Jyn invited us to watch a musical play that was being put on by his alma mater, Nanyang University, and we went to see it last night. It was held in the auditorium of another school, ACJC, which was located in Buona Vista. I had only ever been there once before, to be part of a shooting for the movie Forever. It was the first time for my other Pinoy friends, so of course we needed to cam whore.
About the play (taken from the hall 8 website):
Fast Cars and Fancy Women is a play based on a script written by a local playwright, Kwuan Loh. The play ‘‘Fast Cars and Fancy Women’’ was originally staged as part of TheatreWorks’ Theatre on the Hill Festival in 1991 and has been staged by more than 30 educational institutions both in Singapore and Malaysia.’’ Fast Cars and Fancy Women is a morality play that reflects upon romance in the modern context and the role of materialism in the pursuit of love. Through this story, we hope to address issues close to the hearts of many, and engage them in appreciating the Arts. Fast Car and Fancy Women Musical is brought to you by Hall 8 FAP team. The music found in the musical are composed by our very own musical talents – Raphael Leong and Natalie Lio. Our cast is also made up of very talented artistes from our midst.
Our verdict: the play was great! It was funny, poignant and thought-provoking, and the original songs were beautifully written and rendered. The actors were good, especially the guy who played the lead, Chiong. He had to play two different personalities and I loved how he managed to pull both off successfully.
The story revolved around two main characters who starts off in university – Chiong and Stella. Chiong is a nerdy, socially inept guy who drives a second hand car while Stella is a pretty daughter of a poor widow. They and their peers are constantly asked: “what are you here for?” Most want material possessions, but Stella just wants to marry a guy with a fast car while Chiong just wants “someone to love, someone to love me.” Chiong later admits that he loves Stella, but she doesn’t want him because he can’t give her what she wants. Act 1 ends with him brokenhearted.
Act 2 opens with everyone having graduated from University. They announce their current status and the things they now want, and we are shown that Chiong is the most successful of them all, having risen through the ranks in New York. He however decides to go back to Singapore to pursue the fancy woman he had never stopped thinking of all these years – Stella. He asks her to marry him, and she agrees even though she has no feelings for him because he drives a Bugatti – the fastest car in Singapore. During their wedding rites, the narrator character informs the audience that the marriage contract does not actually require the couple to love each other; I gasp when I realize that he is right. The couple vows to be with each other for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death to them part… but they never promise to love each other. It is not part of the contract.
The women gossip about what an enviable life Stella leads after marrying Chiong. She no longer works and just spends her days attending one charity event after another and gracing the society pages with her picture. They speculate that Chiong must really love her, to give her everything that she wants. Unknown to them, Stella is suffering a life devoid of love. Her husband is too busy making money to love her and when she asks him if they can have a baby, he says no. She asks him if he loves her because he had never said so in the past years they were married, and he replies, “Is it really necessary?” She implores then why he married her, if not for love, and he confesses that he wanted a fancy woman.
In the next scene, Stella tries to convince herself that she could have everything she ever wanted and did not really need love. In the end, though, she kills herself.
The end.
Told you it was thought provoking. Joc said, what she learned from the play was: “Every dream has a price tag. The bigger the dream, the higher the cost.” I agreed with her and added, in song, “Be careful what you wish for, ’cause you just might get it all and some you don’t want.”
Like I said in a previous post, it’s not about the money money money…
What are you here for?
Leave a Reply