The 7/8 Musical Collective

A New and Adventurous Musical Theatre Collective

about the collective

The 7/8 Musical Collective is a contemporary theatre collective that specialises in the musical theatre genre. Made up of professional musical theatre nerds with decades of industry experience locally and internationally, the collective’s focus lies in developing a contemporary musical theatre voice in Singapore, through producing contemporary musical theatre works and engaging in the development and incubation of new works.

We believe musical theatre to not only be a great form of entertainment for audiences of diverse backgrounds, but also a meaningful and effective medium for audiences to both immerse themselves in a different world, and to use that experience to reflect upon the world they live in. The powerful combination of the immediacy of dance, the transcendence of music, and the intellectual and emotional core of character and storytelling, help make the immersive and transformative experience of a musical not only possible, but probable. This is what we hope to bring to our audiences. That and some good ol’ musical entertainment, of course!

The 7/8 Musical Collective believes in seeking continued ways to improve, ideate and innovate in the field of musical theatre in order to push the boundaries and possibilities of the art form, to achieve excellence through outstanding professional practices, and, in so doing, to bring the works we create to more audiences in Singapore and beyond.

what’s in a name

7/8: read as “seven eight”, is a complex time signature used in musical compositions. It is one of the most exciting time signatures in musical theatre due to its uneven and irregular structure. This gives the listener the feeling of being on the edge, of change, and that something exciting is about to happen. The ⁷₈ Musical Collective, like the time signature, aims to break the regular, comfortable structures, taking its audiences through the unconventional and the unexpected. The reading of our name as “seven-eight”, also alludes to the second half of the well-known and oft-uttered phrase that counts performers into a song or dance: “5,6,7,8!” – a phrase that also generates a feeling of excitement and anticipation of what is to come.

In the same way that the ⁷₈ time signature makes the music feel like it is pushing forward, the ⁷₈ Musical Collective is also always pushing forward, looking to improve ourselves and our processes, and working with our fellow artists to keep the industry moving forward and upward.

the humans of 7/8

7/8 Musical Collective is made up of long-time collaborators Joanne Ho and Seong Hui Xuan.