Latest / 987 The Shock Circuit / INTERVIEW: ANDREW MARKO

Transcript

INTERVIEW: ANDREW MARKO · 987 The Shock Circuit

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on 987, Singapore's number one hit music station. Sonia and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Joakim here with you. We're also live on TikTok right now. OK,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: so allow me to give the introduction and glaze our guests. Who,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: who's actually an old friend of yours, like a long
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: time ago. OK. And then every time I see him like, bro, OK,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: so here we go. This man has made you laugh, cry.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Feel things in the theater and maybe even on your
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: screens as well. And he's also a live theater award
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Best Actor recipient. This happened in the year 2017, so
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: it's almost like nine years since he received the award
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  Speaker 1: and he's now a mainstay in the theater scene here
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: in Singapore. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the multi-talented
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Andrew Mark.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Hello, thanks for having me. How glazing for you, my friend.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: It was
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: very,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: it was
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  Speaker 2: very embarrassing. I
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: couldn't say anything.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: I just had to sit there and be like, oh, just, right?
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Come on, we're talking to a theater professional. You're not
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: shy at all, please. Yeah, I
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: should be. I should be. I think, I think a
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: little bit of shyness is always good, but you know, I'm, I'm,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I'm still learning to be that to be shy to
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: be shy.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Before we get to the reason of why you're actually
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: here to to of course speak about the play that
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: you're in very soon, uh, how have you been, man?
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: How's life been for you? You're looking in very good shape.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: I say you were just sharing with us that you
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: dropped like 30 kg
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: kilos. Yeah, that's, that's a fun, it's a fun thing.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, it's just commitment really. And, and this
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: is one of the first few times in my life
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  Speaker 2: where I feel like I'm not on a weight loss journey.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I'm not trying to get somewhere. I'm just doing this
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: just because.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Do you enjoy it?
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I don't need to do anything. You don't need to
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: be on a journey to make good decisions, you can
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: just do it.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, I think the the thing that annoys
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: people sometimes is when we're always constantly trying to reach
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: a goal, whereas it should just be part of your lifestyle,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: your everyday life, right?
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: you have a goal, then you have plans and stuff,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: you have a routine and then when you get there,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: you think, OK.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: I've achieved something. Now it's the next goal. Yeah, and
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: then there's there's going to be this little.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Um, it's, it's human nature, right? When you reach something,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: you wanna take a break and you wanna be like, oh, OK,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: now it's time to relax. But that's, that's dangerous cause
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: then anytime you reach a goal, then you start, you know, your,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: your brain will start doing backflips, yeah. So the best
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: thing to do is just, just do it. Like I
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: don't have a goal, I don't have a, if I
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: don't meet my goal, I don't care because I don't
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: have one. I'm just doing this every day and if
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: I get there, I get there and if I don't,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: don't.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: But I really don't even though people are shocked to
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: hear that because I'm a Capricorn, so yeah.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Oh my God. Oh God, enough with the horoscopes. But
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: that's another topic anyway. So Andrew, while, while doing my
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: research on you, like the whole of yesterday, I was
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: just going through and all that, um, there's actually a
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: podcast of you explaining how you started your theater journey.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I think you did it sometime last year. So maybe
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: for like a 987 summarized version, nutshell version. Yeah, tell us,
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  Speaker 1: were you always this dramatic, you know, did, did acting
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: always call out to you from the young days of
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: primary and secondary school? No, I wasn't shy, so.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I, I was really shy when I was a kid.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I was cos I was, I was bullied a lot
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  Speaker 2: and so I, I kind of went into a shell
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  Speaker 2: and I always kind of um talked to myself, very
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: strange kid. It was only when I got older then
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  Speaker 2: I started becoming a little bit more out there and
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  Speaker 2: um less afraid of expressing myself, I guess. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: when I was very young, I, I, I, I had
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  Speaker 2: a massive fear of that.
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  Speaker 2: And which is a good thing I guess because it
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  Speaker 2: made me so inside my head that I, uh, I
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  Speaker 2: would talk to myself in different voices and different accents
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  Speaker 2: and I realized, hey, I can actually, that's something I
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  Speaker 2: could do. I I guess I can be an actor.
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  Speaker 1: It
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: was, yes, it actually it was the first uh play
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: play that I did. Before that it was just one
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: musical uh with with Wild Rice. But yeah, Falling was the,
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  Speaker 2: the first serious kind of
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  Speaker 2: play
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  Speaker 1: that I did.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. So, so the thing is, you know,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people have the impression of you as
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: like the funny dude or like, you know, you're, you're
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  Speaker 1: constantly this ball of energy and character and personality. Do
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  Speaker 1: you ever feel the pressure to keep this up out there,
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  Speaker 1: or is this naturally just you? Like, are you like
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  Speaker 1: this in your personal life behind
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  Speaker 1: closed doors?
