Homegrown musical Beauty World celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and they’re marking the occasion with a remake, new scenes by original playwright Michael Chiang, six new songs by original composer Dick Lee, eye-catching ‘Chinese deco baroque’ sets, ‘wilder’ costumes and even a live recorded CD of the music.

The storyline is simple. It follows Ivy Chan Poh Choo, a small-town girl from Batu Pahat who is led by a mysterious jade pendant – which is somehow linked to her father – to Beauty World, a shiny but sleazy nightclub described by director and original cast member Ivan Heng as ‘cabaret at a gentlemen’s club…where the men are not too gentlemanly’.

‘Along the way, she discovers many trials and tribulations, love, and most of all, herself,’ says Elena Wang, who plays Ivy. ‘The script has been extended and written with a stronger sense of resolution.’

And as in the original, universal themes are presented in a uniquely Singaporean way. ‘Theatre paves the way,’ says Heng. ‘In terms of reflecting who we are, it’s part of our identity as Singaporeans, basically because it’s a gathering of thousands of people sharing an experience.’

But how does Beauty World pave the way, when the premise is more Disney than dissident? In 1988, Beauty World was considered radical for being the first show to put Singlish on the stage. Times may have changed, but according to Heng, ‘Singapore and the world have become more conservative in the past 40 years. Just look at the inspirations of this musical: amusement centres, cabarets...women wearing pointy bras, and cheongsams were low-cut.’ So perhaps Beauty World is pushing boundaries by bringing itself into the mainstream. ‘It’s funny and camp, but we touch on the underbelly of this place called Beauty World,’ says Heng.

That’s not the only change to today’s social climate. Musical theatre is better established now, so this show revolves more around the music – the cast has had singing training, and the chorus line takes a ballet class every day (in 1988, only two of the cast were trained singers). It stars relative unknowns because ‘we need to provide a platform for young talents,’ says Heng, also founder and artistic director of W!ld Rice, the company that usually plays the avant-garde foil to the more commercial Singapore Repertory Theatre. But with the SRT going all edgy last November with The Pillowman, it’s time for W!ld Rice to keep doing what it does best, which is, in Heng’s words, being ‘bright, fabulous and no apologies’.