Shanghai Blues The Musical （上海之夜）

Toy Factory is well-known (but not necessarily in a good way) for shamelessly riding on the stars of the moment when it comes to marketing their productions. This time is no different. Shanghai Blues - The Musical was well-marketed with all the hype surrounding Hong Kong’s anti-drug ambassador and singer, William So (苏永康), 881 star, Mindee Ong (王欣) and Dim Sum Dolly, Emma Yong along with Jeffery Tan, Resident Choreographer of Singapore Dance Theatre choreographing the dances in the performance.

Set during World War II in China, the story started with the Japanese invasion all over the land. In the chaos, Lim Wen Chong (William So) and Du Yun (Mindee Ong) take shelter under a bridge on a dark moon-less night. So dark that both were conveniently unrecognizable. The two protagonists broke into a William So song with extremely cheesy rewritten lyrics. They talked briefly about where they were going and what they wanted to do. Wen Chong was a musician who was about to join the army against the Japanese. Du Yun was just fighting for survive. The superficial dialogue conveniently has both of them falling in love in the darkness and breaking in and out of the cheesily rewritten song and conveniently making a pact to return after the war was over. And just before they had to part ways in the darkness, Du Yun had to give Wen Chong the conveniently shameless slut kiss, which conveniently leaves Wen Chong surprised, so that a second shameless slut kiss can be planted. Oh yes, there was also the convenient token love momento, half a mantou (bun). Plus, the best part: they conveniently did not exchange their names for identification.

If you have noticed the frequently used conveniences, Yes, the script was written so conveniently that it made a trip to 7-eleven seem like an expedition. The characters were so superficially written and the rewritten song was downright crass and had a backfiring effect which was painfully comical. Unfortunately, there would be more of such horrendous and thoughtless scriptwriting.

So as conveniently as the war started, the war ended. And conveniently, 8 years passed. Wen Chong returns unscathed physically and emotionally by the ravages of war. And in his hand was a mantou, even more sickeningly convenient and cheesy was that a joke about a stale 8-year old mantou had to be weaved into the script. He appears like a little boy stepping into Disneyland for the first time. He conveniently reunites with his auntie who gives him a job in her nightclub.

At the nightclub, he bumps into the star singer who was conveniently Du Yun. They do not recognize each other because it was conveniently written previously that they didn’t get visual confirmation and the names of each other. They broke into to same cheesy rewritten song because it was convenient that they feel a strange connection. But she isn’t the same anymore. Previously a simple girl, now she is a seasoned and jaded songstress. I thought there would have been a bit of recap of the things she went through in the 8 years, but other than the regurgitated story of that night under the bridge from a convenient diary that was even more conveniently read out loud by Dan Lei (Emma Yong), she suddenly became a seasoned and jaded performer! So how the did that even happen? Oh yes, that part was conveniently left out.

So conveniently, Wen Chong and Du Yun were also neighbors who conveniently hate each other because they irritate the hell out of each other. Even more conveniently, was Dan Lei who ends up knowing Wen Chong in the cheesy, carbon copy way Du Yun first known him under the bridge. Conveniently, Dan Lei starts to fall for Wen Chong.

The plot had to have Du Yun chancing upon Wen Chong at the bridge and revealing she was the girl he met under the bridge, but he brushes it away thinking she was playing a prank on him because conveniently, she was a different person from 8 years ago.

Predictably, the story unfolds to reveal a convenient love triangle where the 2 leading ladies realize each other’s love/infatuation for Wen Chong and started pushing the other to him. Conveniently, each has their own back up plan so that they could play the to-love-is-to-let-go drama. Du Yun has a cao angmoh (stinky caucasian) wanting her, along with a bitchy and nasty rival who wants the cao angmoh for herself. Dan Lei enters and wins a beauty pageant but soon realized that there would be a price to pay.

Before Du Yun leaves with the cao angmoh, Dan Lei and Wen Chong share a dinner together. Dan Lei asked Wen Chong for an unforgettable night of beautiful memories before she loses herself in her newfound fame. Wen Chong rejected that he didn’t want to have an unforgettable night of nightmares. So conveniently, both spill to each other about the night under the bridge 8 years ago. Dan Lei reveals that Du Yun is the one Wen Chong had been waiting for all these while.

Wen Chong rushes off to the find Du Yun at the departure. With a little bit of cajoling, Wen Chong manages to make Du Yun sing along in that awfully rewritten song and therefore returning into each other’s arms.

On closing, Wen Chong’s song conveniently hit the airwave and made famous thanks to the connections of the cao angmoh because he would do anything for Du Yun.

And so the story ends. The script was unbearably cheesy and awfully corny. It failed spectacularly with an unconvincing story which didn’t even attempt to tug at the heartstrings. It took war so lightly like a flip of a page that it was appalling and unacceptable.

Thankfully, the show was kept alive with the wonderful performers. Every one was convincing in his/her role even with the lousy script. Being a musical, the singing was in general pretty good and enjoyable. While Mindee isn’t as seasoned in singing, she put up a good effort even when her voice was easily over-shadowed by William’s and Emma’s.

The dance choreography by Jeffery Tan flowed very well in the scenes in the nightclub, but those outside seemed a little too gay for themes of revolution and war in those tumultous times.

As for the set, it was as awkward as it was ingenious with the orchestra sitting right in the middle of the stage the whole time. Just about every set item had multiple uses when positioned differently, quickly changing to different scenes. However, this versatility seemed to have left the entire stage looking rather tattered and unmaintained with loose lines and ropes dangling all around, which I believe shouldn’t be the case for the nightclub scenes.

