DIM SUM DOLLIES: THE HISTORY OF SINGAPORE PART 2 by Dream Academy

“Dolly Folly”

Reviewer: Andre Theng
Performance: 13 December 2014, 8pm

The Dim Sum Dollies are back with a sequel to their last production (History Of Singapore Part I was staged in 2007), the History of Singapore Part II. The well-known trio of Selena Tan, Pamela Oei and Denise Tan (who replaces the late Emma Yong) have become somewhat of a local pop institution. They have performed for ‘Singapore Days’ abroad; they’ve also become public transport ambassadors (“Love Your Ride…”). This iteration of the History of Singapore series is directed by Glen Goei, and presented by Dream Academy at the Esplanade Theatre.

The formula of this show is no different from previous shows: the dollies perform a series of skits and sketches together with sidekick Hossan Leong. Completing the cast is a group of “Lor Mai Guys”, or back-up dancers. This time, the post-colonial history of Singapore comes under scrutiny and gets the “Dolly treatment”, tackling events such as the introduction of National Service, the opening of Changi Airport and more recently the influx of “foreign talent”. The sketches are presented in chronological order in various degrees of explicitness; while certain sketches were unambiguous about the event being presented, others required some “decoding” to understand. For example the foreign talent debate was presented in terms of “local and foreign flowers” with each cast member playing the role of a different flower and where each cast member was a different fruit in a sketch illustrating the 1987 Marxist Conspiracy.

In my opinion, there are definite hits and misses. There are good bits, like during a sketch about our local athletes, many of whom are new citizens and which combined other issues such as the recent spate of MRT breakdowns. However, the inclusion of other relatively minor events in our history may have done nothing to raise awareness of them during the audience. For example, the election of opposition Member of Parliament J.B. Jeyeratnam in 1981 and the Marxist Conspiracy are events that are possibly not so well known. I think the many expats in the crowd would have missed the references. In addition, the combination of many different languages and Chinese dialects that challenged a native Singaporean such as I (although admittedly largely monolingual) would surely baffle the poor foreigners.

Overall, History of Singapore Part II fell short. There were a few laughs to be had, but the music by Elaine Chan was excellent. Given the relatively high ticket prices, the show seemed to have attracted a well-to-do crowd looking for some entertainment, and the production came across as engaging “rich people problems”. But there can only be so many times that we hear the same clichés about Singapore, and although Dim Sum Dollies tried to offer something in between political commentary and light-hearted festive entertainment, it was neither.

Often during the performance, I had to listen attentively to get some of the jokes especially those contained within lyrics which were said or sung so quickly. I thought that was a ploy to sell more CDs so that one could re-listen to the music. If you want some of the Dolly-esque humour, perhaps you can visit their YouTube page for clips of their old shows, and if you are in the mood for some socio-political humour you may be better off listening to a Mr Brown podcast. Dream Academy is re-staging Part 1 of the show next year for a third run, but the Dollies are in need of a new formula, or at the very least, cheaper tickets.