| Rating: | ★★★★ |
| Category: | Other |
Broadway Beng, played by Sebastian Tan was quite a charmer, from the aunties, uncles, ah gong, ah mas to the young working professionals born in the late 70s, early 80s. Clearly updated with current affairs, BB was a very impressive piece of work, blending western influences with a Singaporean twists in songs.
As the locals would say, this is a "chio ka peng" (laugh until you fall) production. But i must warn that like any Ah Beng, there is quite a fair use of expletives - not excessive in a way that they punctuate every sentence, but definitely something you want your children to hear.In fact, interestingly, at one juncture, the audience even protested the use of his crudity which i gladly appreciated. There are also scenes of sexual innuendos as they explore the issues of foreign workers here and lives of prostitutes in Singapore which could potentially be uncomfortable and awkward for the more culture-infused crowd (as you'd expect to target if u have to be willing to pay over $50 for a ticket)
At certain moments in time , i really felt like i was watching a ge-tai but i think that was the whole idea of the production. a great blend of local ge-tai and western musical influences, BB brought the house down with his witty insights into quirks of western influence and current affairs. Sebastian Tan did an excellent job with the Hokkien numbers, that tickled the ears of its older audience (ie. my dad's generation) while leaving the younger group wowed with his rendition of Lion King and Sound of Music.
I recommend it to every young ah-beng at heart out there in Singapore, and to every closet ah beng that's been tied down with the protocols and decorum of the Westernized practices in here.
O and did i mention? as Beng as Beng was, he was quite the charmer still. haha
In case you're wondering, the lack of one more star is due to the unnecessary crudeness of sexual innuendos at certain sections of the musical.
"not excessive in a way that they punctuate every sentence, but definitely NOT something you want your children to hear."
ReplyDeleteglad u liked the musical. must be quite torturous for u to sit through the expletives hahaha.
it was more the sexual innuendos that i really detested. there were segments where to prevent the defilement of your mind and soul, you just had to shut your eyes. ears less so coz my hokkien not so powder-ful to understand all expletives, for which the translations that i definitely didn't need to ask. Actually my dad was sitting beside me and i think it was probably more awkward for him that i had to listen to some of those comments :P
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