Hong Kong Movie Star Arts Troupe

Hong Kong singing and dancing troupe which visited Singapore in 1966. They returned in the late 1970s.

HONG KONG TROUPE’S SEASON EXTENDED – The Hong Kong Movie Star Arts Troupe, which start their series of performances tomorrow evening at the National Theatre, will have their season extended for another five days. [Straits Times, April 8, 1966, p. 4]

FIRST BATCH OF FILM STARS OFF TOMORROW – The first batch of the visiting 62-member troupe of Hong Kong film stars and performers will leave for home on Friday. Some of the stars will be spending an extra week here to shoot local scenes for a film. [Straits Times, April 21, 1966, p. 9]

They returned to Singapore for a scheduled performance from 25–29 November 1977, but due to “overwhelming public response,” their season was extended with additional shows on 1–4 December [Strait Times, November 28, 1977, p. 9]. The 55-member troupe was performing in aid of the National Theatre Cultural Development Fund (NewspaperSG – Charity shows). On 20 December that year, their recent National Theatre performances were broadcast as a one-hour programme on television [Strait Times, December 18, 1977, p. 4].

The troupe’s first visit to Singapore was actually ten years ago, in April 1966. Back then they also performed at the National Theatre, and their season was also extended (NewspaperSG – Hong Kong troupe’s season extended).

The troupe was again in Singapore in 1978 – a departmental store advertisement mentions that the winners of a lucky draw would be drawn by two of the troupe’s stars on 9 October (NewspaperSG – Page 7 Advertisements Column 2), and a further advertisement with the results mentions that the draw was eventually done on 20 November (NewspaperSG – Page 4 Advertisements Column 1). In this article, one of the troupe’s stars mentions that she would be “among the 65 members of the Hong Kong Movie Star Arts Troupe, who will perform for the third time in Singapore at the National Theatre from November 18 to 25.” The seven performances were to raise funds for the Singapore Table Tennis Association’s new indoor sports centre (NewspaperSG – Leanne: Don’t compare me with someone else).

In December 1978, a break in the RTS Talentime 1978 schedule was filled with a recording of the “Movie Star Arts Troupe ’78 performance at the National Theatre recently” (NewspaperSG – ‘Warm-up’ preview before the finals).

In May 1979, Mr. Cheng Shu Jin (who was the troupe’s choreographer) began a three-month contract with the Singapore National Theatre Trust to “upgrade the standard of Chinese dancing and to introduce a proper Chinese dance syllabus for the classes” – public response was overwhelming. Mr. Cheng had travelled with the Movie Star Arts Troupe in 1977 and 1978, performing at the National Theatre both times (NewspaperSG – Instructor here to help raise dancing standards).

Recorded for S.A.R. and Yin Xing in 1966.