As she tells it, however, not everyone was quite so enamoured of her singing when she was younger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy parents once took me to see a production of The Sound Of Music <\/em>in KL,\u201d she says. \u201cI have no memory of this, but I\u2019m told I got kicked out of the theatre because I was singing along too loudly!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that Cheryl is a bit of a \u201cmusical theatre nerd\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her fascination with the genre \u2013 one which requires performers to act, sing and<\/em> dance, often at the same time \u2013 began at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy dad had all these cast albums, and he used to take us to watch musicals,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEveryone else had an edgy musical teenagehood, when they listened to, like, Good Charlotte or Eminem or Nine Inch Nails,\u201d she laughs. \u201cAnd I was listening to Into The Woods<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To this day, she still cites Stephen Sondheim\u2019s classic \u2013 a brilliantly dark twist on the fairy-tale concept of \u2018happily ever after\u2019\u2019 \u2013 as one of her favourite musicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy dream role is every role in Into The Woods<\/em>,\u201d she reveals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For much of her youth, Cheryl was actively involved in theatre productions \u2013 including her first professional job, at the age of 15, in an adaptation of Philip Osment\u2019s Little Violet and The Angel <\/em>\u2013 and a show choir, The Young KL Singers (now known as The Young Choral Academy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n When she moved to the United States for college, however, Cheryl found herself drifting away from the theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI studied music and theatre at this liberal arts college in Connecticut,\u201d she explains. \u201cBut it wasn\u2019t a conservatory, so the work we did was more academic and historical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nonetheless, she\u2019s glad for everything she learnt there \u2013 she believes it opened up her horizons, both as an person and as an artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was an amazing place,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt helped me to think differently about the world and about myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019s not sure she would have had that same time and space for self-reflection and growth if she had been training exclusively for musical theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have to be a crazy craftsman and technician \u2013 you\u2019re singing and dancing for eight hours a day, essentially training like an athlete would,\u201d she explains. \u201cThere\u2019s not much time for anything else!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She took the opportunity to explore other interests \u2013 she got involved in Japanese drumming for a while, and when she returned to Malaysia in 2012, she sang jazz at clubs in KL for a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cheryl\u2019s life-long love of the theatre was revived in full force when she arrived in Singapore to audition for a film. While that didn\u2019t pan out (the movie itself got canned), she started going for theatre auditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She snagged her first role in Singapore Repertory Theatre\u2019s Young Co production of Red Riding Hood <\/em>\u2013 a show she remembers as \u201creally good \u2013 solidly written and very well-produced\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thereafter, her career took off. After making her main-stage debut in 2014 in Dick Lee\u2019s Hot Pants The Musical<\/em>, she won the iconic role of Ivy Chan Poh Choo in the 2015 revival of Beauty World<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019s since taken on ever greater challenges \u2013 from tackling Shakespeare for the first time in Romeo & Juliet<\/em>, to inheriting the role of Young Yehenara from the beloved Kit Chan in Forbidden City<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflecting on the past few years, Cheryl is proud of how far she\u2019s come \u2013 especially since it involved a great deal of learning on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m a much better actor now,\u201d she confesses. \u201cI didn\u2019t have formal training, although I took a lot of acting and singing classes on my own. So consistency was a problem for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was only in Forbidden City<\/em> that I really felt I was unlocking something there. I\u2019m much calmer now, as a performer, and more secure in terms of my vocals and my acting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cheryl is thrilled to cap off one of her busiest years yet with Mama White Snake<\/em> \u2013 Since the show opened in late November, she\u2019s been wowing audiences as Mimi, showing off her spectacular octave-vaulting voice on songs such as Wrong And Right <\/em>and Yuan Fen<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis role is a tough sing!\u201d she confesses. \u201cPrior to this, I had never sung above a D on stage before. And I have to belt an E-Natural in this show \u2013 twice!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nSchool Of Life<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Singapore Dreaming<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Taking A Walk On The W!LD Side <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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her first show with W!LD RICE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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