the story tells of the titular newly-widowed mother of 5 daughters in a small town in spain (sometime in the middle of the last century.. yeah, it wasn't that long ago). she is an old-school matriarch who ruled with misguided zeal and an iron-fist, essentially suffocating the nubile lasses. i can't imagine living in that era, with a mother like that. can die.
the stage had a minimalist set up (too minimal methinks. i knew the set was intentionally barren with chairs being major (only) pieces, and there were some clever use of lighting and translucent screens, but i wish there were more props - a piece of cloth here or a cup there. they did have a couple of ladies fans, so why not?) and dark, accentuating the brooding mood. everyone was garbed in black, but each lady of the family had something red on them - the grandmother wore red stocking, the inner pleat of the mom's dress, a sister's hairband or inner garment, and one sister had a huge red birthmark on her face. subtle but nice touch!
anyways, let's rewind a little to the start of the evening:
i left the office around 7 with mandy. we planned to have dinner outside KLCC, probably somewhere near KLPAC. traffic was all right but "someone" broke a couple of rules to get us there faster. hahaha.. we passed a porridge stall on jln ipoh where mandy said she has been before, and there was a small crowd (always a sign of good food :) so we decided on that. it was really good! (sorry, no pix yet, still trying to get a hang of MY NEW PHONE! ^^)
reached KLPAC around 810pm to collect our tickets. rachel and ben (r's bf) and ruth (r's sis) were already there. tim and hubby was parking just as i collected the tix. ww made it just in time before the show started, but it was jazz who got me worried cos she got lost! she left the office before mandy and i did, and she just couldn't find the place and i was of no help. she was on the verge of giving up but i was glad she gave it one last attempt. she got in abt 845 with the tix i left with the ushers and had to sit away from us but it was ok - happy you made it!! ^^ it was also hubby's virgin theater experience, and i'm happy that he enjoyed it. as did everyone else! whee!
ok, back to the show: did i enjoy it?
...
yup! :D
i hesitated there cos saying yes somehow makes me feel sadistic.. haha.. it was a dark show exploring themes of repression, passion and conformity. heavy stuff. and look lah at my list of fav movies -- most of them are light hearted ones. mm someone used "emotionally drained" to describe the after-effect of watching this show, and that was how i felt. chongy said this audience laughed a lot, and i agreed! i only laughed at most twice, and i don't know what was it that i missed -- hellow! i am the queen of the easily amused and excitable..i oughta know!
anyways, here are some thoughts on the play (there are spoilers ya)..
- the opening scene was well choreographed, but i couldn't catch the words sung except those that were repeated. two girls who sat in front of us were taking notes of the play periodically and being kaypoh, i tried to peer at their notebook - not easy cos the theater was very dark. hehe.. anyways, i saw one of them wrote ".. pronunciation was unclear.." and i kinda agree with her. but then again, it could be me -- i memang hard of hearing wan, and often have to rely on subtitles when i watch TV. hehe..
- several of the actresses sporadically lapsed into some form of asian accent, which kinda threw me off. as for vocal ability, other than the senile grandmother (elvira arul), bernarda the overbearing mother (nicole-ann thomas) and poncia the maid (chongy!), the rest of the cast did impress me not much (me = not a fan of thin, shrill female voices).
- the youngest daughter, adela (ashvina marie) came across as rather bratty. i felt little sympathy to her cause and her longing for her forbidden lover. and even though she was eventually "betrayed" by sister martirio (stephanie paulus), the ugly daughter, i felt more for the latter. wrong vibe, girl! sweet daughter amelia (lee min li) was just that, sweet. if she had a subplot going for her, i don't recall it. and i thought she would make a better adela. and i like how magdalena (amelia chin) carried herself, even if her voice was a little hoarse. her demeanor brought out her character very well - someone who is resigned to her fate of imprisonment, but not in a hunched, sighing way. the eldest sister angustina (abigail barragry) was quite good too (but she should be depicted as somewhat older. i mean, she came across as someone desirable, instead of someone who got a marriage proposal because she was rich.)
- nicole played bernarda very well, a woman with her own demons.. with a husband who was implied to be a casanova. she called him a lover, yet admitted that he made her felt like a whore at the same time. maybe she wanted shield her daughters against men such as him. that, plus her ultra conservative view of women's position in homes and society. did she get that from her mother? elvira's senile character was quite annoying, but i don't know why. and that dance scene with her writhing on the floor - what was that la! somebody help her up pls..
- the young maid was the most out-of-place character - she pouted a lot and sounded too manja when she spoke, hence coming across very much a chinese girl instead of a spaniard. even her costume reminded me of a modern day waitress (were women allowed to wear pants back then?) the other two maids were rather forgettable, but i suppose that's how maids should be. in the shadow.. teringatkan the butler stevens in the remains of the days..
- sheryl chong was brilliant of course, but i might be biased. hahaha.. but find me an audience member who didn't think her soaring, booming voice and demeanour mean business -- running the household of bernarda alba is no mean feat ok. and she looked scary - hahaha.. the makeup must have been very well done cos some people (like her dad and my hubby) said they couldn't recognise her in her costume! you were awesome, babe!
- i thought that the music was pretty well executed (i thought that the musicians should get to come out and take a final bow too =). i got to meet its musical director tony leo selvaraj after the show. he's kind of a FB-friend with mandy so sheryl introduced us. mandy thought that the music was from a recording so she was overtly impressed to find out that it was live music. sheryl also intro'd me to another friend, chin hor, and they did this gangsta name thingy which i "politely" layan-ed. *roll eyes tak minat* hahaha..
*fangirly scream* chongy!! ^__^
Bernarda Alba is on until March 7 at Pentas 2, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac). Showtime is 8.30pm (3pm on Sundays). Tickets are RM48, with discounts available for senior citizens, students and the disabled. Tickets for the Tuesday and Wednesday shows are available for RM28. For more information, call KLPac’s box office (03-4047 9000), The Actors Studio@Lot 10 (03-2142 2009/03-2143 2009), or visit www.klpac.org.
on a similar note, just saw this on the ministry of tourism & istana budaya websites:
WEST SIDE STORY THE MUSICAL 12 - 25 May 2010I WANNA GOOOOOO!!!
‘West Side Story The Musical’ has been described as ‘a masterpiece of musical theatre’ and is said to have changed the face of musical theatre forever when it made its debut on Broadway back in 1957. For the first time ever, this legendary musical is now being staged right here on Malaysian soil, and is expected to be one of the year’s biggest and hottest events, attracting musical and theatre lovers from around the region. So don’t miss out - catch one of the world’s most-loved musicals.
but i heard that tix price starts from RM190. 0_o
*heartbroken*
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