The Papaya Sisters Judee Tan (left) and Joanna Dong (right) - photo courtesy of Toy Factory Productions.

881 The Musical is a glamourous and ditzy affair filled with glitzy costumes and toe-tapping numbers.

Adapted from the hit movie 881 by local director Roystan Tan, it tells the story of two ill-fated getai* fans who meet, become best friends and decide to pursue fame and fortune as getai singers. Through the two hours, we embark on a whirlwind and sequin-studded roller coaster journey as the Papaya sisters (played by Judee Tan and Joanna Dong) conquer the getai circuit, battle rivals and fall in love.

You won’t feel Lonely Alone

Most of the songs are remakes of hokkien getai staples which bring on a sense of heartland familiarity but with a twist in delivery. “一人一半” (One Person One Half), the theme song from the movie gets a cha cha style makeover. There are five new songs written specially for the musical by Benny Wong, the music director, the theme song is “孤夜无伴”(Lonely Alone), a getai inspired ballad sung by the 881 Sisters about the loneliness of a getai livelihood. But my favourite song from the musical is “不要说放弃” (Do Not Give Up), an inspiring and heart-warming tune sung in different renditions by most of the cast of which my favourite is the version by Guan Yin and Aunt Ling Yi (played by Nat Ho and Audrey Luo).  Audrey’s impressive vocal range and Nat’s emotional delivery and the closeness displayed by the mother and son pair reallymade the song shine.

How do you say “Copy Car Plate” in Hokkien?

The acting was delivered beautifully and the scriptwriting was sharp with lots of local puns and humorous lines thrown in when you least expect it. While most of the show is in Mandarin peppered with liberal amounts of dialect and Singlish, there are surtitles on the two screens which will keep the audience busy skipping between the screens and the cast on stage. The Chinese gods, Fu, Lu and Shou, (Fortune, Happiness and Longevity) who act as quasi-narrators had particularly wicked lines giving these old deities an image revamp.

Radio DJ Dennis Chew was the main protagonist in the show, his role as Dua Gee (Hokkien for Big One) the manager of the Durian Sisters though didn’t seem developed enough. While he delivered quite a few funny lines, it would have been fun to watch more of the rivalry between the Papaya and Durian Sisters, but with just two hours, I guess that’s the best they could squeeze in.

木瓜姐妹 (the Papaya sisters) and 关英 (Guan Yin) posing for the camera with 881 backdrop.

Lights, stage and costumes

Sequin trains, lots of feathers, chandeliers and electric ropelights, the costumes were no doubt the major highlights. Every piece is over-the-top with mardi-gras style costumes for the 881 sisters and unique frocks for the Durian Sisters. The costumes themselves must have been a feat to wear and dance in without sweeping other people off the stage. In fact the Durian Sisters jokingly said that they had their heads stuck together when their wigs got caught together. My personal favourites were the British themed bubble dresses worn by the Durian Sisters and the organza accordian dresses by the 881 Sisters. I give a big applause to the costume creators at Tube Gallery (Bangkok) who made them. All this is set off perfectly by the beautiful and varied sets and lighting effects.

The rough patches

There were some parts which marred the production, some of the songs’ lyrics were a tad clichéd and felt like it was taking bits and pieces from other popular hits. It would have been more polished and sincere to have original lyrics. I’m no choir master, but some of the harmonising sounded suspiciously off which I would attribute to opening night nerves.

The character of Min Min seemed too goody-two-shoes and flat and the non-English speakers didn’t deliver a great performance as their dialect and Mandarin just wasn’t authentic enough for a getai.

Some of the singing from the Durian Sisters was unintelligible due to their high pitch which was disappointing as they had quite a few songs. Their English lines were delivered in perfect English which sounded a little incongruous especially when they should have come from Romania as purported in the show. I would have preferred heavily-accented European style English from them.

Then there were some “arty” parts, (arty as in I didn’t really understand what was happening, the plebeian that I was), it seem to be chucked in suddenly and disjointed from the rest of the musical which was rather straightforward.

A Broadway Musical in the making

Overall, I think this show has lots of potential. The cast had a lot of rapport going on between them which makes the audience feel the energy of the show.

As an opening night, this has been a great effort with many aspects on par with Broadway favourites. There are some minor rough corners which could be polished but as a Singapore production with local cast, this is of a really high calibre and definitely worth a watch.

The local cast sang beautifully especially Luo and Chia. The show is inspired by the movie but not completely the same so you get a fresh perspective from the original movie and the catchy numbers should have you toe-tapping to the music - too bad the venue is too formal to get up and dance along.

What the cast and audience thought

Popular award-winning actor Nat Ho, who plays the role of Guan Yin in the musical mentioned, ”Roystan Tan was our creative consultant, giving us the general guidelines of the movie but Boon Teck (the musical’s director) banned him from rehearsals because the musical adaptation uses a completely fresh cast and we wanted to give a very different treatment. If you watch the film, what you see today will be quite different. The individual characters and their approach have been very different so people who watched the movie can watch this musical as well.”

About his own performance in the show, Nat Ho says, “It was breathtaking. It was the first time I am doing a musical and I couldn’t have asked for a better cast to work with. I’m really really happy with how the first night has turned out. The audience was fantastic, very warm and very encouraging and I hope more people can come to watch us. I’m glad my very first musical is 881 and I hope it’s a success.”

Mindee Ong, the original 881 sister said, “The story is a little different and it worked surprisingly well. Towards the last scene, it brought back memories and was a bit heart-wrenching, but since it is the stage and I was in public I told myself that I have to control my tears.”

Dennis Chew who plays Dua Gee, noted in his post-performance interview, “I was trying not to be so excited. As it’s the first time, we tend to be more excited. I was trying to control myself so my pitch wouldn’t go too high. It’s one down now and 18 more to go.”

When asked if it was easy to get the dialect scripts and songs, the Durian Sisters said, “No, it was not easy to learn at all, it’s a good challenge though and we’re very fortunate that the cast and crew have been very helpful to us, spelling things out and helping us.”

About their own review of the show, “It was a buzz tonight to really hear the audience’s reaction. We’ve been rehearsing for such a long time and you start to wonder is it funny? Is this working? Is anybody connecting with what we’re doing? So it’s great to hear the people laughing.”

* Getai is a Mandarin word for a street variety show performed as an offering to appease the dead who come back to the living world during the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar.

"881 The Musical" runs until May 1 2011 at the Esplanade Theatre with 3pm matinees on weekends and on Friday, April 22. It's in Mandarin and Hokkien with English and Mandarin surtitles.