SINGAPORE: In its heyday, the Kallang Theatre was the setting for the Prime Minister's annual National Day Rally speech as well as original local works and world class musicals such as Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera.
But the curtain came down on the 1,800-seat theatre on March 31, 2007, amid dwindling utilisation rates, as new venues such as the Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay moved into the spotlight.
Come August, the
Kallang Theatre will come alive after a four-year hiatus with the
ambitions of becoming a regional arts and culture hub.
For
starters, it will stage a 80-minute musical primarily targeted at
tourists and foreigners about the Republic's history from Sang Nila
Utama days to modern day, titled Singapura - The Lion City Show.
Its
operator, Asia Arts & Culture (AAC), which made the announcement
yesterday on the sidelines of performing arts trade exhibition LIVE!
Singapore, said it will also market its in-house group of performers and
shows for external events, both locally and elsewhere in Asia.
The
Singapore Land Authority offered the Kallang Theatre building for
tender in January. After a successful tender to operate and manage the
premise, AAC - a Singapore-China joint-venture with the Yunnan
Provincial Performing Arts Group - will be working with the Singapore
Tourism Board to turn Kallang Theatre into an "Asian Arts and Culture
hub", the operator said in a press release. It added that it was also
tasked to "strongly promote Kallang Theatre as a preferred venue" for
the arts and MICE events.
The theatre will also have facilities
such as dance halls and F&B outlets. Booking slots for the use of
Kallang Theatre auditorium and various other facilities will be
available from next month.
Arts groups here welcomed the
re-opening. Said The Substation artistic co-director Audrey Wong: "It
will be a good alternative venue that fills the gap left by Victoria
Theatre while it undergoes renovations."
But she felt the
theatre's reopening would have "no big impact on the local arts scene,
in terms of creating original content" otherwise.
Few local arts groups would be able to hold shows there as well because the capacity was too large, she added.
The
Necessary Stage's founder and artistic director Alvin Tan hoped that
the iconic theatre would go beyond being just a venue to hold shows.
"If
it can have an artistic vision of encouraging intercultural work, such
as showcasing the different cultural traditions we have here, then it
will be more meaningful," he told Today.
"We don't have a strong
historical culture like Japan because we are a migrant country but we
have cultures like Peranakan and the theatre can work towards supporting
works showcasing a uniquely Singapore identity."
The Kallang
Theatre was built in the 1970s as a cinema but was converted into a
performing arts venue in 1986 to replace the National Theatre, which was
demolished in the same year.
The theatre's then-operator
National Arts Council decided to shut it down after its utilisation rate
dropped from 80 per cent to only 33 per cent in 2005 - catering mostly
to schools and non-arts-related hirers.
-- TODAY
| published Jul 19, 2011
The table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; } grand reopening of Kallang Theatre scheduled for August has been postponed to October, along with its big-budget musical The Lion City.
After closing in March of 2007, the Kallang Theatre will again open its doors for The Lion City, an 80-minute musical about Singapore’s rich history. In its past, the Kallang Theatre was the venue for the Prime Minister's annual National Day Rally speech, as well as the showings of acclaimed shows like The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables.
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