Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Dim Sum Dollies
Tonight was a very splendid night, we went for a sumptuous dinner at Via Mar restaurant and wine Bar @ the Esplanade, courtesy of dad. It was a Spanish restaurant, the sautéed calamaris were great! But the sirloins were merely satisfactory, required mixes of sauces and mashed potato before I could get the taste right; the South African house wine wasn't too bad too.It was okay, the bill was a little stunning, but now that is life! A nice dinner followed by the theatre, after that we went to watch "Dim Sum Dollies", a hugely popular local play satirizing the lifestyle and history of Singapore. And apparently because of the popular demand, they have come back for another re-run.
Dad got the most expensive tickets at $110 apiece, and it was worth every cent. The show was absolutely hilarious, and the actors were extremely talented beyond words. The leads were Selena Tan (I Not Stupid 2002), Pam Oei (Titoudao 2007), Emma (Cabaret 2006), Hossan Leong (Donny Lee show).
The Dim Sum Dollies are well-remembered for boldly addressing contemporary Singaporean phenomena in a light-hearted manner. The 2004 installment of Revenge of the Dim Sum Dollies had the Dollies dressed up as Filipino maids in a fog-filled heaven (all of them apparently died after falling off ledges while cleaning their employers' windows).
Other memorable scenes in the history of Singapore was the scene how Singapore was founded by Sang Nila Utama (they used an ERA agent to persuade Nila to get the small island), how small the island of Singapore was, the growing years of rickshaws and they made a big joke out of it by relating it to the Formula One race fiesta; and Samsui women complaining. Plus the Japanese kamakazi, the “integrated resort” in the 80's consisting of Opium dens, Brothels and gambling dens all coming together as one.
Then they had kampong talk comparing to an en bloc sale today, and satirizing our Minister Mentor, with puns with every sentence like FabulousLEE, AmazingLEE, HappiLEE.. Just plain hilarious!
The actors were totally talented in mimicking the accents of other races, Emma Yong's impersonation of a upper-class British expatriate having cantonese maids was excellent! As with Pam Oei acting as the maid. Plus Hossan Leong acting as Mahatmir Ghandi (an Indian), and Selena Tan acting as Mao Zhi Dong. Excellent talent!
In real life, the Dollies are three of Singapore's best-known theatre practitioners who have participated in several other plays and productions through the years, such as the show that Pam Oei acted in “Titoudao”, and Hossan Leong in a number of plays and hosting the “Donny Lee Show”
The 2 hour show was completely hilarious and worthy of two thumbs up!
