| Beauty World | |
|---|---|
| Music | Dick Lee |
| Lyrics | Michael Chiang |
| Book | Michael Chiang |
| Productions | 1994 Japanese tour |
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.
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 Japan in 1994. 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 15th 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.
Most recently 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 the 2nd and 3rd March 2009. It was produced by Debra Lam and directed by Kang Yanyi.