Upcoming Dim Sum Dollies show may be Selena Tan's final full-scale outing: 'The knees are starting to complain a little'

They did a show for Singapore's 50th birthday and, a decade later, they're back for another satirical roundup of past and current events.

The Dim Sum Dollies are performing their newest musical cabaret show The History of Singapore: Sixty Sexy Years from Dec 12 to 24 at the Capitol Theatre, and it may be Chief Dolly Selena Tan's last full-scale performance with the group.

"Every time we start rehearsals again, Pam (Pamela Oei) and I go, 'Okay, you guys have to decide whether we're singing or dancing, because we can't do both at the same time'," the 53-year-old told AsiaOne in a recent interview.

"The knees are starting to complain a little. The spirit is willing, we're just hoping that the flesh will keep up."

Being in her 50s now, Selena thinks it may also be time to pass the baton to the next generation, with her theatre company Dream Academy having a plethora of acts including Meenah and Cheenah, Broadway Beng and stand-up comedy show Happy Ever Laughter.

When asked if she would pass the Dollies crown on as well, she said she had "no concrete plans to bring three new girls in" but "wouldn't say no to that possibility".

When it came to The History of Singapore: Sixty Sexy Years, Selena said that they have been sitting down and "putting the finishing touches on the script" over the last couple of weeks.

"It's about the last 60 years, but particularly people remember the last 10, maybe 15 years," Selena said. "So when you know what's actually happening, it makes the laughter a lot more real.

"Comedy depends on what people know and what's happening, and I must say, a lot's been happening around the world and Singapore as well, so sometimes the comedy just writes itself."

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'We tend to take the mickey out of everyone and everything'

The Dim Sum Dollies have become a household name in the two decades since their debut show A Single Woman in 2002 with Selena, Pamela and the late Emma Yong. Denise Tan rounded out the trio after Emma's death in 2012, but with her departure in 2016, Jo Tan has become the third Dolly.

But, with such a long career of satire and sometimes irreverent humour, how much flak have the Dollies gotten?

Though Selena told us that they haven't received much pushback from the authorities, she recounted: "When we were doing the 50 years of Singapore show, we were called into a meeting and told pretty late in the game. They pointed out some things that they were not happy with, or rather concerned that we might get into trouble because of."

The Dollies managed to "tweak it without changing what [they] were trying to say".

When it comes to their audience, Selena admitted that some people will be upset because they "tend to take the mickey out of everyone and everything". For example, they have received a few unhappy responses over a past Bollywood segment and parody of high-class Indian women, due to the accents they put on.

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"It's tough to get around that, because we're a satirical comedy trio, and if we don't do accents, there's no way to do this," she said.

"Maybe three or four people wrote in and we just sort of explained to them that, you know, we don't really mean anybody any personal harm. Nothing is personal, it's very broad satirical humour."

She also pointed to how accent work is used even in stand-up by the likes of comedians such as Trevor Noah.

"Nowadays, with the sort of more 'woke' culture, people do say that you shouldn't make fun of people's accents," she said. "But the truth is that it's not a question of making fun of the accents, but [without them] we'll only be able to play three Chinese girls throughout the whole show."

From 'toilets in outhouses' to 'condos and shopping centres'

With Singapore turning 60, we asked Selena what she's most proud of that the country has achieved from her childhood to now.

"If you ask our parents' generation, they will tell you that we went from toilets in outhouses with no plumbing to condos and shopping centres," she said. "I still take it for granted because, from the time I could remember, I've always had that kind of luxury with the infrastructure already set in place."

Instead, what she's proud of is that Singaporeans have become "more outspoken" and are not as worried about "big brother watching us", and she appreciates how international Singapore has become.

Selena is also grateful for the advent of technology and that Singapore is highly-connected with the internet, but conversely misses the past where we relied less on it.

"While technology has opened up so much for us, I do feel sometimes that my over-reliance on it and being stuck on the screen all the time has turned me even more of a hermit than I really should be," she explained.

In the past, when she needed to research for an upcoming production, she'd have to physically go to a library, while now she can make a Google search for articles or blogs.

"It's opened up a whole world, but at the same time, I do miss the challenge of, 'Oh my god, nobody else can find this, I'm the great detective'," she said. "The stuff I find now, anybody who can type a couple of sentences on the internet can find."

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If Selena could go back to a period of history, she'd pick the late 1980s to early '90s.

"It was, popular culture-wise, the age where, when you listened to music, you really listened to music. Your heart was in it," she explained. "You're going through the whole thing of searching for yourself, and music really speaks to you. The whole emotion of it, I really enjoyed it."

Selena conceded that maybe she doesn't spend as much time on new music as she should, but she doesn't have to keep reminiscing about the past either because "all the older bands are coming out of the woodwork and going for festivals".

"Nobody sells records anymore, so they all have concerts right?" she said. "It's good for us, because we get to go and watch them again."

Tickets for The History of Singapore: Sixty Sexy Years are available on Sistic.

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drimac@asiaone.com

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