Stories of youth and redemption in Dreams Take Flight

Last week­end, the stage at Queen's Hall be­came a can­vas for some of the most press­ing strug­gles fac­ing young peo­ple to­day.

Dreams Take Flight, pre­sent­ed by the Er­rol Ma­habir Memo­r­i­al Foun­da­tion, used dra­ma, mu­sic and dance to tell sto­ries of pain, re­silience and the pow­er of be­liev­ing in one's dreams.

Writ­ten by Col­in Ma­habir and di­rect­ed by stage di­rec­tor Dr Helmer Hilwig, with artis­tic di­rec­tor Bri­an Mac Far­lane, and mu­si­cal di­rec­tor June Nathaniel, the pro­duc­tion fol­lows four cen­tral char­ac­ters: a sad but hope­ful or­phan search­ing for love in a lone­ly world; a young woman whose low self-es­teem has led her to sell her­self on the streets; a con­fused young man in search of iden­ti­ty; and a de­spair­ing ad­dict fight­ing drugs and al­co­hol. Each sto­ry shows how, even when trapped by hard­ship, peo­ple can find a way out through self-be­lief and hope.

The pro­duc­tion was as mu­si­cal­ly rich as it was emo­tion­al­ly grip­ping. A live band led by mu­si­cal arranger and key­boardist Gre­go­ry Wong Fo Sue, with Ja­mal Win­ches­ter on ad­di­tion­al key­boards, Josh Samer­son on lead gui­tar, Rashaad Ahong on bass and Lemuel Davis on drums, un­der­scored the dra­ma with a mov­ing orig­i­nal score.

Vo­cals by a youth­ful en­sem­ble -- No­rah Reid, Au­ro­ra Tardieu, Rozean­na Win­ches­ter, Ja­mal Win­ches­ter, Luke Samer­son, Can­dice Al­can­tara, Mar­vin Smith, Devin Har­ry Paul, Michelle Xavier, Les­ley Lewis-Al­leyne, Can­dice Ma­habir and Josh Samer­son -- added emo­tion­al depth and soar­ing har­monies to the nar­ra­tive.

Light­ing de­sign­er Celia Wells bathed the stage in dra­mat­ic hues, am­pli­fy­ing the sense of trans­for­ma­tion at the heart of the show. Au­di­ence mem­bers de­scribed the pro­duc­tion as "raw, re­al and up­lift­ing", with many leav­ing the the­atre vis­i­bly moved.

For the Er­rol Ma­habir Memo­r­i­al Foun­da­tion, Dreams Take Flight con­tin­ues its mis­sion of us­ing the arts to in­spire and em­pow­er. Af­ter its Queen's Hall de­but, the pro­duc­tion heads south to the South­ern Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (SAPA) for three per­for­mances on Sep­tem­ber 19, 20 and 21, giv­ing au­di­ences there a chance to ex­pe­ri­ence its po­tent mes­sage.

With its blend of orig­i­nal sto­ry­telling, strong per­for­mances and live mu­sic, Dreams Take Flight is more than just a stage pro­duc­tion -- it's a call to ac­tion, re­mind­ing au­di­ences that even the most trou­bled lives can be trans­formed when hope and self-be­lief take cen­tre stage.