Let me start off with this: Much love to everyone involved with this, and even more so to Datuk Mohamad Noor Khalid (aka Lat) but this needs to be said (as a warning to all of you who are going to watch it):
Please lower your expectations to ZERO, or you will walk away disappointed.
So let me reiterate, so that we are clear:
- What I'm NOT saying: "Don't watch it".
- What I AM saying: "Watch it with very low expectations".
OK?
Anyway, since this musical is gonna be running for a while, I'll try not to blurt out any "spoilers" but generally: It is an almost 3 hour staging about the famous and much loved Malaysian cartoonist, Lat - from his youth to when he was a struggling reporter to when he achieved world wide fame.
Overall, I really appreciate the effort (ESPECIALLY since Malaysian musicals are so rare) - they managed to pull together some really good sets, nice costumes, pockets of good laughs, entertaining dancing, mostly** good singing and music...
... BUT the flow/storyline, how certain scenes were structured, the under utilisation of a few characters and the overemphasis on how Lat seems to be The Chosen One made me CRINGE and (in some parts) hide behind my friend's shawl in a desperate attempt to block out the pain.
(** Oof. Don't get me started on the singing - while some of their voices were hampered by bad sound system quality, there were a couple of parts, I won't name names, that screamed "Good, but not good enough for a musical!!!")
:(
I really wanted to love this musical, REALLY I did... However, in the end, I just walked away feeling sad and kinda angry because I invested 3 hours of my life (and some $$) to have it made clear to me that Malaysia is still so, SO far behind other countries in terms of musical productions.
(Maybe I just have myself to blame? I watched Wicked in London, and that really is excellent - hard to even come close to)
Here are the details of the play:
Lat Kampung Boy The Musical:
Director: Harith Iskandar and Hans Isaac
Writer: Harith Iskandar
Music: Michael Veerapan
Dance Choreographer: ?
Costume: ?
Joint Producers: Malaysian National Institute of Translation and Tall Order Production, in collaboration with the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry.
Synopsis:
Lat Kampung Boy the Musical chronicles top cartoonist Datuk Mohamad Noor Khalid (aka Lat)'s journey to stardom.
Cast:
- Actors: Awie, Datuk Rahim Razali, Jalil Hamid, Douglas Lim, Sandra Sodhy and Atilia.
- Dancers: ?
Venue: Panggung Sari, Istana Budaya
(58 Jalan Kuantan (off Jalan Tun Razak), Titiwangsa, 53200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Ticket Price:
- RM 40/ 70/ 100/ 120/ 160/ 200/ 230/ 300 (adults)
Dates: March 16 to April 3, 2011.
Time: 8.30pm daily and also 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays (No show on Mondays)
Ticket info:
- call +603 4147 8600 , or
- refer to ticket2u official website.
If you want more details, refer to Istana Budaya official website.
RAWR :(
J
OTHER REVIEWS:
- HorusPorus
- learning to write
- This is oh so random
- 3 f's: Flashback for future
- bryanlyt.com
- Leonard Chua
TAGS: Blog, Weblog, Malaysia, KL, Musical, Istana Budaya, Lat Kampung Boy the Musical, Kuala Lumpur, Personal
Posts
Ohh... and I was planning to go watch this! So, better save my moolah for a good meal, eh?
ReplyDeleteto Pureglutton:
ReplyDeleteI think its still ok to go watch, as long as you don't expect too much - it is rare to get a Malaysian musical after all, and the singing and dancing is not bad.
(Just pls dont buy the 300 buck tickets)
thats a pity to hear, heard atilia perform in p ramlee and that was really good, wanted to see if i could squeeze a free nite to catch this.
ReplyDeleteto Joe:
ReplyDeleteWell, she's still pretty good in this musical too - Didn't watch P.Ramlee but heard good things about her performance there.
... I just wish they had actually used her more, to her full potential.
(But of course for now, cannot compare to the musical elite in Wicked)
remember reading Lat's comic when I was in primary school.. but that was it! After that.. no more memories whatsoever
ReplyDeleteAhhhhhhhhh what a shame! Lat was like a childhood hero to me - many an hour spent standing at the comic racks in MPH flipping through those huge comic books!
ReplyDeleteThough I suppose it might be somewhat expected, since it's more or less a biography of sorts, right? As in the same way that a biography of James Cameron would be infinitely less exciting than the movies he makes?
yikes. but ya, i was surprised to see lotsa comments on twitter from people who had watched it and slammed it. maybe it needed a few more months of fine-tuning before opening, huh. i wouldn't mind watching it (for free, if ever possible, heheh) out of curiosity, but three hours does seem too precious to spend on something potentially unsatisfying...
ReplyDeleteI'm never a huge fan of musicals. Only watched Wicked before. Although the plot is good, I did not like it.
ReplyDeleteto thule aka leo:
ReplyDeleteI have very fond memories of reading Lat when I was young too! Loved imagining the fun life in a kampung. :)
(Altho I know I am too much of a spoilt city gal to survive there long)
to timing:
Well, that's the thing - At least if they called it "Datuk Lat the Musical" then I would be able to manage my expectations a bit... but they named it Lat Kampung Boy the Musical so I was expecting something else completely!
:(
to Sean:
It needed a complete rewrite or maybe just rename it to Datuk Lat the Musical.
to Michelle Chin:
I kinda like musicals. Well, 1 out of 3 (international) and 1 out of 5 (local) anyway...
(Eh? How come u didn't like Wicked - luved the storyling and the powerful vocals. Found some of the songs were really catchy too....)
You know, even local comedy is getting a bit jaded. Perhaps we need fresh blood or just stop putting ppl in plays/musicals etc just because they are "somebody" but because "they can sing/act" ;) Thanks for the heads up - wasn't going to see it anyway :P
ReplyDeleteyikes and i was thinking of going... hmmmm
ReplyDeleteHuh?
ReplyDeleteBut I heard rave reviews -_-
to Paris B:
ReplyDeleteI hope that day** will come soon in terms of Malaysian musicals/ comedies.
(**When we will have our "Wicked" or "Russell Peters" type talent)
In terms of singer/songwriters though, the local scence is pretty good! - Luv Reza, Tempered Mental, Mia Palencia and Najwa.
to babe_kl:
Well, I think it's not a bad idea to go and watch for the fun of it -overall, it's not THAT bad... just don't buy the expensive tickets and don't expect too much.
:)
to nomadGourmand:
Depends on who you ask/what they like I guess.
To me, at the very least (ignoring all the other things like storyline/etc), a musical needs to have good singers with strong voices.
(For example, I like Douglas Lim and he is very funny.. but his voice is just not good enough for a musical!)