Monday, September 12, 2011

Genting’s Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration With “My 4 Favourite Divas”

By Anthony Tan

I have attended many Chinese concerts but there are few that I have enjoyed. The Genting’s Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration with “My 4 Favourite Divas” was one of the best!

Resort World Genting and Magnum ENE brought in from Hong Kong four HK-TVB evergreen Tai Kah Chehs (or big sisters in Cantonese) — Michelle Yim Mei Suet (米雪), Louise Lee Sze Kei (李司棋), Nancy Sit Kar Yin and Susanna Kwan Kuk Ying (关菊英) for this special occassion.

These four divas are no stranger to many here, since they also acted in the television drama series or movies.

In the slightly over two-hour concert in full house of the 6,000 sitting capacity at the Arena of Stars in Genting Highlands, it was a rare opportunity for the fans to watch the four of them performing together.

They did the opening number together. After which, each artiste did their own solo act and regroup again for the finale.

Michelle kicked off with Teresa Teng’s popular hit, Sweet Honey (Tian Mi Mi), the theme song from Comrades: Almost A Love Story followed by a Hokkien song, Dance Hostess.



Next on stage was Louise, the most senior among the four. Although she is not truly a recording artiste, she surprised the crowd when she did the less demanding tempo numbers like Roadside Rose and Wandering Singer in Mandarin as well as two Cantonese numbers, Fate and Tomorrow, Say Today.



Louise had been practising on her home karaoke set for hours in preparation for the show as she is more of an actress than a singer.

She performed a duet with Nancy dressed in a traditional red Chinese wedding attire. Louise took the role as the bride while Nancy as the groom in the Cantonese classic, Tai Lui Fah.

When it was Nancy’s turn to do her solo act, she made a grand entrance rising from below the stage to do her opening number, Tonite, accompanied by some dancers.

Our superstar put on a blonde wig and a flowing cape with an oversized collar that wowed the crowd. She continued with a medley of popular cha-chas numbers form the 60s and 70s.

Being an experienced actress and singer, Nancy interacted easily with the crowd. She invited 10 members of the audience to sing along with her the popular Hokkien song, Woh Mui Tien (I Ask The Sky) or is it heaven?



I was surprised some of those invited on stage sang so well. Nancy rewarded them each with an umbrella or a gold ingot replica.

Nancy is truly an entertainer. She managed to keep up in rhythm with much younger back-up dancers. Her voice is still powerful.

She threw in some puns in between and got the audience to join in the chorus for her last two solo numbers, Jiao Dao and Wo Yau Ni Ti (I Want All Of You).

Susanna, the last songtress to come on stage, has a powerful, soothing voice. She gave her best shot in her rendition of Princess, Strong Wave (a theme song from the 1976 TVB series, Hotel), Passing Guest and Speechless from the 2007 drama, Heart of Greed, where she was one of the cast members.





Susanna did a duet with Yim for the Cantonese numbers like Shu Kim Yat Lau and Sze Sze Mei Mei Chook.

With the show coming to a close, Louise and Nancy returned on stage to join in for the encore and sang the popular Mandarin song, A Better Tomorrow.

The four divas are in no way over the hill. With over 150 years of show business’ experience between them, they are the “sifu” to the greenhorns entering this industry.

I am sure many of those who attended the show enjoyed their performances. It was full house for the two nights. If these four divas were to come again, don’t miss it this time round.