Sinkie gene pool must be really bad if their maids and gigolos can tell the Singapore stories better than citizens can.
A $20 million musical production featuring Singapore's history between 1955 and 1965 will be played by a Filipino-led cast. Themed "Singapura", the filipino composer Ed Gatchalian put together a team of 35 Filipinos, 11 Singaporeans, an American and a Canadian. The story's main charaters revolves around a Singaporean family played by only Filipino actors.
The story is about a Singaporean family living in the turbulent times of the 1950s where racial riots and poverty were rampant. The father of the Singaporean family, played by Julien Mendoza, is a bus driver who was traumatized by the riots and wanted to leave the country. The mother is a coffee shop helper played by Maybel Bangayan, and the daughter, played by Marian Delgado, a teenage lady with an Ang Moh boyfriend.
The play has been heavily criticized by Singaporeans because of its Filipino casting. Despite this, Ed Gatchalian claimed many of these critics are won over after hearing the music and learning the story. The theatre mainstay, Joel Trinidad, also claimed that the Singaporean "consultants" said that Singaporeans may need an outsider to show them the story to "tell it more clearly", and Singaporeans are too close to be objective.
Joel Trinidad also claimed that "I wrote it in such a way that when a Singaporean sees this, he'll say, "This is me."
The muscial Singapura will be played in Singapore's historic and newly refurbished Capitol Theatre and will run for 11 weeks.
Do you think the Singaporean history is better told by a group of Filipinos than Singaporeans born and bred here?
http://therealsingapore.com/content/musical-about-singapore-history-made-featuring-pinoy-actors
