M - (Trying To Be) The Opera

God.
*scratches head*

Where do I start?
(=_=)

I'm really stumped.

Ok.
I suppose it would be good to begin on a more positive note:
M The Opera at the Istana Budaya was passionate.... and erm, the costumes were really pretty.
Oh, and I think there were some people that performed amazingly!
(One being Doreen Tang who was the female lead, Sepi, as well as George Chan who was the "baddie", Kerabat)
The posters and decorations outside the theatre
Still, overall it was a disaster - so all over the place...
One moment traditional Malaysian dancing then it was a quasi-Japanese routine with kungfu-ish dance movements. Then a mass ala-Seventies-choreographed dance as well as a smattering of modern dance for good measure.
The stage before the play
The language usage was boggling too.

I dunno why some Malaysian plays try so have so hard to do the whole fusion thing.
It usually just ends up being very inaccessible.
(Not everyone understands Malay and English and Japanese so well la)

I know that there are subtitles on the screen above the stage but the words just didn't quite jive most times...
Eg.
English subtitles on screen: "Oh! I feel so sad"
Malay spoken on stage:"Oh! Kepiluan hatiku bagaikan malam yang bla bla bla... (for the next 3 minutes)..."

(This left poor Pat and Boon looking mighty confused, I must say... the look on their faces were like: "WTF? It's one line in English on the screen....! How come the guy on stage is still yattering on in Malay?")

One of the scenes
Anyway.... so many other bloggers have already given their 2 cents worth about it and the play is already over la...
(I watched it on it's last day)
... so not much point in me criticising it too much.

I just don't understand how come the main stream reviews of the play (like in NST, Kaki Seni and the Star) said that it was a good watch.

Oh well.
At least they tried, right?


TAGS: Blog, Weblog, M The Opera, Review, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Personal