Sebastian Tan is back with a benging hell of laughter!
by Travis Chan & Nicolene Tan
It doesn’t get any more local than this — one of Singapore’s favourite ah bengs, lots of crude Hokkien jokes, and getai singing — if this doesn’t send you in stitches, I don’t know what will.
Broadway Beng has been entertaining us for the past 7 years, but how many of us truly know about the ups and downs of everybody’s favourite Broadway Beng? This time, Sebastian Tan is Benging you Back to Basics where he will share with us about his family, his dreams of being like Justice Bao, and how he thought going to the club dressed like Ronald McDonald was a good idea.
If you absolutely love local humour brought to you by the likes of Kumar, then this show is definitely one that will leave you in tears (or at least, with a stomach cramp). Would you need to understand Hokkien to fully understand the show? Unfortunately, yes. However, the good news is that there are subtitles to aid you with the jokes so all the goodness is not lost. Moreover, you still have five of Broadway Beng’s sidekicks- I mean, chio bus- Judee Tan, Jackie Pereira, Mina Kaye, Siti Khalijah Zainal, and Denise Tan, to ogle at throughout the show!
Of course, we were also in absolute awe with Ian Lee, 8, who was able to run through an entire monologue in Hokkien! With that, I guess Singapore’s future of culture and tradition will be in safe hands.
Let’s give a huge round of applause (or standing ovation, if we could) to our one and only Broadway Beng, Sebastian Tan, for putting up a splendid and comical performance! From actively engaging the audience’s participation to the roars of applause and laughter.. we’re pretty sure that this is one ah beng we wouldn’t mind being friends with! Oh, and to that audience member whom he gave 4 digits to to buy lottery, well, we hope you HUAT AH!
We’d also like to point out that the team managed to Hokkien-fy original songs like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and many of Grease’s musical numbers, which left us bewildered and gasping for air (in a good way), especially after seeing Sebastian Tan acting and dressed as a boy AND a girl at the same time.
Indeed, this has been one of the more boisterous musicals we have been to – with the lao jiaos in the crowd cheering on the return of Broadway Beng. Filled with seat-gripping excitement, out-of-Broadway humour, and sneaky crude injections, this is definitely not a show to be missed.
Guess what? You’re still not done with Broadway Beng! Imagine your favourite local Beng on the screen of your nearest cinema… shiok bo? That’s right! Broadway Beng will be heading to the big screen very, VERY, soon! When, where, how? Stay tuned to Dream Academy to find out more!
Broadway Beng will be ongoing from the 10 to 27 October at the Drama Centre Theatre. If you’ve taken a keen liking towards Dream Academy musicals, be sure to catch “Crazy Christmas – Ting Tong Belles” this coming December!
