Izah Azahari
Relentless Entertainment will hold their 10th production titled Musical Mania 4 – a production with a jukebox concept featuring songs from Broadway and Disney musicals as well as pop music.
Relentless Entertainment Co-Founders Mardi Hedus and Amy Cheong along with talents Hafizzul Rahman and Flora Ngu spoke about the production at a press conference at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Supa Save Mata-Mata yesterday.
The shows will take place at 8pm on September 9; 8pm on September 10; and 1.30pm and 8pm on September 11 at the Jerudong International School Arts Centre Theatre.
Musical Mania 4 will feature 54 cast members comprising dancers, singers and actors.
“For Musical Mania 3, we added pop songs and this time around we wanted to do the same to cater to the younger generation,” said Amy.
She said there are about 24 musical numbers in total to cater to children, the older generation and those who enjoy Broadway numbers.
“The production will be about two hours in duration, not including the 20-minute intermission, making it a full evening out,” said Amy.
Mardi said the production will see Korean-influenced performances, which they have never done before, with talents singing and dancing.
On the cast members, Amy added that auditions were held twice prior to this year’s production as they had attempted to hold Musical Mania 4 in 2020 and 2021, but were unable to due to the pandemic.
“We did two auditions prior to this one – this would be the third. So it’s an accumulation of all the talents that we got through these three auditions,” said Amy.
Returning talent Flora, who has participated since Musical Mania 1 in 2017 while in Year 6, said she had been waiting for Musical Mania 4 as she had not performed in a musical in a while.
“I’m really happy because Musical Mania is personally my favourite as there’s so many different numbers and genres of music, as well as different costume changes.
“I think everyone is going to enjoy the show and I hope people will come,” she said.
First-timer Hafizzul told the media that he had initially felt anxious, but others in the production have really helped him break out of his shell.
“I’m very shy and reserved, and everyone else is so out there, but they helped push me to my limits and I’m very grateful for that,” he said. Both talents agreed that being a part of the Musical Mania has helped them each grow.
“It’s a very supportive environment, and it’s really great to watch them support each other because they understand what it’s like, especially for first-timers,” said Amy.
The musical is supported by Baiduri Bank, NBT and Lexus Brunei, Constance Brunei, Progresif Sdn Bhd, Yippy Tune Music School as the official vocal coach and ticketing partner The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
