Musical Kimberly Akimbo puts actors on ice skating rink

“First lady” of Philippine musical theatre Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo stars in Pangdemonium production

- Clement Yong Correspondent

Director Tracie Pang (back row, centre) with the cast of Kimberly Akimbo, including visiting Filipino actress Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (front row, centre). PHOTO: PANGDEMONIUM

(PANGDEMONIUM)

The Victoria Theatre plays host toa temporary skating rink for Pangdemonium’s new staging of the Tony Award-winning musical Kimberly Akimbo. The show begins its two-week run on Oct 17.

For the ice skating number, a “rink” has been created from a special ice-like floor surface called PolyGlide. The cast has 24/7 access to it in the rehearsal room and has been hard at work practising their choreography on the slippery surface.

Among the cast, it is the dancers and inline skaters who have found it easiest: Zachary Pang has impressed, along with Beatrice Jaymes Pung and Theo Chen.

Visiting Filipino actress Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, who was last on roller skates in the 1980s, still winces at the thought. Singing while skating can be counterintuitive for her and she has some professional habits to kick.

“My tendency when singing a high note is to straighten up and lift, but you’re supposed to keep your knees bent and body forward when skating,” she says.

Once, the 62-year-old forgot and fell flat: “It’s a challenge, and people like a challenge. It’s like ‘Okay, you've laid down the gauntlet’ We are all slowly getting there.”

Lauchengco-Yulo, often called the “first lady” of Philippine musical theatre, takes the lead in Kimberly Akimbo. Written by American composer Jeanine Tesori and American lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire, the dark comedy is about a 15-year-old girl with a rare genetic disorder that accelerates her ageing.