Fried Rice Paradise

Singapore Repertory Theatre

Esplanade Theatre/Sunday

The secret to good fried rice is to make it with day-old cooked rice.

Apparently, this principle applies to musicals as well, though in this case, Fried Rice Paradise is a reworked version of a show that made its debut in 1991.

I had caught that earlier incarnation and the only thing I remember about it then was that it was not particularly memorable.

Good thing then that singer-songwriter Dick Lee, who wrote the book, music and lyrics, has almost completely overhauled the dish.

Only two characters from 1991 made it to this version – Bee Lean (Denise Tan), who makes a shiok fried rice based on her mother’s recipe, and her best friend Girly Danker (Candice de Rozario).

Instead of focusing on a middle-aged Bee Lean, the story is now set in 1979 and is about the young girl and her dreams of finding love and making her mark in the world.

Though she does not realise it, her neighbour and good friend Johan (Taufik Batisah) is mad about her. Instead, she is drawn to Hennessy Goh (Sebastian Tan), the son of nightclub owner Rickson Goh (Darius Tan).

To spice things up, Rickson has plans to redevelop the stretch of shophouses in the Jalan Calamansi area and needs to get Bee Lean’s father Choo Kew Teng (Lim Yu Beng) to sell his properties, by hook or by crook.

Despite the convolutions, the story is not particularly compelling since there is little suspense over how it will all turn out, while the characters come across as blandly generic or outrageously cartoonish.

What keeps this concoction bubbling along instead are the key ingredients of an easy-on- the-ear score, some likeable performances, clever choreography from Jeffrey Tan and a handsome and versatile set designed by Francis O’Connor.

The music spans a gamut of genres effectively, from the retro dance vibe of Disco Boogie Hustle Bump to the bouncy number Turning Twenty-one to the love ballad Stay. However, while a fun song, the appearance of Rasa Sayang, off Lee’s 1989 album The Mad Chinaman, in Act Two feels like an unnecessary diversion.

Meshing better was Denise Tan and her portrayal of the shy and gauche Bee Lean and Sebastian Tan as the louche son who has a change of heart about seducing her for his father’s ends.

In his first theatrical outing, Taufik seemed more comfortable singing than acting and there was a mismatch in the energy level between the two aspects. Also, it was hard to make out the words in his opening number, which was full of exposition to set the scene for the musical.

But in his solo numbers, the Singapore Idol winner was more in his element.

Meanwhile, stealing scenes as his feisty mother was veteran actress Rahimah Rahim while Darius Tan blithely mangled and massacred the English language in a nasally and over-the-top performance that became less funny over the course of the show.

The pacing was rather problematic as well. All that set-up by director Steven Dexter in the more enjoyable first half was followed by a jerky second act that meandered at some points and then felt rushed at others.

So yes, while the new version of Fried Rice is improved, it falls short of musical paradise.

(ST)