IT is called the boldest venture in the history of Hong Kong musicals. Untraditional and pulsating, The Kids, the Wind and the City opened last night as the first local and original Cantonese musical in the Hong Kong Arts Festival's 22 years.
Written by solicitor-cum-music writer Eric Pun, directed by Fredric Mao, and choreographed by Helen Lai, Kids combines the best talents to capture Hong Kong in the wind of change, with sentiments and local flavour audiences will not fail to enjoy.
''Making a local musical is a challenge, because there are no full-time musicals actors in Hong Kong,'' says Mao, head of Acting at the Academy for Performing Arts (APA).
It was a tall order for Pun to come up with 12 people who could each sing, dance and act. But he finally managed to pool together graduates from APA's Drama and Dance schools, dancers from City Contemporary Dance Company and Chung Ying Theatre actors, who spent time practising after office hours.
Although Kids promises to be highly entertaining, with almost non-stop songs and dances, its impact lies mainly in its pathos.
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