Tropicana The Musical – Review
Have you heard of Tropicana?
Some of us from the younger generation may not know that Singapore used to have a popular and lavish topless cabaret nightclub known as Tropicana that was frequent by the rich and famous people located at the heart of Orchard Road.
The Singapore of yesteryear was certainly a vibrant and exciting place to live in, judging from how this musical portrayed Singapore from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Image credited to Tan Jumeng
Tropicana opened its door in 1968 was located at Scotts Road, next to Lido theatre was occupied by Pacific Plaza today. It was owned by property developer, Shaw Sung Ching. Tropicana produced high quality and world class cabaret performances that was enjoyed by many in that era. In this fictional musical, the owner of the club was Mr Sim, played by Lim Yu-Beng whom many of us knew him as the police officer in the Channel 5 TV series “Triple Nine”.
Mr Sim, together with his secretary, Catherine, played by Karen Tan and his manager, Muthu played by Ebi Shankara started this controversial club which eventually became a huge success. There are many challenges the team has to overcome, including competing rival night clubs, Mr Sim’s own illness and also a large fire at the club one night which took the life of one of their most popular dancers, Pinky played by Sharda Harrison.
There were many interesting historical events which were portrayed throughout the musical, like the anti-long hair campaign ran by Singapore government during the 1960s and 1970s period. Music artists in those days who adopted the long haired hippy culture were frown upon by the society. It also touched on racial riots and how the employees of the club supported each other during the trying times.
Image credited to Jacqueline Chang
The musical Director of the show is none other than Beatrice Chia-Richmond, whom we are a big fan of as she was also the Creative Director for a number of National Day Parades and the closing ceremony of 2015 Southeast Asian Games (SEA). The Producer is Tan Kheng Hua, whom many of us remembered her fondly as Margaret Phua in the local TV sitcom Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd from 1997 to 2007, among others. She is also married to Lim Yu-Beng who played Mr Sim.
Image credited to Jacqueline Chang
Overall, it was an enjoyable and highly entertaining 2 hours and 15 minutes (with a short interval in between) musical! The storylines were great and interesting with highlights of Singapore’s history, the music and singing were cheerful and brought back a lot of nostalgic memories with the strong performances by the talented cast. We think the best performer for the night should go to Ebi Shankara who played the larger than life Muthu who has a lion heart to look after his staff.
Our Parenting World 5 reasons why you should watch this musical:
- A light-hearted way of journey back to Singapore of the yesteryear
- Enjoy the songs and music belong to the golden era of the Singapore in the 60s with beautiful and glittery costumes against spectacular backdrop.
- You can learn of some of the previous government policies that you might not be aware of like the ban on long-hair and its implications to the music industry
- The musical is held at the historic Capitol Theatre. If you have not been to this newly renovated and grand theatre, this is a good time to go and watch Tropicana in this beautiful theatre.
- Most importantly, you won’t regret watching Tropicana The Musical with beautiful storyline and excellent performances by the cast.
Bravo to Tropicana’s producer, Tan Kheng Hua, director Beatrice Chia-Richmond, cast and team for the outstanding production and excellent performances! It is certainly one musical that you must watch in 2017!
Tropicana The Musical, the must-see musical of 2017!
This is a brand new show about Sexy! Sixties! Singapore! Hurry, don’t miss Tropicana The Musical now showing at Capitol Theatre till 30 April.
Starring: Brendon Fernandez. Sharda Harrison. Siti Khalijah. Mitch Lagos. Joshua Lim. Lim Yu-Beng. Audrey Luo. Rizman Putra. Seong Hui Xuan. Ebi Shankara. Karen Tan.
Produced by Tan Kheng Hua and directed by Beatrice Chia-Richmond
Tropicana: The Musical Advisory 16 (Some Mature Content & Coarse Language)
Dates:
Thursday, 13 – Sunday, 30 April 2017
Showtimes:
Tuesday – 8.00pm
Wednesday – 8.00pm
Thursday – 8.00pm
Friday – 8.00pm
Saturday – 3.00pm & 8.00pm
Sunday – 3.00pm
Capitol Theatre
Ticketing Link: http://www.sistic.com.sg/events/ctropi0417
Website: http://www.tropicanathemusical.com/
IG: @tropicanathemusical
Facebook: Tropicana the Musical
Email: [email protected]
