Magical Sentosa

This article is about the last program at the Sentosa Musical Fountain. For the fountain itself, see Sentosa Musical Fountain.
Magical Sentosa

The show's poster, featuring Kiki the Hyperactive Monkey of Sentosa, Mr Whamsey, and Princess Pearl
Music Philippe Villar and Pascal Lengagne
Lyrics Philippe Villar and Pascal Lengagne
Book Yves Pépin
Jérôme Scemla
Productions 2002 Sentosa Musical Fountain

Magical Sentosa (also known as Sentosa Magique [in French] or 神奇圣淘沙 [in Chinese]) was a multimedia nighttime show hosted at the Sentosa Musical Fountain on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore. The multimedia show is the last musical to be staged on the fountain itself. The musical; oriented to children; ran for less than five years before being eventually discontinued in 2007 and replaced by Songs of the Sea. Magical Sentosa has been mainly noted as the most popular performance ever staged at the musical fountain, with 3,176,000 spectators from 2005 to 2007 alone. Plans for the performance began in 2000 when Yves Pépin (who also designed Songs of the Sea) decided to design a show to suit Imbiah Lookout's theme of fantasy. Using ideas from an earlier ECA2 production in France, Pépin created the show within five months, using some of the characters and plot elements of the previous show. After the restoration of the fountain, engineers began installing new equipment to create the all-new nighttime show which placed then Sentosa mascot, Kiki the Hyperactive Monkey of Sentosa, as the host of the show. It was also the first time that viewers were able to see him in CGI.[1] The show was known internally at ECA2 as "Sentosa Water and Fire Fantasy Show".

Development

Origins

In mid-2011, research showed that Magical Sentosa is actually a replacement of another earlier ECA2 production titled, Le Lac Aux Images.[2] Le Lac Aux Images was made to celebrate French theme park, Futuroscope's tenth anniversary in 1997.[3] The show; which operated in Futuroscope's own musical fountain in France, closed down in 2002, the same year of Magical Sentosa's release. Its plot used some of Magical Sentosa's own plot elements and characters, but possibly the most prominent character to appear in both shows was Princess Pearl, with most of her scenes reused for Magical Sentosa. The musical centers on a character by the name of Ouïatouké, who is voiced by renowned French voice actor, Luq Hamet.[4][5] Ouïatouké's name is a French pun on the abbreviation, "Y2K" or the year 2000 problem; a possible reference to him as a glitch.

Both shows were produced by ECA2, but the names of most of the cast and crew have not been released, possibly to protect their identities. Despite this, credits in French are seen rolling at the end of the DVD footage from Le Lac Aux Images. Some similar names can also be seen in the cast and crews of both shows. Amongst the names that are credited was the then unknown Pierre Coffin, who would later go on to direct the critically acclaimed Despicable Me franchise.[5]

Production and Opening

Not much is known about the show's developmental period other than its soundtrack development. This is due to the fact that there was very little press material released by the media and ECA2. A majority of information sources have directed viewers to the show's credits and reviews. Bang Productions managed the show's technical design[6] while Fischer Media Group helped ECA2 produce and remaster graphical elements based on Claude Lifante's original models from Le Lac aux Images.[7] Concept art pieces by Dominique Fages; originally found in ECA2's 2010/2011 annual report, shows Kiki posing with some somersault moves similar to that of the Monkey King. Some of these poses have ended up on the show too. Many official sources mentioned that the show was developed over the course of five months at the cost of SGD$4 million. The show, was eventually opened on the 19 September 2002 to a much anticipating audience of an estimated 150,000.[8]

Post production and DVD recording

During the first performance of that night, a Fischer Media cameraman filmed the show with a standard definition camera. It was later edited by ECA2 to produce the show's DVD footage, now only existing as a fragment on Fisher Media's website.[9] In 2010, the footage was restored to the high definition format as ECA2's trailer for Magical Sentosa. But this trailer was reedited and cut in 2012. However, it was recently realized that the full, edited trailer from 2010 has resurfaced on ECA2's YouTube page, alongside the trailers of all the permanent shows produced by ECA2, including the full trailer of Le Lac Aux Images.

