The DreamWeaver

Veteran stage practitioner Tan Kheng Hua has a folder on her laptop labelled “Dreams”, filled with passion projects. One of them was Tropicana The Musical.

- Kimberly Spykerman

Tan Kheng Hua dedicated most of 2015 to Singapore: Inside Out – directing performances in what was essentially a travelling showcase of the Republic’s creative talents. The project – which offered a multi sensory experience in areas that included food, architecture and the arts – wound down in August 2015. After being immersed in so much local creativity, she felt compelled to produce an original musical.

It was time to open her folder of dreams – a collection of ideas the 54-year-old keeps on her laptop. She has nursed the folder for more than 25 years, adding ideas and details along the way that delve right down into characters and plots, ready to be turned into projects at the right time. In fact, some of these ideas have taken shape – in the form of food variety show Table for Three!, infotainment programme Heartland Getaways, as well as the gritty stage drama Do Not Disturb, which was later adapted for television.

But for eight years, Tropicana The Musical existed only inside that folder until Singapore: Inside Out stirred a longing in Kheng Hua to produce a musical about what she feels is one of Singapore’s most dynamic and creative eras – the ’60s.

She then began assembling her dream team of theatre heavyweights to bring the musical, based on the famous local topless revue of the same name, to life. It’s directed by Beatrice Chia-Richmond, scripted by Haresh Sharma, and features a cast of recognisable names, including Lim Yu Beng, Siti Khalijah Zainal and Karen Tan.

The spirit of the ’60s