Seen.By.Ice.Queen: coming to my senses

I love Selena Tan, Pam Oei and Emma Yong. I also love Hossan Leong, Sebastian Tan, Kumar and Najip Ali. I even love Lim Kay Siu. But I am so so sad. So sad that I had spent my dollar, no, make that dollar$$, on something that I had to force myself to laugh at.


Have you ever seen a person who has great features when you looked at each feature separately, but when you put the features together, the person simply looks.. plain?

Well, this is the equivalent of it.

When you rip the production apart, I find many redeeming factors:

• The cast was made up of really talented and famous actors who can sing, dance, act and overall, entertain.
• The set was beautifully done. Each piece of stage decor, costume and prop had alot of heart and detail in it.
• The songs were wonderfully written. The lyrics are funny and punchy, the melodies were catchy and matching.
• The story and jokes were current and meaningful. When you talk about money issues and the tussle that happens around it, what's not to make for good comedy material right?

Well, if everything seem to be the right ingredient, what went wrong? I can't quite put my finger to it but simply feel that I was not entertained. I feel like most times, I was laughing at very cliche jokes and laughing simply because they were appropriate laugh moments (like when you attend talkshows and they flash applause on the screen to make the audience clap at the right moments).

It was not to say that $ing Dollar was not funny or that it was bad. But perhaps, the problem lies in the fact that it was trying too HARD to make it funny while exploring very real issues and emotions. And also because Selena was trying really hard to match up to Dim Sum Dollies' success. Afterall, this is the production that is filling the gap before the next one, after 6 consecutive years of Dim Sum Dollies.

My notes to you if you are watching $ing Dollar:
You can sleep when:

• Najip Ali's character of Sa'adiah starts 'her' heartwrenching piece on being torn between morals and material.
• Sebastian Tan's character of Valentina Siong Soon Huat talks about anything in general.
• The entire cast get together to discuss what to do with their windfall

Slap whoever is dozing off beside you when:

• The various currencies (British Pound, US Dollar, Indian Rupee, Singapore Dollar) came to life
  
• The boys (Hossan, Kumar, Najip, Sebastian and Kay Siew) do their Michael Jackson thingie in their roles as the infamous people (don't wanna spoil your fun by letting on too much)
• The scene with the merlions (especially if you've been a loyal follower of Dim Sum Dollies)
• Whenever Kumar is in his Syed, the Bangladesh character.

Although I feel like my money could have been better spent buying Dim Sum then on this production, loyalty deems me illogical and I simply would not have forgiven myself if I missed any production written by Selena.

Just a friendly note to Selena and Zahim, you may want to throw in a few kids to give you a bluntly honest opinion of how funny the acts are when you're doing the scripts and rehearsals.

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