Walking into the Lionel Wendt, the first thing that caught my eye was the mass of the multi hued lights bordering the stage. It was immediately clear, all the stops were being pulled and the Asian International School's production of “The Best of Broadway”, staged on the February 3 weekend, was sure to be a hit with the audience.
The show started with a song that is easily one of the most recognizable Broadway classics “No business like show business”. Performers young and old took turns onstage in a fast paced set churned out well known numbers from musicals like “The Sound of Music”, such as "The Sound of Music" and "Do-Re-Mi", “Tomorrow” from “Annie’ and "If I Were a Rich Man" from the “The Fiddler on the Roof”. A show dedicated to Broadway wouldn’t be right without hits from the king of Broadway himself, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
.jpg)
The younger performers were cutely dressed in colourful outfits while singing and dancing along to hits from the “Lion King” like “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and “Circle of Life” while the older students rocked the stage with well known items from “Grease” like "Summer Nights" and rock & roll band “Queen” such as “Radio Ga Ga and “I Want to Break Free”. There were plenty of solo performers too, the most memorable of whom were two young ladies, one who sang “Somewhere over the Rainbow” from the classic “Wizard of Oz” and the other who sang, “Don’t Cry for me Argentina” from the show “Evita”. The audience was also treated to several much loved hits from the pop group “ABBA” before students closed the show with “No Business like Show Business”.
Personally I felt that the students should have rehearsed a bit more, there were a few fumbles onstage during dance numbers and some songs were sung off pitch. Another issue I had was with the amount of make-up that the students wore, not just the girls but the boys as well. I thought that it should have been some-what toned down. All in all though, it was quite a good show by performers so young, singing and dancing to a tight kept schedule. A round of applause is surely deserved for Vinodh Senadeera and all who took part in staging this event and reminding us of all those old Broadway favourites.
Reviewed by Lake Argent
Pics by Manoj Ratnayake
0 Comments
Kane says:
Feb 16, 2012 at 04:35 amIt looks a wonderful show. Could anyone please upload the video on YouTube so that we who live overseas can view? Thank you.
MNA says:
Feb 19, 2012 at 06:23 pmthe pictures definitely dont show too much make up..
dane says:
Mar 05, 2012 at 07:10 pmi second the above comment about makeup. i didnt think it was too much. and besides, that is what is generally considered "stage makeup".
also, i do believe that it would be nice if you mentioned the soloists names, the ones that supposedly stood out.
Shilps says:
May 22, 2012 at 06:20 amWow, its nice to see that our show was such a big hit!! :D
And as for the two mentioned soloists, The girl who sang 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' was Udara Hapangama
And the two girls who alternated singing 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' on different show nights were Tara Weerasinghe and Nishika Seresinhe :)