Although largely unknown by audiences during the show's five-year run, official copies of the show on DVD were sold along with the show's official soundtrack at a souvenir shop called Kiki & Co., titled after Kiki's namesake. The merchandise shop was located along the fountain gardens promenade that connected the musical fountain and the Sentosa ferry terminal. After the show's final run on 25 March 2007, the DVD was considered lost by audiences who were aware of the DVD's presence, and although the soundtrack was rediscovered in January 2013, the DVD has yet to be found. Although some say that several copies of the DVD had been salvaged, the contents of it have not been released to the general public due to its significant rarity. As of today, the only known footage from the DVD is a short montage of the show on Fischer Media's official website.

Credits

The following people who are listed, are according to ECA2 press releases:

Uncredited in Press Release

Possible reprised roles

Plot

Kiki is seen here in this famous curled-tail pose from the Hello Hello segment.

The show begins with a fountain master named Mr Whamsey (as mentioned by Kiki later on in the show), greeting the audience. He shows off his skills to the audience, by first showing the fountain repeating his tune, followed by a grand orchestra piece, and finally a soft soothing water-themed song, (Water Waltz), but before he can finish a segment known as "Grand Finale", the fountain displays on both the terrace pools grind to a sudden halt. Mr Whamsey is startled by the sudden halt, and desperately tries to restart the fountains. There is a sudden flashing of strobe lights, followed by Kiki making his signature laugh. He breaks the fourth wall (glass shattering is heard in the background at that moment as a pun), laughing out of control at the audience before going back into hiding. When Mr Whamsey asks the audience what was making that sound, Kiki reappears and surprises Mr Whamsey, while introducing himself to the audience. Kiki challenges him into a duel for control of the Sentosa Musical Fountain, resulting in a semi-chaotic fountain sequence playing, with whimsical Circus-like music and ending with several powerful bursts of water at the audience. Soon after, he introduces Mr Whamsey and the audience to his friends (Hello Hello), and the amazed Mr Whamsey plans to enter "Magical Sentosa", the parallel universe which Kiki lives in. Kiki then directs Mr Whamsey into a secret tunnel, which can be entered through the fountain's "SENTOSA" plaster sculpture's letter "O".

Upon arrival, he is greeted by an unseen school of sirens and mermaids alongside on-screen faries. Mr Whamsey, who attempts to enter "Magical Sentosa" through its gates is then put through two challenges, an unstationary floating scaffold and a colliding entrance gate. After succeeding in both challenges, he plays with bubbles for a minute or two before meeting the beautiful siren princess, Princess Pearl, who sings her enchanting siren song (Princess Pearl Song) to the audience and dances gracefully for them as she is surrounded by more bubbles. After the image of Princess Pearl fades from the scene, Kiki, while floating on a bubble himself, reveals to the audience his feelings towards Princess Pearl, then treats the audience to a song (It's My World). Magical Sentosa's 'creatures of fire' are then summoned by Kiki to put on a terrific fire show while a projection of Mr Whamsey dances in the background on a waterscreen. He then gets forcibly ejected upwards in an animation similar to 'Le Lac Aux Images' and finally exits through the sculpture's "O", and compliments Kiki for the wonderful experience. Kiki then sings the song, Here Everybody Lives In Harmony. When he sings the last note completely out of tune, a fireball suddenly shoots up, awakening the Merlion who puts on a stunning laser display for the audience. Kiki performs his last fountain piece, a reprise of Here Everybody Lives In Harmony then bids the audience goodbye and Mr Whamsey completes of what is left of the "Grand Finale" before bowing to the audience and taking his leave.

Comparison With Le Lac Aux Images

Ever since it was discovered that Magical Sentosa was actually a replacement show to one of ECA2's earlier productions, Le Lac Aux Images, many who had watched the only known high definition video footage of the show in France and have watched the Magical Sentosa show as well, would have noticed that ECA2 reused many plot elements and characters from Le Lac Aux Images.

This is a list of the similarities between the two shows.

Music

The original, "Songs and Tunes from The Original Soundtrack of Magical Sentosa" soundtrack album is considered a collectable due to the fact that it is rare and has historical significance. It used some early material from Le Lac Aux Images with several modifications. The soundtrack has largely survived in home video format, some of the tracks were actually bootlegged by audiences who have watched the show itself. The original entire soundtrack was thought to be lost for 6 years after the fountain's closure, until an anonymous Singaporean YouTube user found it in his / her home on January 2013.

All tracks written by Philippe Villar and Pascal Lengagne. 

