Then when I was in London a few years later, I managed to catch the then immensely popular “Miss Saigon” with Lea Salonga and Jonathan Pryce at the West End and I was going like “WOW! Wow! Wow! Surely no Malaysian productions can ever match this” (The chopper scene alone blew my mind).
Which brings us to P. Ramlee The Musical. What can I say? I was there at the opening night and brought my family three days later. Dapat tengok dua kali, gua cakap lu! And of course, I enjoyed it. And I am so proud that we have our own musical production that can match the ones from West End or Broadway in every imaginable way. We have arrived! Yes. (clearly I didn't watch PGL.. The Musical, right?)
The Good!
The ensemble: The big ensemble cast did a great supporting job with good dancing and singing throughout. I especially like the three women-supporting cast who took on several different roles. Bravo to Ida Mariana, Maya Tan Abdullah and Izlyn Ramli.
Chedd Eddie Yusof: He’s everywhere too but as Sukardi, P. Ramlee’s best friend from kampung, he is pleasantly humorous.
Colin Kirton and Douglas Lim: The Shaw Brothers! Emtaq, emtaq!
The songs: The P. Ramlee songs are simply beautiful. The new songs… not bad..but love the opening number in Penang.
The props: Whoa... the locomotive and KTM gerabak alone were amazing.
Atilia: I am already a fan. As Junaidah the first wife, she's exquisite.
Melissa Saila: As Norizan the second dejected wife, she provided the most memorable performance. Her singing may be questionable (but then she’s no singer to begin with) but her acting..simply majestic.
Liza Hanim: I was never a fan but after listening to her singing live, I was bowled over. I seriously think that she sounded much much better than the singing Datuk. As Saloma, she’s simply delightful.
Sean Ghazi: Awesome. Enough said.
Atilia, Sean, Liza and Melissa. Terror.
Encore!Favourite moments:
Opening number in 1930’s Penang --- oooh very very happy (and I actually smiled masa ni). 
The Penang-Singapore train ride --- ooooh my God!
Norizan-P.Ramlee break up scene – oooh very heartfelt (but really, was Norizan like this in real life)
The screening of Penarik Becha at the Rex Cinema – ooh clever!
P.Ramlee and Saloma courting scene – oooh priceless! I’m so very very happy!
7 comments:
Salam pak mior:
Malaysian theathre macam dapat talian hayat with success of PGL the Musical.
Now the same gang presented P Ramlee to Malaysia.
Me, never been to musicals before. Last time tengok teater was back in the mid 80's kat Dewan Eksperimen UM.
Salam Tok:
I never did managed to catch anything at Panggung Eksperimen masa kat sana. But a couple of yeaqrs back when my cousin was there, she invited us to watch a Romeo and Juliet play at DTC. Punya ler boring...
BTW. yes as in your question in Shah's comment box, that's the Awang Kecik... but mmg tak jumpa sejak he left U. You know him? Met him lately?Rasa2nya dia jadi cikgu kot...
Mior:
Dah berbelas tahun takjumpa Awang Kecik .Dia memang jadi cikgu tapi tak tahu samada still in Kedah atau dah transfer ke lain.
kenal sebab dulu dia sering ke 2nd RC jumpa Man Beliku dan Najib Din his Kedahmate.
I'll try to get in touch with Man Beliku and ask about Aang Kecik.
Salam ...
meremang bulu roma pB baca n3 niee
Pb,
eh, kenapa meremang ya? bukannya cerita hantu... hehhe
Sudah tengok cerita ni ker? Anyway, saya juga ada baca banyak review yang tak berapa menyukai teater ini ... heran sungguh. Apa yang penting , kita suka kita terhibur..
mior:
Biasa lah kalau review. Perkara tu subjektif. Ada yg pandang dari usaha menghidupkan aktiviti musical lalu mereka lupakan kesilapan2 yg kecil lalu memberi review yg bagus.
Ada yg mungkin harapan terlalu tinggi sehingga nak menyamakan tetaer kita yg baru nak merangkak(belum bertatih pun) dgn Broadway atau West End, maka mereka akan kecewa dan beri review yg negatif.
Yang penting usaha grup ini telah berhasil membuka mata org ramai kepada aktiviti teater tanahair yg selama ini hidup segan mati tak mahu.
Dulu jarang dapat kita dengar IB ada itu ada ini. Sekarang IB tidak lagi menjadi gajah putih.
tokdoc,
betul tu but the thing is sometimes we should also pandang-pandang and lihat2 orang punya usaha. But then again maybe these people know more than me.. afterall who am I to really give review on such grand undertakings like this musical. ilmu tak ada pengalaman jauh sekali.. not that I want to be involved directly in entertainment industry, hehehe. No thank you.
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