Edges The Musical – totally unexpected and lots of fun!

PUBLISHED April 15th, 2013 12:48 am | UPDATED January 21st, 2016 07:19 am

I went to see Edges expecting to see a mini-musical and I was pleasantly surprised. There was no spoken dialogue, just songs, which were presented as snap shots of the lives of the four twenty-somethings, literally on the edge (excuse the pun) of maturity or ‘standing close on the edge of distinction.’ From sisters looking at each other across an age gap to a boy with dreams working to get through college to a girl supposedly recovering from a breakup wishing for violent revenge (planting the seeds of what will become ‘Fatal Attraction’ in twenty years’ time?), and the trials tribulations of a social networking (i.e. Facebook), this production was a pleasure from start to finish, with some incredibly strong and touching performances.

Edges, also known as ‘Edges: A Song Cycle’, is a piece of musical theatre by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote it in 2005 when they were 19-year old graduates in Musical Theatre at the University of Michigan. They decided to write their own show after being unhappy with the roles they were assigned in musical theatre productions at the school.  They did not have to wait long to gain recognition.  In 2006, the duo won a $20,000 Jonathan Larson Award, becoming the youngest composers / writers to have ever won the award, which was established by the estate of composer Jonathan Larson, of Rent fame, to encourage composers, lyricists, and writers at the beginning of their careers.

Edges is a song cycle about coming of age, growth and self-discovery of people in their 20s. Its most famous song, “Be My Friend”, has come to be commonly known as the “Facebook song”.  The show has now been performed over 100 times across North America, Asia, Australia, Europe and Africa and is currently making its debut in Singapore.

Edges is directed by Derrick Chew, the Artistic Director of Sightlines Productions.  The production stars a group of good-long young actors – Mina Kaye (Company, Into the Woods), Linden Furnell (La Cage, Cat in the Hat) and Kristy Griffin (Betty Boop) – Musical Theatre graduates from LASALLE. The fourth actor is Benjamin Kheng (Boom, National Broadway Company).  Kheng is a member of local indie band, The Sam Willows and was voted as one of the faces to watch in 2013 by ST LIFE!

The performance took place at the Drama Centre Black Box on level 5 of the National Library.  Although the set was cleverly designed to save space yet showcase the personality of each actor, I felt that the space was a little too cramped.  The Black Box has an up-close cabaret atmosphere, which is good for intimate productions but in the case of Edges, I felt the production would have benefitted from a bigger space.  The musical accompaniment was provided by virtuoso Joel Nah, seated at his piano / keyboard on the right hand side of the stage.  He is a talented musician but at times his playing drowned out the voices of some of the actors (even though they were wearing mikes).

There was a map of Singapore made out of wooden flooring to indicate that the action was taking place in Singapore but apart from the odd word or phrase, there was not much reference to Singapore.  The four protagonists could have been from any big city in the US.

But aside from these quibbles about space and setting, I really enjoyed the show, especially its diversity and humour. From the opening ensemble piece, ‘Become,’ it was quite clear that the audience was being presented  ‘lives in photos,’ snapshots of situations and the fears of being ‘who I am, who I want to become.’ ‘Man of my dreams’ (who happens to be gay) was a delight, especially the campy performance by Benjamin and Linden.  Also enjoyable was Mina and Kristy’s performance of ‘Caitlyn and Haley’. Mina’s sweet portrayal of the younger sister, using her ‘little girl’ voice, was very well done, as was Kristy’s portrayal of the older sister, contemplating her maturity.  Throughout the show, Mina Kaye shone when it came to the humorous pieces

Linden and Benjamin’s ‘Pretty Sweet Day’ was full of energy and vitality and ‘I Hmm You’ was witty.  The performer, who was the most natural and at ease on stage, was Linden Furnell.  For me, the most memorable performance was his ‘Part of a painting’ which was very moving and showed real depth.  He is one of these multi-talented performers who seems to be equally at ease whether it’s singing, dancing, or playing the guitar – definitely someone to watch.

The show is intelligent, which is as much a tribute to Pasek and Paul’s incredible writing as it is the touching and sincere performances by Mina, Kristy, Linden and Benjamin.

The use of the word “edge” in this musical’s title seems to imply that this show is risky, barrier-breaking or in some way edgy. It’s not.  But it is truthful and I am sure an audience of all ages could relate to it and enjoy the experience.

EDGES, THE MUSICAL by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul is on from 3 – 20 April 2013 at the Drama Centre Blackbox, Level 5, National Library.Tickets can be purchased from TicketMash here.