The Singaporean musical, 881, is a lot to take in. It starts out with fast-paced narration to explain who all the characters are, and it's revealed, right at the very beginning, that one of the lead characters will die of cancer at the age of 25. So you can pretty much predict that there will be plenty of melodrama in store, even if much of the film is a whimsical affair. The best thing to do is to sit back and just let the garish colors, breathtaking costumes and energetic music wash over you.

Directed by Royston Tan, 881 is set in Singapore's getai (song stage) scene, which erupts each year during the seventh lunar month (usually around August) and the "Hungry Ghosts Festival", when the "gates of Hell" open and ghosts come forth.

The song stage scene started as a diversion, but is the focal point for many people - among them Big Papaya (Yeo Yann Yann) and Little Papaya (Mindee Ong) - two young women who are opposite in most ways, but they met at a getai show and decided to share their love for the music by forming a singing duo.

They get help from the orphaned Little Papaya's adoptive "auntie", Ling (Liu Ling Ling), who is a resourceful impresario in the getai scene, and makes the duo's increasingly outlandish costumes (by the end, the Papayas are dressed like Native American warriors). Ling's son, Guan Yin (Qu Yu Wu) also helps out, by driving the girls to their shows - an important job, because the more shows the girls make, the more successful they'll be. He's a handsome, strapping lad, but is a mute and is always carrying around a chicken (translated, intentionally I'm sure, as "cock" in the subtitles). Ironically, it's Guan Yin who is narrating the story.

While cute, the Papaya sisters still need an extra push to make them truly successful, so Ling takes them to see her twin sister, the Getai Goddess, who endows them with gifted singing voices and magical powers, as long as they abide by the getai code, which includes remaining chaste.

Soon, the Papaya sisters (the title 881 comes from the sound of the word papaya in Mandarin) are the biggest act on the getai circuit, earning them the enmity of the Durian Sisters (Ming and Choy), a pair of broad-chinned Eurasians who have a techno-flavored act.

Eventually, the rivalry leads to a big showdown between the "fruity sisters", with the loser being forced to retire from getai forever.

So it there's to big, showstopping climax, and the inevitable death soon thereafter of Little Papaya, making for lots of tears, but also one last farewll song.

An Asian Contemporary film and Harvest of Talents nominee at the 5th World Film Festival of Bangkok, 881 screens at 8.20pm on Thursday, with a Q&A session by director Royston Tan afterward.