Sydney Reviews

Congratulations, Get Rich! is the title. Commiserations, very poor, is the outcome. This show is cold and unyielding even when subjected to the fire of performance.

Maudlin Mandy is morose. It’s the opening of her karaoke bar, Money Money Karaoke and her 38^th Birthday. Her bend-over-backwards-to-please boyfriend, Xavier, has baked a cake. She berates him. She has achieved the same age as her mother when she committed suicide.

Down in the dumps Mandy sees it as some sort of omen as customers to her karaoke fail to materialise. Finally, the only manifestation of patronage is two hungry ghosts – with quite a thirst for alcohol – Mandy’s Ma and Grandma. Both women died at 38, by their own hand. Both women present as tiger mums. No wonder Mandy is a screwed up mess.

Four performers playing mainly down stage are miked. One can only assume their vocal abilities are not theatrically thrilling. The use of a microphone for the faux karaoke songs is understandable but not for the mostly sharp as a sponge repartee. And the blemish of headset and wire diminish the visual appearance of the actor and the cut of the costume, one of the few positive attributes of the show.

Congratulations, Get Rich! is a time-stretching ninety minutes of competition, commiseration and competition between three self-centred and self-absorbed women.

James Lew’s set of predominantly red panels and furnishings forecasts joy, success, good fortune and vitality. The production belies the promise. Gabriel Chan’s lighting is black-out-plagued and strobe-afflicted, and Guy Webster’s compositions and sound design are ho hum rather than humming.

The play’s author, Merlynn Tong performs the role of Mandy in perfect perfunctory while Seong Hui Xuan as Mum and Kimie Tsukakoshi as Gma cut some dash and flash. Zac Boulton as Xavier is reduced to a kowtowing joke.