The Queen, the Princess and their fans
Babak 1/Chapter 1
It was a wonderful experience. Lazy and I caught Malaysia's first World Class Musical Puteri Gunung Ledang (Princess of Mount Ophir) in KL at the Istana Budaya(Cultural Palace) last night. Firstly the Istana Budaya itself was a very splendid place with its Minangkabau architecture and it was the Malaysia's version of Singapore's own very boring Durian The Esplanade. Before the show started I had a culture shock at the crowd that was attending the show. We witnessed the high society of the Malaysia's Malays where the women were clad in their finest dresses and accessories and the guys in the suits. All the left kisses, right kisses, hugs and pleasantry exchanges were too much for me to take for the first few minutes. You could tell some of them are the Datuks and Datins or Tan Sris. Lazy had an encounter with a bitch too!
Lazy: Excuse me, can you tell me where we can collect our tickets?
Bitch: We are not from the PGL group ok! We are running a charity!
We had to scurry up and down just to find the counter to collect our tickets. Singapore's very own local theatre golden couple, Mark Richmond and Beatrice Chia, were also in attendance to witness the grand musical. Then came the arrival of the Permaisuri Agong(Ruling Queen) of Malaysia. Wow! A real Queen in attendance wor! The host greeted the Queen and her consorts/escorts with those royal-sucking up greetings before we waited in anticipation for the show to begin.
While seated, and we had really upclose and great seats, I mentioned to Lazy that if it was going to get boring I would just sleep. Boy! was I wrong. From the get go the musical was indeed a World class standard. The costumes were elaborated and the stage settings were grand and a spectacle. The sound system was very good and the lightings were used appropriately in different ways to emote the setting of each scene. Surprisingly Dick Lee composed the music for the entire musical and they were good! The entire ensemble was amazing with their singing, dancing and all the movements were in cue. Tiara Jacqueline who played the Princess was born to play the role. Her singing was well controlled and Stephen Rahman Hughes who played Hang Tuah had vocals that could easily rival the main actors in musicals like West Side Story (Incidentally he had actually performed in West Side Story as Chino). The story was well scripted and the transition between each scene was done smoothly. To make it more realistic, the cast playing the people of Majapahit would speak in Javanese accent and the language was aptly Javanese. The whole musical was beautifully ended where the cast, main and supporting, deservingly received a standing ovation. For the non-Malays, a thorough translation was provided for the dialogues and the songs. The play is in its Season 2 and will end its performance on 21st Aug and since it started with Season 1, the musical had been a soldout each night.
Incidentally, Lazy and I read the article on the musical that 30% of those in attendance were non-Malays. Like P Ramlee and Sheila Majid, Tiara Jacqueline is able to break the boundaries of the multi-racial Malaysia. The sad thing is that the Musical really requires a grand stage with sophisticated equipments and other malaysian States do not have the capacity to provide these requirements. Therefore, most of the Malaysians, those outside KL, will not be able to witness the country's very first World class musical. Meanwhile, the musical will come to Singapore in November! (Yes Tiara Jacqueline told me personally :)) I highly, highly recommend my fellow Singaporeans to witness this wonderful showcase!
I really didnt want the musical to end as I really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to watch the show again when it comes to Singapore and I hope the same cast will be performing . If they do, Lazy and I will be first in line to get the best seats! So its no surprise that I am actually listening to the entire CD now :)
Coming soon...Babak 2 with peektures!
It was a wonderful experience. Lazy and I caught Malaysia's first World Class Musical Puteri Gunung Ledang (Princess of Mount Ophir) in KL at the Istana Budaya(Cultural Palace) last night. Firstly the Istana Budaya itself was a very splendid place with its Minangkabau architecture and it was the Malaysia's version of Singapore's own very boring Durian The Esplanade. Before the show started I had a culture shock at the crowd that was attending the show. We witnessed the high society of the Malaysia's Malays where the women were clad in their finest dresses and accessories and the guys in the suits. All the left kisses, right kisses, hugs and pleasantry exchanges were too much for me to take for the first few minutes. You could tell some of them are the Datuks and Datins or Tan Sris. Lazy had an encounter with a bitch too!
Lazy: Excuse me, can you tell me where we can collect our tickets?
Bitch: We are not from the PGL group ok! We are running a charity!
We had to scurry up and down just to find the counter to collect our tickets. Singapore's very own local theatre golden couple, Mark Richmond and Beatrice Chia, were also in attendance to witness the grand musical. Then came the arrival of the Permaisuri Agong(Ruling Queen) of Malaysia. Wow! A real Queen in attendance wor! The host greeted the Queen and her consorts/escorts with those royal-sucking up greetings before we waited in anticipation for the show to begin.
While seated, and we had really upclose and great seats, I mentioned to Lazy that if it was going to get boring I would just sleep. Boy! was I wrong. From the get go the musical was indeed a World class standard. The costumes were elaborated and the stage settings were grand and a spectacle. The sound system was very good and the lightings were used appropriately in different ways to emote the setting of each scene. Surprisingly Dick Lee composed the music for the entire musical and they were good! The entire ensemble was amazing with their singing, dancing and all the movements were in cue. Tiara Jacqueline who played the Princess was born to play the role. Her singing was well controlled and Stephen Rahman Hughes who played Hang Tuah had vocals that could easily rival the main actors in musicals like West Side Story (Incidentally he had actually performed in West Side Story as Chino). The story was well scripted and the transition between each scene was done smoothly. To make it more realistic, the cast playing the people of Majapahit would speak in Javanese accent and the language was aptly Javanese. The whole musical was beautifully ended where the cast, main and supporting, deservingly received a standing ovation. For the non-Malays, a thorough translation was provided for the dialogues and the songs. The play is in its Season 2 and will end its performance on 21st Aug and since it started with Season 1, the musical had been a soldout each night.
Incidentally, Lazy and I read the article on the musical that 30% of those in attendance were non-Malays. Like P Ramlee and Sheila Majid, Tiara Jacqueline is able to break the boundaries of the multi-racial Malaysia. The sad thing is that the Musical really requires a grand stage with sophisticated equipments and other malaysian States do not have the capacity to provide these requirements. Therefore, most of the Malaysians, those outside KL, will not be able to witness the country's very first World class musical. Meanwhile, the musical will come to Singapore in November! (Yes Tiara Jacqueline told me personally :)) I highly, highly recommend my fellow Singaporeans to witness this wonderful showcase!
I really didnt want the musical to end as I really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to watch the show again when it comes to Singapore and I hope the same cast will be performing . If they do, Lazy and I will be first in line to get the best seats! So its no surprise that I am actually listening to the entire CD now :)
Coming soon...Babak 2 with peektures!