So yes, the show overall left a really bad flavor, not to mention a continued bad impression of Toy Factory. Well, at least the performers did not disappoint.

不知岛的名字 by Dramabox

At first, people had to go to the arts.
Then, they brought the arts to the people.
Now, the arts bring the people to places.

不 知岛的名字 literally has the audience hop on a tour bus along with a ‘tour guides’ explaining the snippets of the locations we pass by and the destinations we will arrive at. Pretty quirky that a local is being brought around Singapore like a tour. But Dramabox did a great job presenting their research findings through an outdoor play that brought us to Labrador Park and the original NTU gate, the minimal set up felt really like last time the ah gong tell story.

First Stop: Labrador Park

Dramabox traced the history of Singapore’s name with a light-hearted theatre that questions if Sang Nila Utama really did see a lion. Because according to historical records, lions never existed in the region.
So how in the world did Temasek become Singapura?
Did Sang Nila Utama see wrongly?
Or was he mis-educated to identify a tiger for lion?
Can you imagine country being named Harimaupura?

Also discussed was Dragon Teeth Gate a.k.a. Batu Berlayer a.k.a. Lot’s Wife. This rock formation was a guiding landmark for incoming boats but also posed a threat as it was a perfect hiding place for pirates to ambush. Eventually, it was blown up for the safety of sea-farers.

The multiple names came about from different perspectives. Particularly, Lot’s Wife was aptly named after the character in the bible who did not take heed and looked back to Sodom was turned to stone. The parallel of Sodom? It was Pulau Belakang Mati where the inhabitants were wiped out by Malaria. In order not to bring up the sorrows of the deaths, the island was renamed to Sentosa.

Since we were on the topic of Sentosa (and the Integrated Resort), Lot’s Wife and Sodom (where all the vices congregated), how about putting Lot’s Wife in the gambling den? Keep that to your imagination as we moved on to our second stop.

Second Stop: The Original NTU Gate

I think this is one of the most historically significant of establishments from the time under British colonial rule. Chinese immigrants set up Nanyang University to as a beacon of hope. The university embodied the belief that a better education would bring about a better life.

Our ancestors always thought about their descendants’ future. So when the idea of a local University was brought up, the piece of land was given and everybody did what they could to contribute to the building fund. Many professions dedicated a day’s earnings to the fund, even the prostitutes were no exception (historically true).

But it wasn’t smooth sailing for university. The students were persecuted on many occasions and no recognition was given to their certificate. While NTU is well-recognized today, the alumni from long ago still contest for the name of their university to be restored even till this day.

Afterthought

It was definitely an enjoyable experience and an eye-opener to many unseen facets of our local history which were never taught in the classroom during my time. Kudos to Dramabox for their diligent research on the topic, their innovation to bring their audience out to places for theatre, and the quality performance that teaches and entertains at the same time.

Theatre Review: 251 - Disappointing, superficial and all hype with boobs

Proof of attendance

There was much media coverage on 251, especially since it was about Annabel Chong. The debate on what she represents to and for Singapore rages on even until today. But for the media and the public, everybody is lapping up all the hype generated by this piece of porn theatre. I mean people probably thought: Annabel Chong + theatre = live porn! I know that’s what I tell people when they ask about it. Once again I have to hand it to Toy Factory for the amazing marketing efforts which is really an artform in titself itself. There was were articles in the last 2 issues of FHM Singapore, front page coverage on ST Life!, contest on MIW (which I won the free tickets from) and even an nsfw mention.

But publicity isn’t what I want to talk about. Since all performances have sold out, it is now a “civic duty” to provide a quick synopsis and review of the show.

Synopsis
The script is simply paper-thin. Basically it is a feeble attempt to re-enact a behind-the-scenes for Sex: The Annabel Chong Story. While the director apparently put in much thought into the performance I think most of it was not communicated to the audience, at least not effectively. So everything ended up pretty superficial.

Then there is the constant attempt to stab at the government, its policies and regulations. From talk about the frivolous pursuit of becoming number one and getting into the Guinness Book of Records (which was an attempt to connect Annabel’s record breaking feat) to a rather crude cross references of sexual positions to the typical Singaporean safe and ideal passage through life from birth to education to working life to marriage to procreation and finally death and the contingency if one slips up, and finally to the corny rendition of We Are Singapore (There was a time when people said that Annabel wouldn’t make it, but I did)

The topic of censorship was brought up through mentions of totally distasteful exhibitions where Josef Ng cut off his pubic hair, Vincent Leow drinking his own urine and Shannon Tham vomitting [reference here]. I have to say that its mention was pointless and extremely detrimental to the script. The discussion of forum theatre, which was sadly, only briefly mentioned, would have made a better, positive and constructive impact on the topic of censorship.

So the show pretty much left me in a mild state of disgust, mild because I didn’t pay for the tickets, not to mention relief. Then Loretta, the director, came on to the stage to thank the audience and dedicated the show to her parents. I was like, Huh? You are dedicating borderline porn to your parents in the audience? I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty inappropriate dedication. Oh well, whatever floats the boat.

Last but not least, and probably most importantly, where there any boobs? Yes! But only Ah Girl’s pair which is quite ample. And I think the make-up artist even put lip gloss on the nipples too, shiny tits.