Music Dick Lee Book Michael Chiang Playwright Michael Chiang | Lyrics Michael Chiang Productions 1992 Japanese tour Composer Dick Lee | |
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A sneak preview of beauty world
Beauty World is a Singaporean musical written by Michael Chiang and composed by Dick Lee in 1988. 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.
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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.
The cast of the first production included Jacintha Abisheganaden, Margaret Chan, Ivan Heng, Tan Kheng Hua, and Claire Wong.
Beauty World toured 4 cities in Japan and a run in Singapore in 1992. In 1998, Beauty World was remade for Television for the President's Star Charity Show, and starred a stellar cast with Sharon Au(欧菁仙) as Lulu, and Evelyn Tan(陈毓芸) as Ivy. The remake brought much acclaim and sealed its mass popularity with Singaporeans.
An amateur production took place on April 15, 2006 at the University of Chicago. Dubbed Return to Beauty World it was directed by Andy Tan a fourth year economics major in the college.
The King's College London Malaysian Singaporean Society put up a student production of Beauty World at The Albany in Deptford South-East London on 2 and 3 March 2009. It was produced by Debra Lam and directed by Kang Yanyi.
Most recently, a student production of Beauty World was put up by College of Alice and Peter Tan (CAPT), National University of Singapore (NUS) on 8 February 2014, which opened to a 900-strong audience at the University Culture Centre, NUS and was graced by its scriptwriter and famous playwright, Michael Chiang. The musical was produced by Ong Wee Yong and Sherilyn Tan, directed by Heidi Chan and took its musical direction from Elaine Hoong. This musical was also CAPT's maiden production and eventually went on to win the NUS Student Achievement Awards 2015 under the category of "New Initiatives".