the opening night.

It was a rollercoaster journey to put up this show. Because singing was involved, the process was even stricter. I'm glad to have experienced it and I am able to appreciate being in Musical Theatre more because of the hardships that we managed to pull through together.