INTO her OWN

Kit Chan has never felt more content than in her 50th year. Ahead of The LKY Musical, the veteran singer and actress tells us about her role as the legendary Kwa Geok Choo and what life holds for her now and in the future.

- AMELIA CHIA

It is a blisteringly hot day in early August and rehearsals have just started for the second run of the highly anticipated The LKY Musical—the first large-scale musical to take place on our island state in over two years. There’s a hum, tinged with a tangible underlying excitement, in one of the light-filled rooms at the Drama Centre, where the cast is about to read through the script for the first time. Adrian Pang, who plays the esteemed Lee Kuan Yew—Singapore’s first prime minister, lest you forget—ambles in quietly and takes his seat.

All eyes are on that last empty black chair. Kit Chan enters the room, dressed in a white T-shirt, skinny jeans and a colourful, shaggy vest—in a nonchalant, off-duty, Jennifer Aniston kind of way. She flashes everyone a bright smile and the ensemble begins to sing. Chan is the only woman in the sea of 20 males cast for the musical. She plays the role of Kwa Geok Choo, Lee’s wife, the lesser-seen but strong driving force behind all his endeavours.