No. Title Length
1. "Water Waltz"   1:37
2. "Circus"   00:49
3. "The Mermaids Song"   02:12
4. "Princess Pearl Song"   1:57
5. "It's My World"   01:51
6. "The Fire Ballet"   00:57
7. "Here Everybody Lives In Harmony"   2:29
8. "Grand Finale"   02:10
Note

2013 rediscovery

On the 30 January 2013, a Singaporean YouTuber who goes by the eponymous username "caix92" rediscovered the album in its original entirety. In a comment he / she mentioned that the album was originally bought by him / her shortly before the show stopped operations in March 2007.[11] The rediscovery of the album also revealed entirely new and unknown cast members involved in the making of the soundtrack. Examples included, Adele Masquelier who did the soprano voices for Hello Hello and the Princess Pearl song and Jerome Scemla, who wrote the screenplay for Magical Sentosa. The album's artwork which was thought to be lost was also shown in all of the video thumbnails.

Characters

Kiki the Hyperactive Monkey of Sentosa

Kiki, a lime green coloured monkey; is the main protagonist of the show. During Mr Whamsey's performance, he interrupts the "usual program" intended and appears laughing hysterically at the audience. He then challenges Mr. Whamsey to a duel over the control of the Sentosa Musical Fountain. Afterwards, he introduces the surprised Mr. Whamsey to several of his friends, namely the mock band "The Fantastic Fish", and other unnamed characters. He then invites Mr. Whamsey to the alternate dimension where he lives. Kiki also acts as a guide to Mr. Whamsey throughout his journey in the alternate dimension. Despite this, the both never appear on the water screen at the same time. When the latter finally returns, he bids Mr. Whamsey and the audience farewell, reminding them that he'll be waiting for them. He then makes his trademark laughter and disappears from the scene.

Mr. Whamsey

Mr Whamsey is a "fountain master" who first appears when he makes his entrance on to the fountain's symphony stage. He shows off the audience his skills with several performances on the fountain but before he could finish the final segment, his performance is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Kiki, who is first seen laughing out of control before jumping back into hiding. Kiki then reveals himself to Mr. Whamsey, and he is challenged by the latter to a duel over the control of the Sentosa Musical Fountain. He is then introduced to several of Kiki's friends, and persuades Kiki in excitement to invite him to the alternate dimension where the hyperactive monkey lives. When he does, he is greeted by the beautiful siren princess, Princess Pearl. He later exits the alternate dimension and compliments Kiki for the wonderful experience. When Kiki bids the audience farewell, he finishes the final segment of his performance, before bowing and taking his leave.

Princess Pearl

She is the beautiful siren princess who first appears after Mr. Whamsey manages to arrive in Kiki's world. Her head is adorned with countless bubbles, or pearls, hence giving her name. She appears as she rises from the fountain, and smiles at the audience. A dolphin plunges into the fountain, before she breaks into her enchanting siren song. Her image then switches, where she dances to the audience. As she finishes her dance, her image fades and sinks back into the fountain. Princess Pearl's sequence has been noted as the most remarkable as she was directly recycled from ECA2's earlier production, Le Lac Aux Images. The only differences being her image mirrored for Magical Sentosa, and the use of only one of the two dolphins that were seen plunging into Futuroscope's musical fountain in France.

The Fantastic Fish

The Fantastic Fish are a band consisting of laser-colored fishes that are just a few of Kiki's friends. They first appear in the song segment for, Hello Hello. Later on, more of Kiki's friends appear, namely two sea creatures called, "The Crazy Fish", a monstrous whale-like creature, and a robot named, Omeo. The band then reappears during the climax of the song and as they disappear from the scene, a mass of laser-colored bubbles shoots up in front of them. They would later reappear in a cameo in Kiki's song, "It's My World". As Magical Sentosa uses quite a number of references to Le Lac Aux Images, most of Kiki's friends and the laser-colored bubbles were actually from the latter.

The Merlion

Although not considered a prominent character, the Merlion statue located behind the fountain comes to "life" when Kiki sings the last note of, Here Everybody Lives In Harmony, completely out of tune. The eyes of the statue emitted a green laser that shone down onto the fountain and when the song ends, it comes to take Kiki, who subsequently bids farewell to Mr. Whamsey and the audience.

