Beauty World

Beauty World is a Singaporean musical written by Michael Chiang and composed by Dick Lee. Drawing on the tradition of 1950s black-and-white Cantonese movies, it tells the story of a young Malaysian girl who comes from Batu Pahat to 1960s Singapore in search of her father and winds up in the eponymous sleazy night club. It premiered at the 1988 Singapore Arts Festival. Written in English with some Singlish elements and Singaporean slang, it is one of the best known musicals of Singapore. With Makan Place, which was also written in 1988, it is one of the first two Singaporean musicals. Plot Ivy Chan travels from Malaysia to Singapore in hopes of finding her father. Her only clue is a jade pendant inscribed with the words "Beauty World". Once in Singapore, Ivy meets her penpal friend, Rosemary Joseph. Beauty World turns out to be a cabaret, commanded by head girl LuLu. Ivy goes undercover at Beauty World, where she grows closer to the cabaret members, especially the club's bouncer, Ah Hock. This complicates things when Ivy's boyfriend, Frankie, comes to Singapore to bring her home. Productions The original 1988 production began rehearsals in January of that year. It was directed by Kengsen Ong and choreographed by Najip Ali. On opening night, technical issues halted the show for about half an hour. Actresses Claire Wong and Jacintha Abisheganaden adlibbed a conversation for about five minutes, hoping to fill the silence. Although critical response to the show was negative, it was very popular with audiences.