It was definitely one of the best musicals I’ve ever watched. All the actors, singers, dancers and musicians are all at the top of their profession.

I know It’s hard to imagine what I’m talking about. You should see it for yourself from the YouTube video below.

The video shows the New York casts (who performed at Istana Budaya for the past weeks) performing 2 songs — “Tonight” and “America” — in a special appearance at the Dutch Musical Awards Gala 2009.

I love everything about this musical. From the choreography, music, lighting effects, moving stage to everything else. And I’m amazed by how creative they are to actually perform the dream scene and the rape scene on stage.

Besides, their acting skills were really good. My eyes water when Maria holding the half-dead Tony singing the finale song in the last scene.

But what puts me off is, I think Scott Sussman is too old to be the main character Tony. He looks like a 30 something uncle. I can tell that even when I was sitting at the upper circle which was like 3km away from the stage.

Apart from that, everything else was perfect. It was really an amazing musical, very entertaining, very touching and very inspiring.

The finale pose after the theme song Mamak Mee-Ah!

The story revolves around topics like Malaysia-Singapore relationship, local social and political jokes, youth issues and, what else, food!

Gotta love the humorous and sarcastic Singaporean jokes they keep cracking. I really had a good laugh.

The casts performing Bare Celebrities (Bare Necessities from Jungle Book).

Although the script was good, but it doesn’t really stand out as much as the songs.

List of songs

1. We Love the Good Food (Food, Glorious Food from Oliver!)
2. I Feel Hungry (I Feel Pretty from West Side Story)
3. Under the Tree (Under the Sea from Little Mermaid)
4. I’ll Eat Anything (I’d Do Anything from Oliver!)
5. Empty Chairs at Plastic Tables (Empty Chairs at Empty Tables from Les Misérables)
6. I Got to Get a Message to You (Bee Gees)
7. Love Letters (The Pat Boone Classic)
8. SMS (SOS from Mamma Mia!)
9. Sambal Nights (Summer Nights from Grease!)
10. Mak Cik Life (Mack the Knife from The Threepenny Opera)
11. If I Were a Tan Sri (If I Were a Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof)
12. Over the Causeway (Over the Rainbow from Wizard of Oz)
13. Bare Celebrities (Bare Necessities from Jungle Book)
14. Low Class Bad Word (Lonely Goatherd from Sound of Music)
15. No Pork No Pork (New York, New York)
16. Bodoh (Bui Doi from Miss Saigon)
17. What I Had for Lunch (What I Did for Love from A Chorus Line)
18. Peas and Rice (JC Superstar)
19. Mamak Mee-Ah! (Mamma Mia!)

I like how they have chosen songs from different genre and most of the casts can really sing well.

Mak cik performing the song Mak Cik Life (Mack the Knife from The Threepenny Opera).

The only thing with the songs is the composition. It’s obvious that the music wasn’t composed with real musical instruments. They end up sounded a little bit like MIDI music. And the cut-and-paste overture at the beginning really makes me raise my eyebrows.

Besides, there are times we can’t really hear what the casts are singing clearly. Maybe it’s the sound system or maybe the singers themselves. Or, maybe it’s like what Ted said, our England is not good enough.

Dancing to the song Low Class Bad Word (Lonely Goatherd from Sound of Music), the Dikir Barat way.

My favourite song out of so many is definitely No Pork No Pork (originally New York, New York). Ah Fatt’s exaggerated act can really portray the typical Malaysian Chinese biggest concern — an Islamic state with no pork and Char Siew.

Look at his face in the picture below, so convincing that the face shouts, “No pork? NO PORK???!!! NOOO.…..!!!”

Ah Fatt singing the No Pork No Pork (New York, New York). Thanks to Sophea for this picture.

All in all, it was a good local musical production. My friends and I really enjoyed it.

The Actors Studio, Lot 10.

If after you read this and you feel like watching this musical, it’s not too late (as of writing). The show ends this coming Sunday, 18 April 2010. Find out more info about ticketing on my previous post.

P/S: My last complaint would be, the studio is too hot and the seat makes my ass numb.

I was kind of regretted because it was a great musical production led by 2 remarkable artists — Tiara Jacquelina and Stephen Rahman Hughes.

