GONG XI FA CAI

The company has been working,flat out and full steam ahead, for about a month now and it is clear that everyone is ready to blow off some steam. Chinese New Year provides us the opportunity to do just that.

New Year gift from the hotel

We learn from various sources that this is THE big holiday of the year and many people will be taking a four day weekend. If you work a 9-5 job, it is not uncommon to work a half-day on the eve of New Year, leaving the office in the afternoon, looking forward to your two holiday days off, followed by your regular weekend. As we walk home from rehearsal on Wednesday afternoon, shopping malls are closing, and will actually stay closed for days !! Unheard of in a land where an evening in a shopping mall is considered 'a night out'.

After a short nap and a shower, I meet up with a few people at the Tawandang Microbrewery to watch a traditional Thai puppet show. (For a true dose of culture shock, please visit a Thai microbrewery that makes German-style beer, staffed with Singaporean girls who greet you with the traditional prayer-hands and a "sawadee krap"). This puppet company, F.Y.I., recently took first prize at the International Festival of Puppet Arts in Prague.

After puppets and food, we meet up with a few more people and take a taxi to Chinatown which, at this time of year, is pretty much exactly like Times Square on New Year's Eve. Cast warming up in the hotel lounge
Clockwise from bottom left,
Danilo, Lyall, Dupreez, Thabani, Jerome, Michael and Lavina

Crazy. People everywhere. Traffic. Music. Horns blaring. It's mad and wonderful. We find our way to a bar called Stage Door, a tiny, musical-theatre-oriented gay bar, one of Singapore's many, vibrant, community-oriented 'family' bars. This is where the trouble starts. Unlike touristy places, the drinks here are cheap and powerful and continue to appear without me having to lift a finger. It isn't long before, like a herd of gazelles, I sense movement and we begin to migrate somewhere else.

After half an hour of stumbling through the colonial streets and alleys of Singapore, with several people swearing by the accuracy of the downloaded maps on their phones, we arrive at Lluvia, a friendly, neighborhood, gay karaoke bar, full of people singing loud, off-key, Mandarin pop tunes. Directly across the street is a large temple, Buddhist I think, where New Year's celebrations are in full swing as five dancing lions are doing their dancing lion thing. Keep in mind that it is one o'clock in the morning by this time, and the streets are still crawling with people, including many families with young children.

After a few drinks, and a little karoke judgment, the herd, with a hive-mind, begins to move again, this time to a major gay club called Tantric. It is here that we meet up with other members of the herd that we had previously lost in the chaos. The music is loud. The company is entertaining. The night is warm. The drinks are cheap. It all adds up to this old man staying out until 4 a.m. for the first time in years.....possibly in decades !

The next day, I tumble out of bed around eleven o'clock. Unheard of for me who usually wakes with the sun. Eventually, I make my way down to the pool, planning on doing nothing but lounging, reading and perhaps taking the occasional dip if and when the clouds part, allowing the sun to break through. It is very peaceful except for the occasional cacophony of drums and cymbals that signals yet another dancing lion, being offered oranges in order to ensure a prosperous new year.

I can't help but giggle as the majority of the company begins to emerge onto the pool deck in the early afternoon. They stumble out, one by one, or in small groups, like Bambi-eyed animals in a Disney cartoon, rubbing their eyes and blinking in the sunlight, still tender from their hibernation. Then the stories of the previous night's debauchery begin to emerge. Who got lost, who got found, who hasn't slept yet, who didn't make it to their room without blowing chunks....you know. It becomes clear that, as a group, we have all lived large and slept little.

Hung over ensemble

Before I know it, it is five-thirty in the afternoon. Time to shower, dress and think about the eternal search for dinner. A couple of us decide to make the trek to Dempsey Hill to try the legendary Samy's Curry, which has been in business for 50 years. The night is warm and calm. The trees are draped with long ropes of twinkling blue and white lights. The curry, served on a banana leaf, is potent and delicious. My fingers are permanently stained yellow from prying apart the pieces of my masala crab.

The real bonus to all of this bacchanalian revelry is the fact that tomorrow is ANOTHER day off! A rare, very rare, and much treasured gift.

Some random photos...

Self-amusing on the flat escalator at Carrefour, the giant French supermarket.

Scar and Zazu rehearse a scene. (I'm pretty)