CHRISTMAS 2011: Home For Christmas
CN PHOTO: Ferrine Seik.
In the Christmas drama, Justin (the Bieber-esque dancing doll), played by Lucas Chia, had his arm ripped off by zombie toys. It wasn’t so far from real life: Chia was injured badly during the rehearsals just before the actual performance on Dec.23 and had problems lifting his right arm. “There was this horrible stabbing pain every time I tried. Thank God He helped me through the pain and I still managed to act in the end. I was really bruised and banged up in that scene where the zombie toys beat me up, but knowing that so many hearts were touched and seeing so many people received salvation was worth everything.”
It might have looked like an easy role, playing a male doll, but Chia had to train hard for his part. You couldn’t tell watching him on stage but dancing is not Chia’s forte. “I’m not a trained dancer, so I spent a lot of time in the studio with the dancers from O School, they really whipped me into shape. I also had vocal lessons with Alison Yap and Mark Kwan as well. At first I was preoccupied with trying to sound good, but Ally told me to sing from my heart because that’s what really touches the people.
“I spent a lot of time praying and fasting before the drama for that scene where I sing ‘I Want To Go Home’ (written by Caroline Tjen and Mark Kwan). It’s the most emotional and touching part of the drama, so there was a lot at stake.”
Possibly the easiest part of his preparation was growing his hair to resemble a certain Justin. “I couldn’t cut my hair for a few months! It was horrible at first but now it’s grown on me. I think I’m going to keep this (long) hair. I also had to watch the Justin Bieber movie Never Say Never—now I’m a belieber!”