GREAT WORLD CABARET by Dream Academy

“Glitz and Glamour in 70 minutes”

Reviewer: Isaac Lim
Performance: 6 March 2015

There was a time, not too long ago, in the 1960s, when people would gather at Great World Amusement Park, better known as “Tua Seh Kai”. This park was at the intersection of Zion Road, River Valley Road and Kim Seng Road, where there were nightly festivities, food and game stalls, and cabaret performances. It closed in the late 1970s. Dream Academy Production’s 4 weeks long run of Great World Cabaret at Resorts World Theatre attempts to recreate that joyous, carnival-like atmosphere.

With the performance held at the theatre next to the casino, and cheerful stilt-walkers and girls in shiny costumes welcoming patrons at the door, it certainly feels like a theme park – all in earnest without irony.

The show starts in the museum, when security guard Simon Tay, played by Shane Mardjuki, spots a girl still within the premises after its closing time. The girl supposedly resembles Simon’s sweetheart, Nancy Pereira (played by Adelene Chua), who he affectionately calls “Nan Nan”, often sounding like a crude word that attracts the audiences’ laughter. They then go on a trip back in time to relive the days of courtship at the famed amusement park.

A “typical” night at the cabaret then unravels on stage. There are wacky trio The Drunken Sailors performing stunts with a table, song and dance numbers by The Siglap Brothers (Caleb Goh and Linden Furnell), magic show by Foo You Or (J C Sum) and even an acrobatic performance entitled Great Wheel of Fortune by Qing Dao Acrobatic Troupe.

The supposed stars of the evening were the popular song girls Rose Chan (Seong Hui Xuan), Kartina Dahari (Aisyah Aziz) and Sakura Teng (Joanna Dong), who belted out classics of the time like “Rose Rose I Love You”, “Bunga Melur”, “Jasmine Flowers” and “Shake Shake Shake”.

The real star of the show that most of the audience came for, rather obviously, was the “8-minutes long stand-up comedy” (as publicized) by Broadway Beng Sebastian Tan. The stand-up comedy segment had a rotating guest performer for each of the four weeks. The other comedians include Mark Lee (as Valentiko), Hossan Leong (as Mat Tarzan) and Judee Tan (as Teo Chew Moi). Dressed in his signature bling-bling sequined suit, Tan stole the show with his talk-set about his love for food in Singapore, as well as a medley of food-related songs.

Time, in every sense of the word, was an issue with this offering. This reviewer can’t decide if the show was nostalgic, because there were very few trappings of the past, apart from the costuming and the sets. The trio of Chan, Dahari and Teng feels strange as well, with little to no referencing to the original songstress coming through their performances. And as much as Broadway Beng stole the show, he and his act didn’t fit nicely into the 1960s setting.

The night at the Cabaret was packed with performances, one after another, and despite the whole show clocking only 70 minutes in total, there were segments that felt a tad too long and stale. The Drunken Sailors antics were boring after a minute, and so was Foo You Or’s magic show: it was dry and hardly “magical”.

With big names roped in, including Alfian Sa’at for lyrics to the original song (Let’s Bo Bo Cha Cha), Benjamin “Mr. Miyagi” Lee for scripting the stand-up comedy acts, and George Chan as director, the show promised much more than it could deliver. It feels like a haphazardly put together show without much focus. The mix of contemporary and retro elements doesn’t quite come together, and it gets even more confusing with the impersonations and bad name puns.

Did it feel like being at a cabaret?

Yes, somewhat – many of the elements were in place.

Did it re-live the atmosphere of the original Great World Cabaret?

Maybe.

Will this reviewer keep coming back night-after-night to bask in the cabaret?

No.