Beauty World...Cha Cha Cha
In summary, I thought it was a pretty good show with great female vocals, but sad to say I found the male (lead) vocals a little disappointing. I thought that pai-kia lookin' Ah Hock (Daren Tan) could have stretched his vocal range a little more, considering how limited and a little off-key he was when he was tired. Dwayne Tan, who played the other male lead, was truly hilarious in his version of "I...I....I....Ivyyyyyyyyy" (oh, so Singaporean, really).
More impressive were the performances by Denise Tan (carabet star, Lulu) and lead Elena Wang (Ivy, goodie-two shoes girl who worked in a carabet to find out who her father was). I absolutely loved the way how Denise Tan coyly sauntered about in her dress injecting sentences of, "Everybody loves Lulu!" in that half-hiccup voice of hers, but what won me over were their vocals...with Denise Tan's rich and sonorous ringing through crisp and clear, whilst Elena Wang took her place at the other extreme with her warm and harmonious lyrics spun with emotions.
Irene Ang (as ah-soh club caretaker, Wan Choo) couldn't have been any more ah soh even if she tried - right smack down to staccato swearing in the Cantonese language versus the very typical Singlish like "Aiyo, I dunch know!" Alongside with her was equally Mummy-ish Neo Swee Lin - bringing back the nostalgia of the 1960s.
Beauty World is Singapore. It is typical Singapore in all forms - language, people (where else do pai kias like Ah Hock exist?), mannerisms (think Wan Choo and her ah sohness), setting, and even the jokes cracked...all these have flavours of Singapore in them. It articulates Singapore in a way that only those who have busked in the culture of Singapore will appreciate the musical. My two thumbs up to it.
Looks like my stint in National Arts Council will bring plenty of these in 2008, yeah?
In summary, I thought it was a pretty good show with great female vocals, but sad to say I found the male (lead) vocals a little disappointing. I thought that pai-kia lookin' Ah Hock (Daren Tan) could have stretched his vocal range a little more, considering how limited and a little off-key he was when he was tired. Dwayne Tan, who played the other male lead, was truly hilarious in his version of "I...I....I....Ivyyyyyyyyy" (oh, so Singaporean, really).
More impressive were the performances by Denise Tan (carabet star, Lulu) and lead Elena Wang (Ivy, goodie-two shoes girl who worked in a carabet to find out who her father was). I absolutely loved the way how Denise Tan coyly sauntered about in her dress injecting sentences of, "Everybody loves Lulu!" in that half-hiccup voice of hers, but what won me over were their vocals...with Denise Tan's rich and sonorous ringing through crisp and clear, whilst Elena Wang took her place at the other extreme with her warm and harmonious lyrics spun with emotions.
Irene Ang (as ah-soh club caretaker, Wan Choo) couldn't have been any more ah soh even if she tried - right smack down to staccato swearing in the Cantonese language versus the very typical Singlish like "Aiyo, I dunch know!" Alongside with her was equally Mummy-ish Neo Swee Lin - bringing back the nostalgia of the 1960s.
Beauty World is Singapore. It is typical Singapore in all forms - language, people (where else do pai kias like Ah Hock exist?), mannerisms (think Wan Choo and her ah sohness), setting, and even the jokes cracked...all these have flavours of Singapore in them. It articulates Singapore in a way that only those who have busked in the culture of Singapore will appreciate the musical. My two thumbs up to it.
Looks like my stint in National Arts Council will bring plenty of these in 2008, yeah?