My First Ever Handbag

-- Muzikal Tun Dr. Mahathir (MTT)--

(di kala semua tengah hot dgn wedding of the year Datuk Dr. SMS...)

I want to share some short review on my 'signature' activity last week:

Last Wednesday, my colleagues and I went for a musical show; Muzikal Tun Mahathir at Istana Budaya.

The ticket was RM52 ringgit each (seats at the third level) which is more expensive than Puteri Gunung Ledang the Musical I watched in 2009 (RM33 at the same level) hehehe =) [mengungkit pulakkk...].

Based on my PERSONAL non-professional judgement:

Technical: 5/10

This would be my second musical theatre I watched at Istana Budaya after Puteri Gunung Ledang. Based on my 'watching' experience, I would say the technical-wise of this musical is just 50% out of 100%.

The best sound-system I've ever experienced was when I watched Symphony Orchestra performance at Philharmonic Petronas which was SUPERB (up to my standard of course).

Second place would be Puteri Gunung Ledang, followed by Gema Zafana 2009/2010 both were held at Istana Budaya.

Thus if you wish to experience international level sound system, I suggest you go for at least one show at Philharmonic Petronas to feel yourself the 'wah-lau' of the sound-system.

Other than that, I can't tell much as am not an expert in lighting, sound, etc, it's merely based on my personal 'taste' hehehe. So far PGL still the best. Never have chance to watch international broadway like Mama Mia etc....

Budget: 5/10

It's very much dissapointing to see that the production house (or the organizer) had allocated such a small budget for this project. It is Muzikal Tun Mahathir OK!!! Not Muzikal Pak Lah (no offense to Pak Lah) or Muzikal someone-someone. This musical would be SUPERB if they'd allocated 'reasonable' budget for this performance. You know for someone who has given so much for our country. With good budget you can improve the technical aspects of the show, and provide better sets, and props.

I have no problems witht the costumes so far. Good job for the costume director/stylist/etc whatever u call it.

But for the cardboard Proton steering (eh!!! Proton da kuar PROTON INSPIRA @ Proton Waja Lancer)? Black ribbons? and Fighting scene? Urmm... I don't think so they're good scenes. I believe the producer could actually do much much much better than that o_O'

I love the 'interview session' scene though... I LOVE IT!!! and also like the scene where Tun Dr. M typed a letter to Tun Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj. Thus, please include more meaningful scenes like this, apart from some wasting so-called 'symbolic' scenes (i repeat once again: like proton steering, black ribbon, fighting scene)

If you watch the musical, I think you should know, or self-explained during the 'fighting' scene, etc etc.... They just filled up the 'space' & time with black ribbons etc etc... or wutever which we've done that during our school theatre performance.

For me, if the producer doesn't have big budget to upgrade their technical capabilities, then they should focus more on acting, content, script, and make sure they have strong, continuous, interesting story line... something that should be given a thought no?

Content (pengisian): 6.5/10

The script is rather light, as it seems to look/ feel like a comedy musical theatre during the first half of the show.

The comedy content is ok. I laughed thus, i think it's ok... (but Puteri Gunung Ledang comedy scene is funnier huhuhu)

I hope the scriptwriter could produce 'heavier' and 'richer' script for the next show (should there be any). I understand it is for public show (tontonan umum) for all levels of age and background, but since most of the time the show was filled with singing and dancing, so why not during the real acting scenes it should be filled with more matured and informative content about Tun Dr. M, which could drive people motivation (especially Malays) to excel in their career/life/etc...

Acting (lakonan): 6.75/10 (average)

8.5/10 to Esma Daniel (well-done for 'living' up Tun Mahathir character very well)

6.5/10 Little Che' Det (i'm sorry i don't know what's the name of the young actor, he's good as a very young actor with acceptable Utara slang)

6/10 to Zizan Nin

6/10 to Erra Fazira (credits to the stylish wig)

Musics: 4/10

If i'm not mistaken Pak Ngah was also one of the composers for this musical which should've given good impression but maybe my expectation was too high (was I reaching for the stars? I dont think so). Because I would expect there might be one 'strong' @ 'signature' @ 'it' song for me to humm right after the show... so all songs/musics in the musical failed to register in my short/long-term memory.

So out of 5 aspects evaluated, the musical scored 27.25/50 =54.5% okla... tak fail lagi tu dapat C wot... =D (jangan marah producer MTT)

Hehehe too much critics eh??? That's my opinion... and what's yours?

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