Margaret Leng Tan, Up Close And Very Personal

AT 74, MARGARET Leng Tan has no secrets to hide. Like many famous people who've been in the limelight for decades, she doesn't balk at talking about her medical conditions, her close friendships and the death of a loved one. The avant garde toy pianist was, in fact, in the process of writing her memoir when the opportunity came up to turn some of that material into a word-and-music performance. She jumped at it.

The work titled Dragon Ladies Don't Weep will have her speaking directly to the audience about episodes of her life, in between playing on the piano, the toy piano and other instruments. Tan describes it as ''a sonic memoir in 3D format'' dramaturged by playwright-director Koh Heng Leun and director Tamara Saulwick.

''I'm living my life on stage - I'm not acting,'' she insists. ''Those two are not the same things.''