it wasn't the butler.

i love whodunits. i like page turners and detective stories excel at that: making you stay up all night just so you can find out who bumped who and what and why and how. Agatha Christie must be the queen who ruled over 'em mystery novels (she's said to be the best selling novelist in the world). her books gave me one of my fondest memory of being a librarian in Form 6, getting my hands on the entire series of AC's books available in the library.

anyways, anyways, anyways... guess what we chanced upon that first afternoon in Melbourne, as we were somewhat lost while looking for a Vietnamese restaurant? the Comedy Theater, that's what! and guess what was their next show? Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, that's what!! haha! my heart leaped outta my rib cage and did a little dance, right there on Exhibition Street, while I just stood there, not believing my fortune. i've read about this play before, as it has the "longest initial run of any play in history, with over 24,500 performances so far"" (wiki) and never thought that i'd be able to catch it this side of the globe :). as I walked closer to the theater to make out the show dates on the banner, I prayed that I would still be around in Melbourne to catch it.

and I was!

the show was scheduled to open on the Thursday of that week, the day after our trip back from the Great Ocean Road. do i need to tell you how excited i was? tra la la.. anyways, that night i went online to check out the tickets, and goodness, there were only two price tiers: AUD75 and AUD85. that's RM248 and RM280. and there weren't even that many seats left. i was kinda torn, cos that's A LOT OF MAH-NEH, so I spent a good half an hour rationalizing it. happily, the darling husband gave the green light to get the tix. whee! tried purchasing the tix with my mastercard but the transaction was rejected (could it be that i can't use a Msian card to make purchase from an Aussie computer?) so i ended up using cassie's card instead and paid her back in cash. it ended up costing me AUD82, incl of processing fee. ouchie!

thankfully, the show was good. it was a solid performance by the cast. at one point, although not very confidently, i could kinda guess who the murderer was (after reading too many of her books, you pick up on things like this) but it still made for a nice twist. at the end of the play after all the actors take their bow, one of them would request that the audience do not reveal the identity of the killer to anyone outside the theatre, so that future audiences would still be able to enjoy the twist.

passing by the theater on the tourist shuttle bus the day after the performance.

uncle adrian and the hubby dropped me across the street from the theater. seen here are people who were milling about waiting for the show to start.

the online ticket. i should have opted to collect the ticket from the box office - i would have loved to keep the stub, instead of this self-printed copy. ah well.

the moon was humongous that night! i thought it was an Aussie thing haha.. but the moon also appeared to be about the same size when we got back to Msia. it was the time of the month i guess. :D

the souvenir booklet cost AUD20 which i couldn't afford. so i brought back the promotional leaflet instead. heheh..

trying to clear some backlog posts because you know, i'm procrastinating (isohatemyselfsigh).. so here's one of them:

now that the musical has had its run, i think i can post this dy. i don't know if they are still googling for reviews cos that's what i totally would have done. haha.. but yeah, i just wanna give my tuppence like i was irish.. i have been hesitant about posting this cos i didn't want the cast to get disheartened should they read this (you'll see why) hahaha..

adam the musical 

the actors' studio, lot 10

18-may-2010

let me tell you straight: i did not enjoy the musical. and this was after going in with low expectations hoping to be pleasantly surprised -- alas that didn't happen. oh well.

[a quick thanks to jazz who organized this - went with her and mandy and a bunch of jazz's friends whose names have escaped me now.. haha..]

but first, let me recount what i liked about it:

• tabitha kong - i've heard her once when i went to SIB for some event last year, and i rber really liking her voice although she only sang one song. here in adam, she was the understudy for the role of maria. i would have preferred not to go for understudies' performances but jazz had wanted to go for this one as tabby (which was what jazz calls her, which is really weird for me, so mm, i'll just stick to tab, which is also.. nvm.) is a friend of hers. which i didn't mind cos theater performances are usually frequented by people who sorta kinda knew the cast or crew. and since tab is now a friend of a friend, 'twas ok. :D it also didn't hurt that she's cuter than the lead actress. hahaha..
  
• the couple's chemistry - tab and the lead actor (malik taufik) were such a cute couple! i really liked the scenes they were in together.. their body language spoke louder than their lines.. which was good (because: re. point 1 in the next section).
  