Then I saw this show called “Showstoppers” on the MPO season brochure featuring no one else but Stephen Rahman Hughes (pronounce as “hyooz”, I checked the dictionary) as the soloist singing famous songs from famous Broadway musicals.

Show Stoppers booklet cover.

How could I miss the chance to listen to him singing again? The tickets were sold out a week before the show but I managed to grabbed 4 tickets before that.

The show was indeed phenomenal. Song choice was good, orchestra was great and the singer was awesome!

He is definitely a very good baritone. I particularly love a few songs he sang like I Dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables (previously sang by Susan Boyle), Maria from West Side Story and The Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera.

Besides, I really enjoyed the madly version of songs from The Sound of Music performed by the orchestra conducted by John Georgiadis from London.

Autography session after the concert.

After the show, I rushed to queue up for autography session and I was the second person in the line.

Stephen Rahman Hughes singing autographs.

Best wishes from Steven Rahman Hughes.

Sophea, me, Sin Ling and Ziyi.

Definitely a great show to watch. Though the bling bling purple shoes he wore that day was a little bit distracting.

OMG! West Side Story is coming to KL from 12–25 May 2010!

The legendary Original Broadway Musical will make its one and the only stop in South-East Asia here at Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur.

The musical sets in the mid-1950s New York City. The romance between Tony and Maria — the modern William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet — together with its stunning choreography and familiar tunes will surely take your breath away.

Show Schedule

Ticket Price

RM590, RM490, RM390, RM290, RM190

It’s going to be selling fast like hot cakes. Grab your tickets now before it’s too late!

Tickets can be booked by calling 03–2287 2727 or go to www.ticketspeople.com.

Note: Major press releases announced 12–24 May but the event organiser’s website shows 12–25 May. I’m not sure which one is correct. Pictures taken from broadwaywestsidestory.com.

I was going through August Man Magazine recently and I came across something interesting.

Mamak Mee-Ah! The Musical Spoof!

After seeing the musical Mamma Mia! myself, the name Mamak Mee-Ah! surely caught my attention.

The blurb from the poster sounds funny too.

“From the team that created and presented the hugely successful Broadway Parodies Lah! and award wining Broadway Parodies Lagi Lah!”

This local musical production is written by Brian McIntyre MM2H, an Ang Moh (Mat Salleh) who has been living in Malaysia for 20 years.

The musical will be showing some familiar tunes with some spoofed lyrics mixed with Malaysian culture, characters and icons, rojakally.

Sounds fun right? I’m so tempted to go.

So I suppose I have to go to the Box Office and order “Boss! Mamak Mee-Ah satu!”.

Ok lah lame joke I know.

Show Info

Presenter: The Actors Studio Teater Rakyat
Date & Time: 8–10 & 13–17 April @ 8.30pm | 11 & 18 April @ 3pm
Venue: The Actors Studio @ Lot 10
Ticket Price: RM50, RM40, RM30 (students, sr. citizens & the disabled)

More information can be found on The Actors Studio’s website.

I have not encounter any contemporary music before this until that day. Contemporary music is so different from classical, jazz, new age, rock or pop just to name a few.

Unlike most of the other music genres, contemporary music has no beautiful melodies harmoniously composed. It is harsh in sound, out of harmony, aggressive and expressive.

One moment, all performers play with all their strength all together, until their faces turned red and veins appeared; one moment, all performers stop playing and the hall was pin-drop silence.

Hard to visualise? I know. Well, you can try to imagine having some 3-year-old kids on the stage, give each of them a musical instrument and ask all of them to play at the same time. That’s basically how contemporary music will sound like. Just giving example. No sarcasm intended.

Here’s a video from YouTube where you can listen to how contemporary music sounds like.

Sean told me it was an orchestra from Germany, full of anticipation I was. But when the concert begins, I was like “what is this!? Is it going to be like this throughout the concert?”

Apparently, the answer was yes. It was a concert all about contemporary music with performers from Germany and other countries playing music composed by Malaysian composers.

I couldn’t understand a thing at first until the third or fourth piece was played. When I listen to the music carefully, I have come to understand that contemporary music is not about harmonic melodies.

