STAGE REVIEW
'Song of Singapore' jolly good fun
By Joseph T. Rozmariek
Advertiser Drama Critic
You enter Manoa Valley Theatre from the alley around back for this production of "Song of Singapore," and the detour nicely sets the stage for a sleazy gin mill lost somewhere in the Asian Pacific in 1941.
• 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays through March 24 • Manoa Valley Theatre • $30 • 988-6131
The place is filled with the European flotsam and jetsam that washes up on foreign shores, along with Asian types out for a shady deal and a quick buck.
'Song of Singapore'
The MVT audience is in for a good time because the show is filled with nostalgic, feel-good 1940's-type tunes, vaudeville jokes, and just enough of a slap-happy story line to hold the songs together. The show was a hit for MVT in 1995, and this outing, directed by Karen Bumatai, promises to do equally well. The cast seems to be having so much fun that the crowd can't help but enjoy itself.
A tropical storm is brewing, the Japanese are invading, and a fortune in jewels may be hidden in the piano. When someone innocently asks after discovering a body, "Do you know there's a dead man in the bar?" — it turns out that the band can, indeed, play that tune.
Musical director Melina Lillios and her excellent combo are prominently featured on the raised bandstand and play a string of swing, jazz and gospel songs that keep the evening bubbling along by introducing characters and pumping up the plot.
There's blind bar owner Freddy Lyme, excellently played by Darren Server, working angles in "Never Pay Musicians What They're Worth" and mixing up a knockout cocktail with "Shake, Shake, Shake."
There are couple of displaced henchmen, Spike (David Vega) and Hans (Charles Degala) who have their own solos and contribute to group numbers, and Rose (Katie Leiva) — a smoky bar singer suffering from amnesia, who turns out to be the missing Amelia Earhart.
Add in the inscrutable dragon lady Chah Li (Sherry Wong) and a raving Hindu, a crooked British police chief and a twangy bush pilot (all played by Greg Howell) and you have all the ingredients to satirize most of the non-combat movies that came out of World War II.
Rose struggles with her missing identity, "You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do" and "I Can't Remember." Spike compromises, "Inexpensive Tango," while Hans laments, "I Miss My Home in Haarlem."
The gang panics with the Hawaiian number, "I Want to Get Offa This Island," while Chah Li remains aloof, "Foolish Geese," until everyone celebrates: "We're Rich."
The cast and staging are uniformly excellent.
Server is mesmerizing with his twitching, tapping, and accordion playing. Leiva is innocently and delightfully uncomprehending and Wong is mysteriously exotic. Vega and Degala harmonize and Howell is everywhere with his outrageous deadpan slapstick.
The music is first rate, and every musician not only gets in a few featured licks, but gets to play a character as well.
Costumes by Athena Espania are showy and designer Wally White creates an environmental setting in which the audience can enjoy drinks and pupus.
Why wouldn't this be a good time?
