Song of Singapore

Synopsis

Singapore in 1941: the Japanese are poised to invade the city. In a dingy downtown cabaret night-club a patron has been bumped off and precious gems have gone missing and the Malayan Melody Makers, the star turn at Freddy's cafe, want off the island - and quick! Will the stolen jewels be found? Will the band escape to Hawaii before the invaders arrive? Knock back a Singapore Sling and join this multi-talented company as it sings, swings and serenades its way through a feast of jazz and the defiantly absurd mayhem that is Song of Singapore.

Our Review:

5 July 2001

It sounds so preposterously promising. In a Singapore nightclub in 1941, a patron is murdered and a precious gem stolen while a crooked cop croons about romantic liaisons, enemy troops gather at the border, storm clouds gather, the club's house band plan to defect and its sultry saloon singer struggles to regain her memory.

Amazing then that something so seemingly - wonderfully - chaotic, convoluted and cracking can, in rendition, become something so slow, uncomplicated and dull as Song of Singapore. The problem is that the scenario that the American creators of this throwback musical have concocted never comes anywhere close to maturing into a plot. It's a whimsy that's just too flimsy.

What scenario there is is squashed into even more skeletal form by the weight of the show's music. During two and a bit hours' of performance time, there are an incredible 18 songs to trundle through, all sung as if they comprise part of the fictional club's floor show and...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 17 August 2001:

Good fun, excellent singing and jazz music. Agreed that the story line is flimsy but the exuberance of the cast members carries you along regardless. I would recommend this to anyone!...

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