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THEATRE The National Broadway Company Ooh, a meta-musical! Ong Keng Sen directs this production that looks at theatre production in Singapore. Basically it’s 2012 and there’s a search for the artistic director of the National Broadway Company. We still don’t know the connection, but it’s also got to do with the first staging of Beauty World (which OKS also directed) and the folks behind it—who will be performed as characters. I think. Oct 12 to 14, 3pm, 8pm, Esplanade Theatre. Casting Back It’s a look at Singapore theatre-making from an actor’s perspective. Casey Lim directs, Robin Loon writes, and Nora Samosir and Christina Sergeant perform as themselves. Oct 13, 3pm, 8pm, Esplanade Theatre Studio. Rant & Rave Oooh, a play about reviewers and critics. A “whirlwind tour” of theatre history from the perspective of the critics. Hannah Pandian got namedropped in the blurb. Reviews stretching back to the `80s will be “dramatised” and debates re-enacted. Chong Tze Chien directs this with Janice Koh and Siti Khalijah performing. This. I. Have. Got. To. See. Oct 14, 3pm, 8pm, Esplanade Theatre Studio.

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DANCE SideBySide Five choreographers each make a new work as a tribute to their personal artistic inspiration. Tammy L Wong goes for war heroine Elizabeth Choy, Joavien Ng makes her own superhero, Ming Poon and Scarlet Yu perform together (er, not sure if they’re paying tribute to one another) while, get this, Daniel Kok creates a solo show for Low Kee Hong—who becomes a cheerleader. Heehee. Oct 12, 8pm, Esplanade Theatre Studio. En Anubhavam—My Inspirational Journey A performance about “marriage, motherhood, tutelage and travel” that sees dancers Shantha Ratii, Suganthi and Jeyanthi Kesavan and Roshni Pillay come together. Okay it’s not just a dance performance as it’ll also include musicians like YAA-ers Ghanavenothan Retnam and Aravinth Kumarasamy, vet vocalist Baghya Moorthi and percussinoists T Ramanana nd R Shankar. Oct 13, 3pm, 7.30pm, Esplanade Recital Studio.

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MUSIC Constellation—Esplanade’s 10th Anniversary Concert An all-star jamming session. Of sorts. By top names in the local classical music scene. We didn’t see Melvyn Tan’s name in it but still looks like a damn formidable line-up: Lan Shui and Joshua Tan as conductors, Siow Lee-Chin as one of the violinists, etc. You get the picture. Spearheaded by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, which also played the opening concert a decade ago. Oct 11, 7.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Star Of The Heart: Remembering Zubir Said We’re promised a concert to showcase the songs of the hotshot Malay film composer (not to mention the dude behind the national anthem) like never before. Performers include R Ismail, Julie Sudiro, Aliff Aziz, among others, with the Orchestra Melayu Singapura as back-up, lead by musical director Amri Amin. Zizi Azah directs. Oct 12, 8.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall Our Songs From The Heart You’ve got local xinyao classics, `80s TV drama theme songs and recent Mandopop songs performed by Tanya Chua, Joi Chua, Kelly Poon and Chen Wei Lian with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. A shout out (melodious, of course) to folks like Liang Wern Fook, Billy Koh, Si Song and Wei Song, Dick Lee, Jimmy Ye, etc. Oct 13, 7.30pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Samarpanam—Memories From The Silver Screen Tamil movie songs from the `60s to the `90s performed by TV personalities Indra and Bhavani Elamaran, L Vijendran, Malarvizhi, among others. Oct 14, 7pm, Esplanade Concert Hall. Sound>tracks B-Quartet/The Observatory’s Bani Haykal, Great Spy Exeriment’s Saiful Idris, The Stoned Revivals’ Esam Salleh, Heritage’s Atwell Jansen and The Mother/Steel City Skies’ Nigel Hogan come together. With Little Ong art directing. Woot. Oct 12, 7.30pm, Esplanade Theatre Studio. Poetic Charm This one’s also a bit of a mix as Ding Yi Music Company presents a night of Chinese poetry, music and painting courtesy of Quek Ling Kiong, Ong Teck Chon, Lim Jing Jing and Tay Bak Chiang. Oct 14, 7.30pm, Esplanade Recital Studio.

*** VISUAL ART Erm, actually, from what I know so far, there’s only one. Remember the 13 Steps contest they held some time back where you get to pick what installation you wanted to see at the Concourse? The winner – and the one that’ll be put up, although I still think all four should be shown at some point – was Chua Boon Kee’s In The Affairs Of Cats And Dogs, The Government’s Involved And So Shall We (a.k.a. the one with the red and white dogs and cats sculptures. Cutie.) That said, hopefully, more visual artists get to participate. Perhaps not at the Tunnel or Jendela, which are already taken, but outside venues because there are still other…

*** FREE STUFF Erm, will let you know once we find out what they are. Ciao!

*** For more details on the shows, you can go to the Esplanade website, www.celebratinglife.com.sg (where they'll be posting videos updating you on the shows) or the Celebrating Life 2012 page on Facebook.