Being cast in Jacky Cheung Hok-yau's musical extravaganza Snow.Wolf.Lake has been a dream come true for Singaporean recording star Kit Chan Kit-yee. It was an honour to be chosen from hundreds who auditioned for the multi-millon-dollar production which ended earlier this month. But, more than that, Snow.Wolf.Lake gave Chan a chance to pursue her greatest love.
'One of my first loves was in theatre. When I was in school, we had a lot of theatrical performances. After I left school to be a singer, I kept in touch with my principal who always reminded me, 'don't just be a pop singer, you have to get back to theatre',' Chan said.
'It's what I have always aimed for and I'm very glad to get the chance to do it. It was like realising a dream.' It might come as a surprise that Chan was actually trained in theatre, although she says the two years she had were 'not as much as [she] would have liked'.
From her school's amateur productions, Chan graduated to singing jingles after her A-Levels in 1990. A year later, she enrolled in the drama school at the LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts in Singapore. Drama school gave her a taste of the West End when she had a month-long attachment to some of the leading theatre companies in London. That stint convinced her that she wanted a career in the entertainment world.
Spending three months on Snow.Wolf.Lake has re-awakened her desire to expand her singing pursuits to more theatrical productions in the future.
'It's never left my mind really. When I left school, it was not entirely because of my singing career. I felt I was not learning enough there. I had three options: either I go abroad to further my drama education, or there was also a chance to release an album, or I go to London to try out for Miss Saigon,' she said.