BEAUTY WORLD by Dick Lee and Michael Chiang

“Beauty Whirl”

Reviewer: Walter Chan
Performance: 13 November 2015

A tame re-staging of a classic that is more fizzle than sizzle.

Photo credit: Alfred Phang

How does that saying go again: “If it isn’t broken, -”…?

For the uninitiated, Michael Chiang’s Beauty World is a Singaporean classic. First performed in 1988 by Theatreworks, the script was updated by Chiang for its 20th anniversary production by W!ld Rice. Now, in 2015, the version being performed strongly resembles the latter, with minor tweaks to make the script “darker”, according to director Dick Lee.

The plot should be familiar to audiences, even to those who have not seen the various versions of this musical. Nineteen year-old teenager Ivy Chan from Batu Pahat crosses the Causeway to look for her father, with her only clue being a jade pendant that he left behind, engraved with the words: “Beauty World”. The script is Chiang’s homage to the Chinese soap operas of the 60s, with the plot taking numerous predictable twists and turns for melodrama and comedy. On this preview night, the theatre is packed with a distinctively mature crowd with wisps of greying hair. The atmosphere is decidedly convivial, with the audience cheering and clapping after every song and punchline. They are here to enjoy a night of nostalgia, and no one is going to stop them.

Yet, if like me, you have no memory of the 80s (let alone the 60s, which is the story’s context), with no nostalgia to bolster the show’s entertainment, the quality of the performance has to be judged for itself. Sadly, it feels like it has all the potential of spectacular performance, but it ends up being a rather subdued knockoff. Now I remember the second part of the saying…

“It it isn’t broken, don’t fix it!”

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: TV actress Jeanette Aw’s turn as Lulu is passable, but unfortunately, her voice is clearly not accustomed to carrying and projecting a melody onstage. In addition, the one-dimensional character of Lulu does little to show off Aw’s acting chops, and as a result, Aw’s “star power” can only realise itself after the show – at the post-show autograph session (please queue up in an orderly fashion, and please purchase the programme booklet first!).

In addition, the latent pessimism in the original script becomes full-blown cynicism in the 2008 rewrite (upon which the current version is based); heady 80s glamour gives way to a stupefied delirium, as the present script is firmly rooted in realism. The trials and tribulations of the Beauty World girls are brought down to earth to resemble our own –  I find this to be the biggest weakness of the show. Firstly, this iteration subverts its own escapism; secondly, the removal of the show’s timelessness makes the script plainly ordinary and dated. Yes, these characters are ultimately shown to be broken, but… so what?

Hmm… maybe I should be asking another question instead: Why break this proven formula to begin with?