Bridging the past and present in this original musical about student mental health.

A college musical is difficult, maybe even impossible, to get exactly right. No one expects it to reach Broadway or West End standards, yet everyone still hopes it will be good enough to make them feel something. To round off SMU Arts Fest 2025, MAD The Musical takes on this challenge with heart, aiming to deliver a show that encourages fun, nostalgia, and ultimately, emotional honesty.

Written by Jo Tan and directed by George Chan, MAD The Musical follows the journey of Isabel (Melody Faith Ng), a present-day SMU undergraduate trying to break free from her reputation as the dependable “good girl” who picks up everyone else’s slack. When tasked to research a historical site for a class project, she learns that SMU once stood on the grounds of Singapore’s first mental hospital, founded in 1841 at the corner of Bras Basah Road and Bencoolen Street.

As Isabel dives into the archives, she becomes obsessed with the mystery of the asylum’s first female patient: a woman history knows almost nothing about. Projecting her own insecurities onto this imagined figure, Isabel envisions her as Luna (Michaela Leong), a fierce, outspoken rebel who fought back against a misogynistic system. Soon, Luna takes on a life of her own, becoming both Isabel’s confidante and conscience.

Through this imagined friendship, Isabel learns to stand up for herself, asking out her ADHD-ridden crush Joel (Lennel Chua), defending her best friend Rita (Shayanne Chang) from an overbearing professor (Neil Dyason), and rediscovering her own voice. Yet as she grows bolder, the story asks whether confidence can tip into obsession, and whether rebellion without reflection only deepens one’s isolation.

At its heart, MAD The Musical is about the universal weight of stress and the quiet unraveling that happens when we try to carry it all alone. Rather than glorifying Isabel’s determination, it becomes a cautionary tale about what happens when we internalise our struggles instead of opening up, a reminder that strength is not the same as silence.

With a relatively small cast, the production makes smart use of the Drama Centre Theatre stage to make it feel filled. Wong Chee Wai’s set design cleverly frames scenes to focus the audience’s gaze, while Andrew Wijaya’s lighting design helps create intimacy even in the show’s bombastic moments, while also amping up the bigger numbers.

One of the most striking creative elements comes from Andy Benjamin Cai’s choreography, allowing the dance ensemble (Joshua Lee, Danial Asri Koh, Wong Wee Keat, Alex Loon, Glendon Hiah) transforms musical numbers into vivid, music-video-like spectacles. A dark reimagining of J.Lo’s “Let’s Get Loud” turns the asylum into a fever dream of silhouettes and spinning beds, while an exuberant take on “Hey Mickey” injects humour and energy as the dancers hype Isabel up.

As a mostly jukebox musical, MAD leans into familiar hits that speak more to millennial nostalgia than Gen Z tastes, from Green Day and Panic! at the Disco to 1989-era Taylor Swift. August Lum and Mark Tan’s musical direction deserves praise for rearranging these songs to serve the narrative, turning pop anthems into scenes of madness, yearning, and release, not unlike shows such as & Juliet, where familiarity fuels reinterpretation.

That said, the cast’s vocal abilities don’t always rise to the demands of these rearrangements. While they give their best, some numbers lack the power and polish needed to fully land. Yet where technical finesse falters, chemistry compensates. Melody Faith Ng’s Isabel is charmingly awkward and deeply relatable, capturing the anxiety of trying to “be someone” in a world of constant comparison. Sam Wu brings quiet frustration as her single father, while Lennel Chua’s portrayal of Joel offers a grounded and empathetic enough depiction of ADHD. Shayanne Chang, meanwhile, steals every scene as Rita, a social media-obsessed friend whose bravado hides genuine vulnerability. Michaela Leong’s Luna is compellingly eerie yet tender, making for a haunting embodiment of Isabel’s inner storm.

The show’s crowning moment arrives in its final act, when everything MAD has been building toward finally clicks into place. What begins as a lighthearted student musical finds surprising emotional weight, culminating in a finale that resonates beyond the campus walls. Executive Producer Jimmy Ye’s original songs “No More Words,” “Mad About,” and “Tell Your Own Story” bring cohesion and catharsis, matching the cast’s strengths and giving them the chance to truly shine.

As each character sheds their facades and finds forgiveness, MAD The Musical transcends its early unevenness to deliver a heartfelt conclusion about vulnerability and connection. When Jimmy Ye himself appears onstage to address the audience, the room hums with the infectious energy of creation, that slightly “mad” mix of passion and purpose that drives people to make art even when it’s hard, even when it’s imperfect, as the ensemble sings ‘Mad About’ one last time.

In the end, MAD The Musical feels less like a polished production and more like a collective outpouring of stress, hope, confusion, and care. Its imperfections mirror the very chaos it seeks to portray, and perhaps that’s the point. Mental health, after all, isn’t tidy. Yet through music and movement, these students find their way to clarity, turning personal turbulence into something that speaks to everyone who’s ever struggled to keep up. In that light, MAD isn’t just about telling a story, but about starting a conversation that needs to be heard.

Photo Credit: SMU

MAD The Musical played from 26th to 28th September 2025 at the Drama Centre Theatre. More information available here

SMU Arts Fest 2025: 2560 ran from 22nd August to 28th September 2025. More information available here