Cheeyang Ng’s London debut concert: A bold step toward queer, south Asian representation

The show at the Crazy Coqs in Brasserie Zedel, London, will be an evening of songs from various musicals Cheeyang has in development

• Sarwar Alam
• 11 November, 2024

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By: Sarwar Alam

SINGAPOREAN singer-songwriter Cheeyang Ng is hoping their London debut concert, Fat, Femme & Asian, can act as a springboard to a West End production of a musical they are working on with acclaimed director Milli Bhatia.

The show at the Crazy Coqs in Brasserie Zedel, London, will be an evening of songs from various musicals Cheeyang has in development, including Maya: The Musical which they have written with Eric Sorrels and will be helmed by Bhatia in February 2025.

A number of talented singers, including Roshani Abbey (Hamilton), Desmonda Cathabel (Disney’s Aladdin), Diya Sohi (The Beaker Girls), Aaron Teoh (Wicked movie), and Sonya Venugopal (Life of Pi), will be joining Cheeyang to perform 11 songs on stage for Fat, Femme & Asian.

“It’s a celebration of three really undesirable words in the queer community and in the Asian community. The concert, it’s like reclaiming these words that defined me for a very long time,” Cheeyang told Eastern Eye from his home in New York. “I’m sharing a lot of my life through the context of these songs and the journey I’ve been on.

“Ideally, the hope is that people come being intrigued by the title of the show and what these three words mean and hopefully by the end of the evening, leave with an understanding of who we are, a little bit about myself, but also a little bit about each of these performers who have put a bit of their soul into the songs.”

Abbey, 28, added that it was “liberating” to be able to be part of a show about the joys and struggles of being queer that has been written by people from the queer community.

“I’m excited to be a part of it, partly because of queer writing, partly because of Asian writing, I’m so passionate about both of those things because we don’t get very much of it,” Abbey told Eastern Eye.

“A lot of stories about people of colour are written by white men, which is something that makes me frustrated. To be part of a group of people who are able to tell their own stories was really liberating.”

Cheeyang revealed that a number of the songs have been taken from titles from existing musical theatre songs that are “very straight, reimagined and turned on their heads, making them deeply queer and unique.”

For example, Someday My Prince Will Come from Snow White is about asexuality and aromanticism. And or As Long as Your Mine from Wicked sees two people who are gay and in love travelling through Paris. “These (original) songs are about people who are asking and yearning and craving heterosexual love – we put them in new a context,” said Cheeyang.

“The show is taking these experiences and putting them into new experiences for queer people. It’s the point that Roshani made, it’s about seeing ourselves on the stage because for a long time in musical theatre we just haven’t been there.”

Abbey will be singing two songs that have been taken from Maya: The Musical.

“I’ve done some queer cabaret, taking existing songs and telling them queer,” she said. “I love the concept because it means a lot for the people doing it because they become quite emotional when they reframe something to mean a lot more for them.”

Set in 1930s British India, Maya: The Musical, follows an aspiring poet named Maya Mehta, who sets out to make her mark on the world by joining Gandhi’s salt march as it passes through her town.

It has a contemporary score that fuses Indian classical music with Western pop.

The two songs that Abbey sings are for the character of Harini, who is the protagonist Maya’s best friend.

Maya is a steadfast character who knows what she wants and the reasons why she’s marching with Mahatma Gandhi. But by the end of the show, she starts to question, if her activism will be worth it. Will it truly make a difference at all if she holds on to her beliefs, because sometimes it takes so long for change to happen – in the moment, it feels impossible.

India does not get independence until 17 years after the events of Maya musical.

“Maya is the story of how one poet, one dreamer, one person can make a lasting mark on a movement,” said Cheeyang.

“It is based and inspired by the legacy of Gandhi, but also the legacy of Sarojini Naidu who was this incredible poet and activist that marched alongside Gandhi that very few people know of.

“The musical puts a lens on people who were involved in a revolution that has historically been forgotten.” Though the musical is not explicitly queer, Cheeyang said the real love story in the show is between Maya and Harini.

“We’re in the 1930s – we’re not going to be like, ‘yes, let’s champion queer’. There are a lot of queer undertones to it. A smart audience will pick up what relationships are central to the play.”

The musical has been a passion project for Cheeyang since he was in grad school.

The 34-year-old will bring it to London’s Soho Palace where Bhatia will be directing a workshop presentation for potential theatres and investors.

Before then, it will have its first public performance for an audience in New York with 32 people singing the score. “The dream is to go to do a regional world premiere here in the UK and get to the National or the West End and do an openended run,” said Cheeyang.

“If people miss Les Misérables, or Phantom of the Opera or Miss Saigon, they can watch this big epic British musical, a story that has yet to grace the stage.

“The West End has been doing a lot better in terms of representation – the first full east Asian show just happened in the West End (Shen Yun), but the last south Asian show that happened on Broadway was Bombay Dreams 20 years ago.”

Abbey explained that she is genuinely excited by the potential of Maya, as it could lead to a significant shift in south Asian representation in musical theatre. “There’s a lot of musical theatre that’s not accessible to us,” she said.

“When I went through drama school, there was a big movement towards authenticity, to try and cast people who represent the stories because for so long, east Asian musicals like Miss Saigon, The King and I, were all cast with people who weren’t from those regions.

“There was a big shift recently to actually cast people who look like they’re from these places, or from these backgrounds, or have these experiences.

“To look at Maya and see two canonically south Asian characters in musical theatre, that is not a Bollywood musical, is just incredible.”