It’s about the impact, sound effect, speed, body movement and expression combined to bring the composer’s message across.

Imagine sitting in the hall listening to the music for 3 hours, I would say it wasn’t really a pleasant or enjoyable moment.

It is rare to have a chance to listen to live contemporary music performance especially in country like Malaysia whose music industry is just skin deep compare to the western countries.

Although contemporary music is not my cup of tea, but it’s good to have the chance to experience the unseen facet of the music world.

From left to right, Ziyi, Jenn Ting, Sophea, Kah Wai and I.

The concert was simply mind blowing. It was the best concert ever. Loved the Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The chamber players’ performance was just flawless.

The 11 year-old pianist, Tengku Ahmad Irfan was very awesome as well. Although his performance wasn’t perfect, but at his young age, he is surely talented.

Although the concert was a little bit shorter than usual, but everyone truly enjoyed it.

When the concert was over, we went to the lobby to take some pictures.

Suddenly a guard asked us to give way to someone. I turned around and saw Tun Dr. Mahathir and his wife. They were at the concert as well.

Pictures taken with Sophea’s new toy.

It was no doubt an awesome opening for this season. Hope to attend more great concerts like this.

It was their 10th anniversary performance. It’s not easy for a local musical production to last for 10 years. And they did put in quite a lot of effort in all aspects of the musical.

Together with me, there were Jenn Ting and Kah Wai.

The stage and the lighting effects amazed me much. The choreography and the music were moderate. And the acting, nothing much to comment.

During the 15 minutes break, I saw a familiar face. It was Jae Cheah Siow Wei! It was her first time attending a musical.

Such a coincidence. A week-long performance and we managed to meet on the second day.

Although it was not the best musical I’ve seen but I would say it was pretty good for a local musical production.

It was special because I think you can only find this in Malaysia.

A musical performance by three musicians from three different races using three different traditional musical instruments.

There was Sean playing the Chinese flute — dizi.

There was a Malay playing the Bonang.

And there was an Indian playing the Tabla.

What is it like when you put 3 musicians from 3 major races in Malaysia to play songs together?

Can’t imagine? Watch the video below of them playing a Chinese folk song. Though the quality is not that good.

“Wah! very creative hor… Got Malay, got Chinese and got Indian… truly 1Malaysia…” said Stranger A.

“Hmmm… never thought that it could work out that well…” said Stranger B.

A kid asked his daddy “why only the Chinese wearing shoes one?” and the daddy didn’t know how to answer his son.

Bravo to the management of IOI Mall to be able to come up with the idea.

But too bad it was in such a rush that all three musicians met for the first time few hours before the performance.

Without  prior practice and rehersal, I would say that they have done a great job.

We reached there around 7 and the concert starts at 8. So we had our quick dinner at OldTown. All of us had the exact same thing, Chicken Hor Fun and warm water.

It was “people mountain people sea” at the entrance. And the weather was cold.

The distance from the stage was not bad. Afterall it was the music that matters.

The performance was marvelous. He played a few soon-to-be-released songs and he said it was the first time the songs to be played to the public.

I was so attracted to the performances to a point that tears started to drain from my eyes. Hmmm… I’m so emotional.

The concert ended around 11 PM. It was raining and freezing. So we went to Starbucks to have some coffee, cakes and camwhores.

Ziyi is my house mate. He was shivering in the cold because he didn’t bring any sweater or jacket. Pity him. So I lent him my scarf.

While waiting for our coffee, Jenn Ting was looking around and suddenly I said “stop, don’t move, just stay like that.”

I quickly take a snapshot of him and he looks so macho in the picture.

Everyone was so talkative and we sat there chit chat until midnight.

It was late and then we decided to call it a night.

We got into the car, drove out the building and suddenly Jenn Ting saw 2 aunties pushing a van. Immediately he asked Ziyi to pull off and asked everyone to go down and help.

There was an old man sitting in the driver seat while two aunties pushing from the back trying to push-start the van. Although we didn’t managed to get the van started, but at least we helped them to push the van back to the parking lot.

Seriously, if it wasn’t Jenn Ting, I don’t think we will stop the car to lend a helping hand. It’s hard to find a kind-hearted man like Jenn Ting nowadays. We should learn from him.