Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Lat Kampung Boy the Musical

My heart is broken....

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?
Lots of ppl milling around looking at the exhibits in the hall...

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.
I can't help myself (such a poser, I know :P)...

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)

All the actors, dancers, directors and Datuk Lat on stage...


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: , , , , , , , ,

13 comments:

  1. Ohh... and I was planning to go watch this! So, better save my moolah for a good meal, eh?

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  2. to Pureglutton:
    I 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)

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  3. 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.

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  4. to Joe:
    Well, 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)

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  5. remember reading Lat's comic when I was in primary school.. but that was it! After that.. no more memories whatsoever

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  6. Ahhhhhhhhh 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!

    Though 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?

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  7. 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...

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  8. I'm never a huge fan of musicals. Only watched Wicked before. Although the plot is good, I did not like it.

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  9. to thule aka leo:
    I 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....)

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  10. 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

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  11. yikes and i was thinking of going... hmmmm

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  12. Huh?
    But I heard rave reviews -_-

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  13. to Paris B:
    I 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!)

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Appreciate your thoughts, opinions and feedback. :)