Satisfying musical with a lot of Heart

The Theatre Practice's jukebox musical with famous tunes is also a tribute to Singapore's outsized impact on global Mandopop

- Clement Yong

Love is easy, love is complicated. If there are still doubts over romance as the chief wellspring of inspiration for art, simply look to Mandopop's mournful tunes and tortured poetry that effortlessly carry its variegated shades.

It is no wonder that a jukebox musical is the best vehicle for a nuanced exploration of love – the pressure of making it life's greatest vocation, its mistranslations, its tendencies to change over time, and the heartbreaking version of it that asks for nothing in return.

The Theatre Practice's Partial Eclipse Of The Heart has an English title that appears to be a twist on Bonnie Tyler's 1983 ballad Total Eclipse Of The Heart. But it is really a thematic translation from its Mandarin title Ni Guang, or Against The Light, the title of another love lament by Singapore's greatest export singer-songwriter Stefanie Sun.

It is Sun's songs that make up quite a bit of the spine of this Mandopop musical about five friends who meet once every decade at a chalet to view the eclipse.

There is no mawkish nostalgia for a purer time. The songs – all famous tunes created with the involvement of Singaporeans and hence also a tribute to the country's outsized impact on global Mandopop – have bite.