NOT Another Drag Show

12 July 2002

YMS Music Centre

Review by marc

I was lucky enough to be invited to "Not Another Drag Show" at the Young Musicians' Society. It was a most wonderful evening of song and laughter. The friends who were with me had a fabulous time as well. As far as I could tell everyone who went thought it was a great success.

A review was asked for, so I hope you don't mind if I really sound off. Just bear in mind this is coming from someone who thinks that all of the performers are remarkably talented, not to mention courageous for putting this up. They really earned all that applause!

Overall, I would stay we had a tenuous start but by the time Kok Wei forgot his words, the audience was 110% won over by the remarkable Sam and the singers. The sound system seemed to suit some people better than others and the staging and lighting could have been a little bit more attended to. The jokes were mostly fresh and winningly delivered. The choice of songs very apt and the singing of generally high quality, occasionally shading into greatness.

Sam, of course, was the centerpiece of the evening. The backbone holding up the whole performance. He was natural, he was "himself", and he was fabulous. His rapport with the audience was solid and his sense of presence masterly. He sings! He plays the piano! He tells jokes! He's cute! There were some bits where I hurt myself laughing and wriggling in my chair. His mannerisms and facial expressions are camp classics.

A few songs stick in my mind. Alan's "Cheek to Cheek", Gerald's "You're Still You", the duets from Miss Saigon and West Side Story, and "On My Own". Of course "Reflection" sung by Kok Wei is pretty unforgettable too, but perhaps for not quite the right reasons — he manages to blush rather fetchingly! While all the voices were good, each had its own attractions. Alan's singing was full of drama while Gerald's had more swing. Alvin was touching in his vulnerability, though I was wishing for more crispness in his consonants in "Tell me on a Sunday". Kok Wei has a lovely warm tone, and of course Sam sings such passion and verve.

On the not so successful parts, my first response would have to be the sound system. In particular, one or two mikes were not balanced or equalized or whatevered to flatter singing. All the high frequencies were filtered and reverb and echo dampened so that a very flat sound was produced. After Alan's star turn of "On My Own" — unplugged, so to speak — I wondered why they even bothered with amplification.

The combination of the simple staging with the very flat lighting also did not give the sense of drama that the performance deserved. It's always difficult to warm up an audience, but I did feel that the jokes went on for too long before the singing started. Of course in the later part we could not have enough of Sam. There were one or two rather old jokes, although I can't quite remember which.

All too quickly, the evening came to a close. Afterwards many of us were milling around sharing our favourite bits and congratulating the performers and organizers. We just didn't want to go home. I'm already looking forward to their next show. I really hope it's soon.

(P.S. For those on the look out for the cuteness factor the final pianist was a muffin!)