[10 December 2008]
Broadway Beng Thespian Sebastian Tan marks directorial debut with SMU students and veteran actress Margaret Chan in HONK! The Musical

Fri 23 & Sat 24 Jan 2009, 8pm, Victoria Theatre
Tickets: $20/$25 Email: honk ticketing [at] smu.edu.sg ( )

Singapore, 10 December 2008 - The Singapore Management University (SMU) Arts Festival 2009 Re:Present, will see a proud collaboration between talented SMU undergraduates with some of Singapore's top arts professionals, in its closing gala performance, Honk! The Musical.

Making his directorial debut is Sebastian Tan, best known for his stand-up musical comedy series Broadway Beng!. He will direct the cast of 15 SMU students, as well as veteran actress Margaret Chan, currently Practice Assistant Professor of Theatre/Performance Studies with the School of Social Sciences at SMU, who will return to the stage playing the guest role of BullFrog.

The musical, by Anthony Drewe and George Stiles, is a hilarious adaptation of Han's Christian Andersen's famed tale, The Ugly Duckling. The SMU Arts Festival 2009 explores the connection between Time and Art, the influence of time over artistic impulse, re-exploring familiar things or common assumptions, through the various music, dance, theatre, film, poetry and art productions re:present -ed. Honk! re-visits the time-tried notions of first impressions, identities and differences through the tale of Ugly the swan, whose misplaced belief that he is a duck leads him to some much ridiculed waters.

Acclaimed musical director Elaine Chan (Chang and Eng, Dim Sum Dollies) will conduct a 10-piece SMU student band for the musical. Choreography is by Filomar C Tariao (Everything but the Brain, Moment). Some 25 other SMU undergraduates are also involved in the production, administration and marketing teams for the musical.

Annex – Honk! synopsis, bios and cast list

About Re:Present – SMU Arts Festival 2009

The Singapore Management University (SMU) celebrates the confluence of ‘time & art' in its sixth arts festival with a two-week programme, entitled Re:Present. The Festival challenges the notion of originality and whether time – presented as a questionable tangibility in ‘present' - determines or pre-empts how we appreciate or value things according to our preferred cultural backgrounds and beliefs. The SMU Arts Festival 2009 explores the connection between Time and Art through music, dance, theatre, film, poetry and art re:present -ed in this Arts Festival. In Re:Present, invited artists and SMU students have chosen to re-create and re-define works which exemplify the influence of time over artistic impulse; to challenge common assumptions, and to explore the ambiguous by unlocking streams of consciousness.