Last night, I took my family for the Datin Seri Tiara Jacquelina's Enfinitti production of "P. Ramlee, the musical" at Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur. I bought tickets for my parents too, but my father could not make it, so my sister stood in, last minute. This is my mother's first visit to the Istana Budaya and she was awed by the splendour of the theatre.
I was completely awed by the set. It utilised the high-technology and mechanical ability of the stage. Istana Budaya is one of the most technologically induced theatre in the world.
My mother enjoyed her first musical or theatre show in the Istana Budaya. She grew up having a stapple diet of P Ramlee's movies and song, totally related to the musical and the genre of that era.Liza Hanim, who played Saloma, P Ramlee's third wife, brought life to the character when he was able to render Saloma's original numbers in the way Saloma sung. Unlike Dato' Siti Nurhaliza, she had to render a 21st century R & B number to suit her singing ability.
My mother and Girl-Girl later had the opportunity to get autographs from the performers, director Adlin A. Ramlie and even Tiara, the producer. It was a wonderful experience for her to see a live performance and meet the stars afterwards.
Girl-Girl thoroughly enjoyed the revetting performance put up by Melissa Saila, who played Norizan in the musical. Her acting strength brought the conflict needed to complement the musical.
I must admit "PGL the musical" was much better. It is because PGL was not 'confined' to a particular music genre, unlike P Ramlee. Hence, the musical director are able to explore new genre of music. The dances of PGL also were choreographed with a lot of historical and cultural characteristics. According to Adlin, PGL will be back in February. Stephen Rahman Hughes will be back as Hang Tuah and so will the rest of the cast. This time, I will make sure my mother will be here at Istana Budaya to watch the third season of this hit musical.
*Some of the photos featured here in this posting are courtesy of TV Smith.
4 comments:
Shit man, you guys have it all. Poor us in Penang, we only get to watch free Chinese Wayang all complete with the heavy make-up. Come to think of it, they also have nice mini-skirted chicks croaking out hit songs. I guess they too got to keep up with the times don't they?
Oh Che Gu, you just come down and ask the good BD there to bring you. He he he he...
Oh Aishah is looking gorgeous. Thats my girl...
Cikgu Kata-Tak-Nak,
For a constellation for Penangites, there was a special scene when P Ramlee grew up in Penang, reliving the typical Georgetown lifestyle and foster a relationship with young Azizah. They had a Penangite special number for that.
And when P Ramlee was a Bangsawan performer and BS Rajhan courted him to go to Singapore and join the Malay Film Production under Shaw Brothers, P Ramlee had to part with his true love, Azizah.
This was the ONLY scene that Dato' Siti Nurhaliza performed.
Penangites should be proud of this early act in the musical.
El,
I'd love to honour Cikgu KTN and accompany him to watch a tribute to an imfamous Penangite. Unfortunately, its a high profile-much publish sized production, therefore the seats are usually sold out the moment the announcement is made. I am lucky to get some.
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