Reception

The musical opened with a few positive reviews from the media. Today mentioned that the show's fire and water elements made "fantastic partners"[8] while The Straits Times noted it as an "even more spectacular fountain show".[12] Sentosa Development Corporation's then CEO, Darrell Metzger, complemented that the show "needs to be experienced to be believed".[8] On the negative side, the show was also deemed and criticized by many as childish and a "show for kids" due to its theme. Award winning author, Neil Humphreys, also criticized that the interaction shown between Kiki and Princess Pearl was "infatuated" and "randy". He also compared the show to consuming LSD.[13]

Closure

After 25 years of operation, the Sentosa Musical Fountain was closed down to make way for Resorts World Sentosa, Magical Sentosa staged its last show on 25 March 2007, after less than 5 years in operation, before it was shut down to let demolition works commence. A few amateur videos of the final show eventually surfaced to video sharing site, YouTube. Although most of the structure was torn down, part of the old foundation was kept and was used for the construction of the Lake of Dreams show that stands on exactly the same spot where the fountain once stood.

Legacy

As a result of the fountain's closure, many came to film the final show. A majority of these footages filmed have ended up in family archives and mostly on video sharing website, YouTube. One such notable example is a video done up by YouTube user jingxi, her videos of the final show have gathered a total amount of 9600 views. Another notable video posted by alvinngheng, can also be found on YouTube. The tribute video consist of a mix of other YouTubers uploads of their own videos of the fountain. The show had left a large fan cult following since its start of operations. Some also noted that the soundtrack of Magical Song (Reprise)" sounds very similar to the score Grand Finale, heard playing towards the end of Songs of the Sea; the soundtrack was believed to be recycled for the show. Magical Sentosa is also believed by some to have left its mark on Songs of the Sea, for Princess Ami from Songs of the Sea is believed to be an incarnation of Princess Pearl from Magical Sentosa.

Web documentation

Also posted on YouTube and the Web are rare footages of the show. Few copies of the show on DVD are known to have been salvaged, although until this day, no content from the DVD has been released to the general public.

On the Web

Magical Sentosa HD Trailer - This rare long-lost high-definition trailer was rediscovered on ECA2's website in 2010.[14] The sound is in high definition which is extremely rare at that time. It was also discovered it was reedited by ECA2 from Fischer Media's footage of the show on the first night of operations, although in 2012, the trailer was reedited and cut to about a third of its original time length. Fischer Media's original video fragment can still be seen on their website.

On YouTube

A video covers up the first 51 seconds of the show with the full and muted soundtrack of Here Everybody Lives in Harmony which not many have filmed.[15]

Soundtrack from Magical Sentosa - Water Waltz - this bootleg recording of Water Waltz is one of the only two existing samples of the score ever to be released to the public from the Magical Sentosa Soundtrack.[16]

Futuroscope - Le Lac aux Images 2000 - Spectacle Entier - Partie 1 un 2 This video is possibly the only video to show one of ECA2's earlier productions, Le Lac aux Images which uses some of Magical Sentosa's characters and plot elements, most notably Princess Pearl.[17]

See also

Notes

References

  1. ↑ Magical Sentosa experience by Lonely Planet
  2. ↑ ECA2: France 2000-2003 Le Lac aux Images (Futuroscope)
  3. ↑ History and construction of Futuroscope (fr)(archived)
  4. ↑ Le Monde du Doublage Français - Facebook page
  5. 1 2 Futuroscope - Le Lac aux Images 2000 - Spectacle Entier - Partie 2
  6. 1 2 Bang Productions: Alain Gaillard Portfolio
  7. ↑ Fischer Media: Projects
  8. 1 2 3 21 September 2002, Page 21 Today (Spitting fire, spurting water)
  9. ↑ Fisher Media: Magical Sentosa film
  10. ↑ Magical Sentosa ECA2 site
  11. ↑ Princess Pearl song: Page 1 of Comments
  12. ↑ "Fountain's Hot New Show". The Straits Times. 2 September 2002. p. B24.
  13. ↑ Final Notes from a Great Island: A Farewell Tour of Singapore. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish. 2006. ISBN 9812613188.
  14. ↑ "Magical Sentosa ECA2 site". Archived from the original on 10 September 2011.
  15. ↑ fountain_1.avi
  16. ↑ Soundtrack from Magical Sentosa - Water Waltz
  17. ↑ Futuroscope - Le Lac aux Images 2000 - Spectacle Entier - Partie 1


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