15 May 2009

Raffles of Singapore. An exciting musical seeks its first production in the UK.

This full-scale musical about the life of Sir Stamford Raffles was first produced to accalaim in 1979 in the Victoria Theatre, Singapore, by a company of professional West End actors. The co-writers now seek to have the show produced in the UK by one or more pro-am societies who could show-case the musical and hopefully attract a commercial producer to mount the show in the West End.

The story is based on historical fact. Stamford Raffles rose from being a clerk in the East India Company, London, to the rank of Lieutenant Governor of Bencoolen, whence he founded a settlement in Singapore in 1819. He did so without the permission of the East India Company whose response was to strip him of his pension and leave him indebted and financially broken.

The musical by Richard Cleghorn-Brown and Ian Senior has the support of the Singapore Tourist Board, and both SUKA and the Singapore Business Group are arranging for the co-writers to present the show at meetings that are in the process of being arranged. Members of CreativeSinergy who are also members of SUKA and SBG may wish to contact the chairmen Conrad Chua and Nicholas Woo respectively about these arrangements.

The co-authors are actively seeking to raise £10k in sponsorship to insulate one or more pro-am operatic societies against the risk of producing a new musical instead of one from the standard repertory such as My Fair Lady.

Any individual or company interested in sponsoring Raffles of Singapore could contact
iansenior@aol.com for more details about the terms of sponsorship.