[category]
[title]
Rating: ★★★★★ (five stars)
Ticketing: checkpoint-theatre.org
Secondary: The Musical feels like a collective memory. One you don’t realise you’ve been carrying for years until it’s suddenly triggered. The booming voice of the discipline master, the caring teacher who spends remedial time with you after hours, and the ones who’ve built walls to avoid getting too close to their students. It all comes rushing back if you've been through the Singapore school system.
Written and composed by Weish and directed by Huzir Sulaiman, this breakout Singapore musical follows a burnt-out literature teacher and her struggling Secondary 3 class as they inch towards the make-or-break term four exams that will define their futures. In the second song, "Stand In Line", the lyrics go "Oh hey, pai seh, welcome to our play. Based loosely on lived realities we collected over a number of years, where we have learned to stand in line." Playwright Weish spent six years as a secondary school literature teacher, while also working on sound production projects with the Checkpoint Theatre team. This musical was born out of her personal experience as a teacher, as well as close collaboration with Huzir and the team, who spent three years shaping this production.
The musical follows Lilin, a teacher whose Inside Out-style emotions – empathy, cynicism, humour, optimism, discipline and panic – play out on stage as a chorus. We hear her intrusive thoughts as she swings between compassion and compliance. Around her is a trio of teenagers from the school’s worst class, 3F: Omar, emotionally neglected and using humour as a shield (as most big personalities from our school days did); Ming, the bright but overburdened caretaker slipping behind because of family responsibilities; and Reyansh, the socially awkward student who might have made the top class if only he’d done better in Tamil, a struggle anyone who’s taken a language-B subject will recognise.
Where the musical really soars is in its emotional fluency. Weish’s score doesn’t chase big, showy Broadway moments. Songs slip between English, Singlish and Malay, moving from sharp humour to quiet devastation. The musical opens with “Aiya", which I now find myself dragging out and saying musically under my breath. And much like how most Singlish words say so much in just a few syllables, “Aiya” sets the tone in telling us that yes, this production is unapologetically Singaporean and that we’re in for an exasperating ride.
I laughed till I cried, and then cried for real. The script is laced with hyper-specific local detail that makes the comedy land hard. The maths teacher, Charlie, (played by Teoh Jun Vinh), is a standout: a booming, sonorous voice paired with razor-sharp comedic timing. His segment of dad jokes, his coping mechanism of a phrase "what do you think?", and an interaction with a bubble tea auntie had the whole theatre howling with laughter. But by the second act, sniffles ripple through the audience as the show lays bare the cost of a system that prizes outcomes over people. "Buang Aku", performed by Ramzie Tahar, is brilliant songwriting, seamlessly blending English and Malay lyrics to speak to Omar's relationship with his distant father and his own self-worth.
Winner of Production of the Year at the 2025 ST Life Theatre Awards, Secondary feels destined to become a modern classic in Singapore’s theatre repertoire. It’s especially heartening to see school groups filling the theatre, fully engaged and recognising themselves on stage. Few compliments are greater than a group of teens spilling out after an almost three-hour-long show on a school night, buzzing with excitement, saying it gave them goosebumps.
As the musical itself suggests, local stories help us see ourselves more clearly. And with Secondary, Singapore has one that hits uncomfortably – and beautifully – close to home.
Time Out Tip: Secondary: The Musical is Culture Pass eligible, allowing you to redeem $100 to catch this production.
Secondary: The Musical. Victoria Theatre (Book now). Runs April 9-26. By Weish. Directed by Huzir Sulaiman. With Aaron Ee, Adeeb Fazah, Genevieve Tan, Johanna Van, Krish Natarajan, Lim Shi-An, Nadya Zaheer, Ramzie Tahar, Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai, Teoh Jun Vinh, Tiara Yap, Tricia Tan. Running time: 2hrs 45mins. One intermission.