Forbidden Chestnuts
I’m a convert.
Ok, not exactly. I still love musicals but now am equally impressed with local productions, having caught a couple last year and the most recent one today.
The five of us ladies headed down to NLB for the local play Forbidden Chestnuts: Portrait of a Brokeback Geisha [coincidentally, I met Uncle Mandy and his someone there. heh]. Like sister, it was the 1st time in the Chestnuts’ 10-year run that I caught the show, and I regret not catching the earlier 9 episodes.
The show started off with a familiar fanfare from the upcoming The Phantom of the Opera. Then it was off and running with wicked jibes and sly digs at anything and anyone.
[Spoilers ahead - this post is mostly lifted off from someone but mirrors what I feel]:
My favourite favourite favourite part: The Matrix segment.
In the background, the familiar glowing green characters flashed down the black screen rapidly. But instead of the binary code, we saw “Chinatown”, “Jurong East”, and “Tanah Merah” amongst others. Rodney Oliverio [a very droolable actor] played Keanu playing Neo. His “Woah! I’m confused!” was really spot-on [and he looked yummy in that black trenchcoat and sunnies].
The witty interplay between him and Jonathan Lim as the Gatekeeper summarised the feeling you got when you watched the actual Matrix trilogy: What the heck are they talking about?! The word play was so fast that one’s mind has to work really quick to get all the jokes. It was hilarious how the lines sounded very cheem without actually meaning much.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Instead of French lyrics in the musical, they had… hip hop rap. And a very, ahem, graphic gesture when Rodney as the Hunchback goes “my bells are ringing”, as the gyspy Esmeralda [Judy Ngo] pranced in front of him. When Rodney went “My hump my hump, my hump my hump my hump” - to Mr Brown & Mr Miyagi’s famous “Mai Hum” hit, everyone roared with laughter.
Thunderstorm by Cao Yu
A segment acted out entirely in Mandarin [with English subtitles running on the 2 boards by the stage]. The cheena type of Mandarin [I never knew Jon was effectively bilingual, hee!]. As the voiceover pondered how the classic play could appeal to the youngsters of today, at a tense moment in the scene, the swish of the wooden fan set off a percussion session by a teapot, the tray that carried the teapot, a chair, chopsticks and.. Hossan’s clogs [My God, when he bent down, took off his clogs and clapped them together - all with a deadpanned face, I laughed til my sides hurt]!
There, you have… Thunderstomp.
Singing “The Phantom Of the Opera”.
Other gushworthy bits - Brokeback Mountain, Death Note and Memoirs of a Geisha.
You just got to go catch the show! It’s still running, until this Saturday. Go here to get your tickets, and support local productions [I think I am going to watch it again]!!
- about funnies , the arty-farty babe , the bimbotic reviewer
s t a r m | s t January 14th, 2007
Liew…u mentioned all the good parts liao.
death note? which part? heh!
hina
km - it was just too gooooood, right?? heh… i’m going to watch it again today… laughs.
hina - they spoofed it loh. the ‘writing in the death note’ bit.. =P
hmmm… how come wat you wrote and darling A wrote are the same? hmmm…
_eve_
Darling E, you’re so sharp. Hiak.
Or shld I say instead, “Deja Vu”?
i heart their spoof of “brokeback mountain”, “the matrix” and “hunchback of notredame”
it’s a good production indeed…
eve - haha… i’ve already warned darling A.. lifted..
darling A - yeah… anyway i caught it again last night. soooo funny! hossan was fighting to keep from laughing in one scene. hur hur hur..
elle oh estee - ha… you like all the ‘dirty’ bits (’cept for matrix)