• the group performance - this one, i kinda liked and disliked at the same time. like, cos they sounded good and their choreography tight; dislike, cos i couldn't hear what they were singing about.
• tria aziz - she was one very scary looking ghoul, but her voice! her solo was one highlights of the show..
• mo dee & fairuz tauhid - two transvestite characters who were sometimes funny and other times menjengkelkan. don't know lah.. something about this show just didn't sit down nicely with me.

and now, for the bad:

• the script was horribly banal and trite.. direction was poor. i was unmoved by adam's plight.
  
• the use of religion was quite a fail if not mis-used. if the girl has no qualms about changing her religion, then as a plot device it was redundant. as i saw it, they had wanted to highlight the religious hypocrisy and bigotry, and they would have been better off had they stuck to a single religion (Islam in this case).
• datuk faridah merican - i don't mean no disrespect, but i think her voice was poor. i heard no frailty nor strength in it, and going off pitch not once but a few times is quite a no-no kan?
• the archangel michael played by mark sobels - he was one very annoying character who was neither funny or sensible. bleh.
• what's a musical without memorable songs. unfortunately, most of the songs here were forgettable.
• theater design - the layout of the stage limits severely limits the vantage point to only those in front. if it's for fashion show ok lah, but for 2/3 of the audience, it's mostly just side profiles for the longest time. 

in the end, i was not barely emotionally moved (even bored at some points) - emotions being my yardstick of rating something like this. all said, it was all just really mediocre theater to me.

[i rber the musical ran closely to the very expensive broadway production in KL - the westside story.. and i'd jokingly dubbed adam the poor man's WSS.. now, even that comparison is unworthy. sorry!]

a roomful of liquid nitrogen.. erm.. estrogen.. same la..

bernarda alba (the musical) was, in one word, intense.. and it was meant to be, i suppose.

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!
  



*fangirly scream* chongy!! ^__^




• 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..

so yeah, that's about it. :)

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 2010

‘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.

I WANNA GOOOOOO!!!
but i heard that tix price starts from RM190. 0_o

*heartbroken*

watching men pirouetting in tutus was..

.. kinda surreal.

thanks to mandy's friend, le sze, we got our tix for Les Ballet Grandiva's Men in Tutus less than half the price (paid RM60 for a RM130 tix). i think she's a gardnerandwife member, and there were some promo thingy going on. left the office about 7.20pm, grabbed some pretzels for a quick bite, and made our way to sentul. traffic was quite good, but we missed a turn because mandy wasn't paying attention (although she called it being "too engrossed in conversation". hahaha!) met up with her friends (all stylo milo babes 'em -- made me wanna go hide my shapeless hair in the washroom!) and her boyfriend (finally! i've heard so much about you! :) lol..)

ooh, also managed to meet up with chongy for about 2 minutes during the intermission - she was rehearsing for an upcoming musical at KLPAC in March, called "Bernarda Alba". do be a darrrhling and go watch it ok? hehe.. it'll be good. (more info on that later!)

i didn't fall madly in love with the show, but it was good nevertheless. standing, no - jumping en pointe - on those ballerina shoes must have been a b**** (they did say it was), but there were they, doing the almost impossible with such grace and poise. ooh la la!

the men were awesome. but i kept referring to them as "she" and "her" -- a freudian slip of the tongue perhaps? some of the men really looked like a woman, but a buff one at that (and yeah, there was a couple of them sprouting chest hair -- aiyor!! LOL), and i did get confused after a while. haha..

ballet still isn't my cuppa tea, but now i can say that i have watched Swan Lake. hehe.. nevermind where and that it was just Act II -- and i tink they changed the ending too. two other dances we saw were The Dying Swan (performed by a lanky newcomer, and it was quite good.. i think it was my fav act that night) and Beating the Tarantula (yea, u read that right! :P).. the MC ever so kindly introduced each act with anecdotes and brief history, but i couldn't catch the rest.

so yeah, good show, guys! :)



being back in KLPAC, in that theater, Studio 1.. reminded me of the one other act i've caught there: a youth jazz band. really good show that, but it was also the company i had that evening that triggered the memory. good thing i was too tired to watch the entire mental flashback, which is still ongoing. well, new memories will made..