NEW-LOOK PA: (From left) Emma Yong, Alemay Fernandez and Denise Tan performing Hot Pants. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

This was not your usual PA concert. Instead of being a staid affair, the audience was treated to a lively evening of songs from 12 home-grown musicals, such as Beauty World, Sing To The Dawn and Chang & Eng.

The opening number, Beauty World, transformed the University Cultural Centre hall into a cabaret as bright lights bathed it in a sea of red, green and gold.

Female leads Emma Yong, Alemay Fernandez and Denise Tan sashayed and sang in glitzy gold and black costumes.

Fernandez later had the audience entranced as she belted out When All The Tears Have Dried from Sing To The Dawn.

Upping the glam factor in the concert was the creative director of PA Talents, entertainer Dick Lee, who was hired to jazz up the image of the group.

He sang the Cantonese number, Love Is Forever, from the musical Snow. Wolf. Lake, eliciting cheers from the audience at the end.

At the post-concert reception, Lee, who recently celebrated his 51st birthday, told Life! that one of the highlights of the show was being able to revisit all his work again. He had had a hand in all the musicals except for Chang & Eng.

He said: 'A lot of the stuff in the show, I haven't heard in a long, long time and a lot of people I spoke to said they were happy to be reminded of these songs.

'It was like having my life flash before my eyes. It's 20 years of my music writing there.'

Another highlight of the show was the intricate way in which Chinese, Malay and Indian dance were woven together.

Malay musical Puteri Gunung Ledang segued easily into Forbidden City, a musical based on the life of Chinese empress dowager Ci Xi.

Lee said the easy transition was representative of Singapore's multi-cultural society.

He said: 'That's how we've woven it in our culture now. The East and West have come together in a very natural way. It doesn't feel forced, that's where we are today.'