Dishing Out Bland Dim Sum

It was a much anticipated night that was an anti-climax.

Having resisted musicals almost all my uncultured life, I attended the Dim Sum Dollies last year after much coaxing. It was hilarious! I realised it was a humourous musical that had a very rich local flavour. Aptly described by AhTiong73, Dim Sum Dollies comes in bite-sized skits that can be easily enjoyed, without getting too draggy.

So this year, without any persuasion, I readily agreed to the show, hoping to have another fun night. However, all good things don't last, do they? The show started off on a promising note, but tailed off in the middle of it. All hopes that the next skit would a better, funnier one were dashed and there was no funny light at the end of the tunnel. It just really didn't carry itself off like last year.

Two of the skits were very good. The one about the Icons of Consequence where Selena Tan dressed up as The Merlion, hopping around and puking into the spitoon made for a good laugh. The other one, where Pam Oei (whom I thought was outstanding overall) took on the role of a sweet girl who sang her guts out about lost loves. The latter reminded me of the scene in the Wedding Singer, where Adam Sandler sang Drew Barrymore a song, a self-penned one when he was in between moods. But it was a good skit.

But that's all there was to the musical. The Dollies must have outgrown their bite-sized Dim Sum personas and the show must have been flooded with eager sponsors that they actually carried out a game show featuring all the sponsors' goodies. A sore capitalistic disappointment and a true waste of time.

The rest of the skits drew obligatory laughter but never shone and were very forgettable. Hossan Leong, a big name in the local circuit, could not be depended on to up the ante. However, given the paltry roles he was given, he could not do much, I guess.

At the end of the night, I was left hanging in the air. It sure felt like getting a hard on based on your on fantasy about what was to come, only to be disapponted by reality.


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