CONGRATULATIONS, GET RICH
CONGRATULATIONS, GET RICH, La Boite Brisbane, Singapore Repertory Company, and Sydney Theatre Company at Wharf 1, 21 November-14 December 2025. Photography by Prudence Upton
According to Google Translate, the subtitle to Merlynn Tong’s new work (恭喜发财, 人日快乐) means “Wishing you wealth and prosperity, happy People’s Day.” This may or may not be true, depending on whether you trust Google Translate or whether you can read Chinese.
The same applies to Congratulations, Get Rich – I can’t read Chinese, and I’m totally unqualified to talk about modern Chinese culture, because Crazy Rich Asians and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are hardly typical of Singapore, or Chinese-Australians.
The Sydney Theatre Company website blurb for Congratulations, Get Rich reads: “… larger-than-life musical comedy celebrates the richness of Singaporean culture, while asking universal questions about the complexity of mother-daughter relationships…”
The cast of four: Tong herself playing Mandy, a woman who’s about to turn 38 and is the owner of a karaoke bar, Zac Boulton is her Aussie boyfriend, and Kimie Tsukakoshi (born in Sydney to a Singapore-Chinese mother and Japanese father), and Seong Hui Xuan are her grandmother (Gma) and mother.
Unfortunately, the “richness of Singaporean culture” is impenetrable to an ignorant African (me) whose fondest memory of a visit to the island is the botanical gardens and being treated to “thrice-boiled abalone” at a medicinal restaurant.
That aside, “…universal questions about the complexity of mother-daughter relationships…” are as clear and tricky as universals tend to be, and are funny and excruciating by turn. The significance of Mandy turning 38 is not, I don’t think, to do with lucky or unlucky numbers as such, but more that her mother and grandmother both committed suicide at that age. No idea why, or whether that has cultural significance (search engines no help).
It seems there is significance in a plate of oranges (prosperity, happiness?) and also in some velvety toy durian fruit (heritage, prosperity, community?) that get tossed about, which must surely be disrespectful, no? But again, as it’s the “Opening Night: Seventh Night of Chinese New Year aka Human Day Extravaganza” at the bar, it’s hard to say.
Because they’re long dead, or perhaps not because, Mother and Grandmother turn up as “Hungry Ghosts”, in need of a feed. If you saw the 2020 SBS series Hungry Ghosts, you may remember that a tomb is disturbed in Vietnam, releasing a malevolent famished phantom. Solving the ensuing problems is a mysterious clairvoyant, played by our very own Suzy Wrong. And she could also be of assistance in solving the mysteries of Congratulations, Get Rich, because she is from Singapore and obviously knows what this show is really about. For instance, hungry Gma has a nibble at Xavier, but he forgives her. Check Suzy’s review on suzygoesseedotcom for insights.
First staged at La Boite, where its artistic director Courtney Stewart made it a success for the company, before an equally successful run in Singapore, Congratulations, Get Rich is a melange of the supernatural and karaoke songs (Mum and Gma are very good singers).
One thing most know about Chinese culture is firecrackers and the sound effects (Guy Webster) are as thunderous as the set is karaoke-ish gaudy (design James Lew, lighting by Gabriel Chan). The (original) songs are sung to a lush-synth-y backing track (Alex Van den Broek).
Again, the STC blurb says the work is “semi-autobiographical…” and “The audience is pulled into a world where the border between here and the afterlife dissolves, and where past ideals are pitted against contemporary concerns.” And it “is a hilarious and unbridled celebration of being alive.”
As previously stated, I have virtually no idea whether this is true or not. The Asians in the opening night audience laughed a lot and appreciated the show. Most xī fāng rén were plainly, if politely, mystified.
We need more diverse theatre sources, and Merlynn Tong is getting better at it. One of Sydney’s companies should put Tanika Gupta on its international list.