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  Speaker 2: No, actually I'm not, I'm I'm I'm very quiet. I'm
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  Speaker 2: actually very
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  Speaker 2: Low energy. I'm very like, hm yeah
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  Speaker 1: you're just you're quiet quiet.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: I barely speak sometimes. I'm just like, yeah, I, yeah, OK, I,
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  Speaker 2: I barely have any opinions. I just, I'm just like
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  Speaker 2: I'm just existing. You know what I mean? And but,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: but it's not like when I meet people, I'm not
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: putting on anything. It's just like I just can't help
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  Speaker 2: it but be energetic and
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: and whatever. It's.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: of you and I think when you're around different types
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: of energy, it brings out all these facets, I guess, right? So,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: given how we are all millennials here in the studio
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: and given how also I think we were almost like
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the batch where our parents say, huh, you want to
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: be a theater actor, you sure or not? So I,
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  Speaker 1: I did a diploma in theater in NAA and as
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: somebody who's an active practitioner of theater here in Singapore
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: over the last 11 years, how would you describe the industry?
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Growth because I think it has grown tenfold.
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  Speaker 2: There's, you know, setting up and doing, which is great
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  Speaker 2: and I think that's exactly where we need to be.
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  Speaker 2: You know, there's always these big companies and stuff doing
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: good shows, but then there's also people who take it
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: upon themselves to provide, yeah, the ones who want to
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: create their own things and I think that's awesome, that's beautiful.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Let's keep that going and keep that growing, you know, hopefully,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: at some point in the future.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: It'll be even bigger, you know, and, and hopefully someday, right,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: like 20 years from now, a kid from somewhere across
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  Speaker 2: the world is gonna be like, oh man, you know,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: I would love to go to Singapore to do theater.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: You know, in the same way that we, yeah, in
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: the same way that we talk about the West End
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: and Broadway and stuff. Why, why can't it be Singapore?
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I think Singapore's got a great pool of talent
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  Speaker 1: for that. I mean, you've been in this industry for
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: a little over 10 years, right?
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Do you still take on the the perception that there's
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: no project too big or too small?
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: oh yeah, OK, sure.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Um, and there's no shame in that. I think I love,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I love doing all kinds of like random stuff. And
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: sometimes I'll, I'll see people in, in tinier shows and
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: tinier stuff. People will be like, what are you doing here?
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, what do you mean what am I
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  Speaker 2: doing here? I'm an actor.
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  Speaker 1: I love it. I mean, if Miss Saigon from West
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: End and wants you for soldier number 2, I'm soldier.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Soldier number 4 is OK, but soldier number 2 though.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Oh my God,
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  Speaker 1: that's
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: close to main character vibes. Yeah, very close. Andrew Marco
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: that's grooving in the studio to Olivia Marsh, award-winning Singaporean actor,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: by the way. Just because you were like dancing to
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: a song, do you have like a go to song
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: or like artist that you have to play for the
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: confidence boost before you get on stage? Do you
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  Speaker 1: have
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  Speaker 2: kind
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  Speaker 1: of,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: yeah, I mean, I, I, uh, so I'm, I'm, I'm
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: an old man. I, I listen to a lot of
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: old music.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Um, so I'm actually, I'm actually a really big AC
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: DC fan, so that's kind of my hype up thing, right?
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Like I
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: know that.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Was that the cheerleaders, Dallas Cowboys? Oh yeah, the Dallas Cowboys.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I think that's the only reason why I know that song. OK, anyway, continue.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, you could say Iron Man, but never mind. OK,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: so I'm going to be very honest with you, Mr.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Andrew Marco. When I first got the email about your
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: upcoming production, I was like, this one got typo. How come?
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: How come got bracket title of show? And I realized it's.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Really called title of show, the brand new production from
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Sing Theater. So Andrew, tell us more about it. What
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: is title of show
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  Speaker 1: all about?
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  Speaker 2: Title of show? Well, I mean, everyone says that, uh,
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: if you ask anyone, it's really just a show about
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: and that's really it. Yeah, exactly. Um, but more than that,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: it's really, uh, I mean, just to, to summarize it better, uh,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: it's about two friends in New York.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: In the early 2000s, who try to create a show
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: to bring onto Broadway. And it's all about the, the
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: ins and outs of that process and the falls and
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: the
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: That's a terrible description.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: The highs and
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: lows. That's what I'm looking, the falls, and decline, the
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: falls and declines.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, we are. Yeah,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: exactly. So, yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, um, that's, that's what, and,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: but most importantly, the show is about like friendship. I
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: think it's about the process of creating something with your
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: friends and really that's the, the treasure, that's the thing
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: that you want at the end of the day, right?
