PETER Ong loves to sing. As a boy growing up in Penang, his love for the craft was cultivated in a children's choir singing classical repertoire. This love was nurtured further by his father who had a penchant for classical music and his aunt who loved operas and would organise performances, bringing in troupes from the UK.
If he had had his way, Ong would have gone to music school, but at that time, the choice was not his to make. Instead, he read law at the University of Bristol and earned a master's in international business law at the London School of Economics. But all this while, he never stopped singing. "Music and singing is a part of my life that I cannot divorce," says the tenor. "There is no turn-off switch or button."
Ong studied with soprano Janet Price and was a soloist of the Bristol University Opera Company as well as a singer with the university's Madrigal Ensemble. He even performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was awarded the University of Bristol Alumni Association Award for Voice for two consecutive years.
Ong came back to Malaysia after completing his studies and joined McCann Erickson as a strategic planner. "I wanted to do something creative because I've always liked the creative arts,” he explains. But after two years, he felt it was time to do what he'd always wanted to do, to pursue his first love, if you will.
"One of the wake-up calls I had was when one of my friends at university passed away," Ong recalls. "She was very young, and she was one of the brightest in our year … she passed away from cancer… My philosophy ever since then has been do what you want to do and be happy with what you're doing. I consider myself very fortunate because I know what makes me happy."
He adds, "I was actually quite happy with the job. I did what I wanted to do, learned what I wanted to learn. But then I thought, 'If I don't get my ass back on stage, I would regret it.' So, I took the plunge."
Ong has not looked back since.
He made his debut with Lyric Opera Malaysia as Spoletta in their 2003 premiere production of Tosca at Istana Budaya. His talent as an opera singer has also seen him perform around the region, most notably in Thailand with the Bangkok Opera and Singapore with the Singapore Lyric Opera and the Sing-Song Club, in concerts and productions including Turandot, The Merry Widow and Don Giovanni.
Ong has also crossed over into doing musicals. His debut was as the big bad wolf in the 2010 Always in Wonderland — a musical written and directed by Nell Ng and produced by PAN Productions — a musical theatre company that Ong, Ng and Alizakri Alias founded together.
The company, which focuses on staging standard musical theatre repertoire, has also staged Cabaret and Wizard of Oz, both of which Ong had a part in — as the flamboyant emcee in the former, and the cowardly Scarecrow in the latter. Ong's most recent gig is as the lead of Bobby in the Stephen Sondheim classic musical Company staged by Dream World Productions in Singapore.
The opportunity to step into someone else's shoes and delve into his psyche is why Ong enjoys performing and acting. "It allows me to get a glimpse into someone else's life," he says.
"Take Don Giovanni for example. It allows me to figure out why Mozart would write this amazing music, why would he make the structure as such. There's a lot of his personality and thought process in his music. As with any other composers — they leave bits of themselves in their music.
"That, to me, is very intriguing. For me, it's about finding out how they ticked. It's the same for roles. I just finished playing Bobby in Company. It's so rare to do Sondheim; it was a double joy for me. I could delve into his music and I could delve into this person who is of my demographic: 35, single and who's searching. I find it very rewarding to be able to understand other people."
Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and Benjamin Britten's Turn of the Screw are two works that Ong hopes to be able to do one day.
In the meantime, musical-theatre lovers caught Ong in April tackling a role that he says is nothing like him — the wily Max Bialystock in the PAN Productions staging of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, The Producers, at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre.
"He is really such an over the top character in every single way," says Ong. "He sleeps around with geriatric women to raise funds for his shows and does a whole song and dance about it. I'm glad to have the opportunity to do this role because it would be very taxing for me in terms of comic timing and character work. And because it really is not me, I cannot draw any parallels whatsoever."
Based on the 1968 film of the same name, The Producers revolves around the story of Max and Leopold Bloom (played by singer Vince Chong) who have discovered a sure-fire way to make a fortune on Broadway. Their scheme entails enticing little old ladies to invest in a musical flop — they think they've found their play in Springtime for Hitler — and they will then run off with the money when the play closes on opening night.
"We thought that the political temperature might be a bit high, everyone might be a bit stressed, and so we thought let's do something nonsensical," Ong says. "It's just something that's a lot of fun. It's a spoof of a spoof — it doesn't take itself seriously at all."
The musical is directed by Ng with music direction by talented young composer Onn San and choreography by renowned dancer and choreographer Farah Sulaiman. In addition to Ong and Chong, the supporting cast and ensemble comprises Safia Hanifah, Alfred Loh, Alizakri Alias, Joshua Gui, Ashley Chan, Callista Chuah, Megan Chng, Mae Elliessa, Lynn Tan, Denise Yap, Abdul Muhaimin, Brian Cheong, Benjamin Lin, Paul Wong and Dennis Yeap, with a special appearance by soul diva Elvira Arul.
"It's going to be a fun night out," says Ong. "Come in expecting lots of laughs. The cast is really quite brilliant; they've been working really hard."
Ong hopes to be an inspiration to the younger generation of performers. "A lot of people in the ensemble are young kids looking for a career in this industry… What I want to pass on to the kids is that there's a lot of pride and dignity in doing what you love. Don't be afraid to go down that path."
The Producers played from April 26 to May 11 at Pentas 2, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre.
