Mear passion
The Business Times, Singapore
Stephen Mear, who's in town to choreograph a musical adapted from 'The Ugly Duckling', tells PARVATHI NAYAR why he's not an 'easy-life' choreographer.

DANCER-turned-choreographer Stephen Mear loves his work, but he doesn't really need to tell you that. More than words, his passion for dance is evident in the unconscious ease with which he shows a move, snaps his fingers to time, throws out an attitude arm. Interviewing Mear, it turns out, isn't a sedentary process at all.<P>UK-based Mear is in town to choreograph Singapore Repertory Theatre's production of the musical Honk! by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. Honk!, winner of the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Musical, is a funky updated re-telling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale The Ugly Duckling.

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Mr Showbiz
By Nick Smurthwaite for The Stage


Happiest when busiest, Stephen Mear appears to eat, sleep and breathe choreography. Audiences and critcs alike respond to the

flair he invests in his work, as evidenced by his popularity in the West End and two Olivier wins, writes Nick Smurthwaite

Matthew Bourne calls him Mr Showbiz and, for an English choreographer, Stephen Mear is not afraid of being glitzy, glamorous and a touch Broadway.

The fact that he won an Olivier award, with Matthew Bourne, for Mary Poppins in February this year and has been head-hunted by Disney for Little Mermaid, their next big screen-to-stage musical, seems to prove that nothing succeeds like excess.

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