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Whether or not your show goes on is just one thing,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: but it's about the friendship that you create, the connections,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: the shared.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Understanding the shared suffering, you know, that comes along with it.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Shared suffering. No, yeah, it's because it's uh, it's one
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: of those musicals where there's only 4 of us and
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: 1 keyboard. So there's nothing else to hide behind. There's
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: no like, there's no dance crew, there's no, there's no drums, music, anything.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: It's just our voices and the piano.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Humor and humor.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: So it's really, it's really tough. Like there's nothing to
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: hide behind. So every second of the show there is
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: something insane happening. So
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: I'm curious to know how much of it. Oh wow,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I mean
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I love, I love, I love, love, love, love, love
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: improv and I would love to have that. I tend
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: to go a bit crazy when I do improv on stage.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: So I've
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: seen it many times to be pulled back a little bit. Exactly.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: So
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: every time I.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Do that. Eric, our director, Eric, just gives me that
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: smile on that face and I'll know immediately that means
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: don't do that. And that, alright, OK, I guess we won't. But,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: but yeah, in the process of doing that, I love
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: improvising that because it helps the text sit in your
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: head better, you know what I mean? It helps you
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: understand the text better. So to be able to play
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: and have fun with the text and to improvise and
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: to just find little comedic beats that you wouldn't have, uh,
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: you wouldn't have found otherwise, that's.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: really fun process.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: On that note of Andrew improvising for National Day charade,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: I call him, I think was it 2 years ago? Yeah,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: it was 2 years ago. Every night, yeah, the audience
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: would shout at him different phrases. He kicks it down
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: he goes backstage, he writes a song, he comes out
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: and he sings it for us at the end of
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: the show. So who are your co-stars for title of show?
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: So
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: title of the show, I'm in it with this guy
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: called Reno. Reno Reno was playing the other.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Main character in the show and we've also got Vanessa
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Key and Daisy Anne Mitchell, who um is not an influencer.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: I think she's an
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: influencer.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we've seen loads of Daisy videos on TikTok. Actually,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: I think I've seen her content on TikTok before I
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: even realized that she was a theater actress.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, not a lot of people know that, but yeah,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: she is, um, she's also
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: with.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Would you say like your co-stars of the new generation
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: of theater theater kids here in Singapore, I think.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Is Daisy, I know from SOA. I'm not too sure
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: about Reno and Vanessa. Oh yeah,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: they're all kids.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: They
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: all,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: they all came from, from the, from that, uh,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: er, that era,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: that wonderful art school that's churning out wonderful artists every
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: single year.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, it's definitely the new generation. I definitely, I
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: feel so old.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Every
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: time
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: I
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: walk in the room. I'm the oldest guy
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: in
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: that room, and, and I walk in and I go like,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: oh man, like there's, there's just a lot of things that,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: that just as a millennial, like, it just it doesn't match,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: you know what I mean? Like, just it's like sometimes humor,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: sometimes music, sometimes just a lot of
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: things.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: About that. Right? About
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: just
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: being
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: misunderstood
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: as a
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: millennial. We're, we're the in-between, you know, misunderstood
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: millennials.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: There we go. That's the you can have it for free.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Oh my God. I won't even charge you. OK, before
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: we get to Misunderstood Millennials, tell us, where will it
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: be staged and the dates for title of show.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: So it will be at the Allianz.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Says Theater from the 15th to the 25th of April.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: So come and check it out.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: That's
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: very. That's next week. Oh my God.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, um, please plug your socials and how to
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: find you and more about this is
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: you can find out more information um if you go
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: to Sing Theater, Sing Theater um Instagram page, I believe
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: that's just at Sing Theater. And I believe my Instagram
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: handle is Andrew Marcoco, I think.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: You think, I think it's
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Andrew Marcoco.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Yes, Andrew Marco. OK, we're still live on TikTok. We're
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: gonna wrap it up there, but Andrew, thank you so
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: much for being with us so early in the morning.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: You're welcome to come back anytime. It feels like this
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: could be a segment or something. Maybe bring a guitar
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: and jam with us. 100%.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: We'll do improv songs every single
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: second of
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: the day.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Do it. You hope you enjoyed the chat with Andrew.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: But coming up tomorrow, it's like nonstop back to back
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: theater stars. She's one of our
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: and she's making waves on West End and she's here
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: in Singapore for a while, as long as the Les
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Miser Up Arena Spectacular runs and she has her very
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: own stand-alone concert happening very soon. So cool. Tomorrow, joining
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: us live on air and on TikTok, we have Nathaniel Ong.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, look, she's done us so proud and um
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: for the people who attended the premiere.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: They actually, some of them I saw some of the
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: people that, that went to watch, they posted up some,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: you know, like reviews and stuff, right? Mostly rave reviews
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: and um a lot of it had a personal touch
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: to it said, you know, just the fact, right, that
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: you see a fellow Singaporean taking the stage and just
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: belting it out like that. Some of them were like
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: close to tears.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Because they were touched and she's so fantastic. Should I
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: sing to her tomorrow? No, please don't. Hey, Les Mis
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: is my favorite musical of all time. We want her
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: to stay here for the interview, not leave, you know. OK,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: let me try. Please don't. Now bring me prisoner 24601.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Your time is up and your parole has begun. OK,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: you can do the spoken word thing.