Five minutes before the musical starts, I find out from a friend that it's pronounced 'Law Four', not 'Law Eye-Vee'.
Well then.
Timeline-wise, here are some quick facts about the class of 2025:
- They had their Orientation online, and so played their bonding games across Zoom—at least COVID generally didn't touch their exchanges, which went off without a hitch.
- They were the last batch to avoid taking Law & Tech (and the associated mods).
- They might be the last batch to serve a full four-year term at the Bukit Timah Campus.
This class' tenure at BTC isn't completely, unrecognizably different from every other class. But every graduating class has something special that only true cohort compatriots understand. Far be it from me to limit the class of 2025 to their online orientation camp, or what mods they need to take. "Class of 2025" probably means something different to every person of this 200-odd class.
Looking through the programme booklet for Law IV, the production that the graduating class of NUS Law puts on every year, I see the class of 2025 try to summarize what their four years mean to them.
And wow, there's so much to say. You could write a play about it.
The quality of the production isn't surprising to me, but it might be to the cast and crew, because most of them are coming in with little in the way of a stage background. Director Lee Hilman Zulkifli admits in his director's note that the production is proof that something can be greater than the sum of its parts.
Twenty-four hours to opening night, Samuel, the book writer for the production (the book writer is a musical's head scriptwriter), messages me: "I'm so nervous bro. I have been for the last two months."
"Honestly, we're all figuring out how this works from scratch," Samuel says. "I hope it goes OK."
The performance, honestly, is rough around the edges at times. It'd be lying for me to tell you that opening night goes off without a hitch; there are moments where the mics cut out, or where the music threatens to overwhelm the actors' voices. And I won't lie—when the curtain first parts and the musical starts off, I'm worried for a split second that Law IV might not be good. Not for any underestimation of my peers' talent on my part; it's just that writing and staging a musical takes effort and time that I can't comprehend.
My fears, thankfully, are baseless.
Because Law IV is very good.
What makes Law IV particularly good, in my view, is the musical format. I'd argue that the musical medium synergizes very well with the cast and crew's relative lack of experience, and any roughness-around-the-edges gets quickly smoothed over.
Because musicals are, by definition, a little bit goofy and scrappy. 'Campy', if you will. Normal people don't tell you their feelings via song, so that's one layer of realism gone. You have to suspend your disbelief a little bit to really buy into the idea of a musical. And when you suspend your disbelief, you find yourself forgiving and forgetting any tech issues that crop up.
Rather, you're too busy listening to one of the main four characters, Elise (played by Avril Lim You Rian), sing about her hunt for her ideal man—a doctor.
Get Me a Doctor!, composed and arranged by Gwen Lee, has me absolutely losing it. It comes right on the heels of In Another Tomorrow (composed and arranged by Chiew Chern Faye), which is a song that main characters Elise and Mia (played by Tan Ying-Jenn) break into after loudly declaring that "no one cares" about them.
The content of the songs are as funny as their placings within the setlist. I find that I can never anticipate when the next song is coming. At one point, Cyril Teo's Ash falls into contemplative silence, followed by dimming of the stage lights—I expect him to break into song, but he does not, and the scene moves on.
Instead, the songs come when you least expect them, like when David (played by Aloysius Lin) performs David's Breakdown.
It becomes very good fun to start guessing when the next song is coming, and what it'll be about.
Get Me a Doctor! is my favourite of them all.
"He must be a doc…tor / He must look hot in his scrubs," Elise sings.
In the audience, I am rooting for her.
Another thing I appreciate about Law IV is its script. It's funny and snappy, which is hard to do when you have to sneak in some law-related jokes. The scriptwriters manage to sneak in enough cheeky nods to law without it being grating. You know when Year Ones first come to law school and take Torts and Contracts and they don't stop making lame offer-acceptance jokes? Law IV doesn't do that, probably because it's written by Year Fours who've exhausted the gamut of bad freshie humour.
Like: "I only applied to law because I thought it would be funny," Ash says. "It's not funny any more."
Other times, the delivery is what makes it funny. Ash sheepishly tells Xinyi (played by Kristabelle Loke) that he's a Law student, to which she replies: "Uh, okay, sure. Why did you have to say it like that?"
It's all very cool. During intermission, my friend remarks: "This is a bucket list item crossed off."
I agree; I think watching Law IV once should be on everyone's bucket list of things to do before they graduate, alongside 'getting a training contract' and 'eat at every stall at the Summit'. I'm glad that I chose to watch it tonight.
Alongside the laughs is also a measure of introspection. The production starts off with two present-day NUS Law students inviting some distinguished alumni—the 1980 Fitz Moot team—back to school for a talk. They conveniently omit to invite the only member of the team without an impressive CV, Ash. Shenanigans ensue.
"My message through this musical is to say that there are many different paths in life," Samuel explains. "Not all of which are conventional, not all of which are easy, not all of which will necessarily gain us as much respect or recognition as others. But at the end of the day, we must choose the path that is right for us. We must recognise what keeps us happy, what gives us meaning, what makes us whole."
"It's been so amazing seeing this idea grow and be made, and especially seeing how much everyone has put in," he adds. Law IV has been a work in progress since last September, which makes it nearly a full academic year's worth of effort from the cast and crew.
Though he doesn't say it outright, it's obvious that Samuel (and the rest of the writing team, Ng Ziqin and Lee Hilman Zulkifli) has spent a good amount of time pondering what he's made of his four years.
The rest of the cast and crew probably feel the weight of their NUS Law tenure, too. Law IV is one of the last things they're doing in their capacity as law students.
And what a great ending note it is.
What else is there to say? Law IV: Legal Legacies is very good. If you missed opening night, count yourself lucky to have read this, and watch it Friday, 11 April 2025.
