My overall feeling after the show: "They still need time to practice and to tweak. Perhaps for another one year and a half?"My last show at Istana Budaya was Puteri Gunung Ledang, the musical, and it was a resounding success. I had gone into the theater that day with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. I thought that this time I should give this show the benefit of the doubt despite bad reviews. I didn't expect to be wowed since this was an "opera" but I thought at least I would enjoy the show. Well... I spoke too soon.
There are more negatives points in M! the Opera than positive ones, to be honest. But it's a learning curve la. On the high point, at least Malaysians are trying their hand in this genre now instead of never. The show was a good effort but that's no excuse for a ticket selling show to be so dismal. I'm just disappointed in it somehow. I'm not gonna blog chronologically about the plot but rather what I thought of the individual factors.
When the lead male M appeared, I cringed, noticeably. He looked like Mat Rempit / pimp in his costume! He looked nowhere near the good guy character he was suppose to be portraying, as indicated in the programme's synopsis. Come on, people. Don't you know that see-through shirts are passe and to put it on Khir Rahman, holymotherofthesun... and the shirt was red with ruffles to boot, AND worn with STRIPPED pants! My eyes! My eyes! Blech...
Not only that but his wedding costume was just so horrible. It was dressing in layers too. There was a white thin overcoat over the inner red bathrobe-imitation thing, worn with Chinese silky looking long underpants (?) with white dress shoes....Looks like he was getting ready to bed his bride right there and then.
Khir Rahman reminded me of bad movie actors where every gesture is exaggerated and over-compensated. But then maybe that was what they were going for. *shrug* His portrayal of a dying person was on the border of horror and laughter. He jerked sporadically to indicate pain. Before that, when his nemesis pricked him with the poison needle, his elbows and knees were at odd angles jerking and twitching like a puppet on strings while still vertical. Macam bad MJ moves without the crotch-cupping.
In the end, I concluded that Khir Rahman can't act and he can't sing opera either. Maybe he's good singer in his everyday life but casting him in this so called opera was a bad step. Khir Rahman has no stage presence in M! the Opera and that's a bad thing seeing that he's the male lead! There is no chemistry between the two leads at all and both were dancing together and touching each other in what supposedly passed for passion in their minds, was in fact just..... *CRINGE & SHUDDER*. Khir Rahman really looked like a Mat Rempit in here. The shirts, the shoes, the hair... it's just all wrong. And he's supposed to be a genius fashion designer for gosh sake. Looks like in the M! the Opera Universe, bad dress-sense passes for fashion.
On the other hand, the couture costumes on the models were startlingly bold and glitzy and that's good since this is a show. I love the gold / yellow batik dresses. Wonder which designer designed those? It's good enough to be on a real runway and worn by the public.
But then there were just too many colourful costumes crowding the stage that it's hard to concentrate on the leads when your eyes keep getting drawn elsewhere. Not only that, but there were so many people on stage, so much so that they block each other from time to time irregardless of who's singing. I even saw some of them evading each other's flailing arms and legs. *Dance, dance, pirouette, duck, duck, kick up, pirouette, dance duck, whoops...*
The props... omg... what were they suppose to symbolise? The first scene had rags with great big holes like an Ikea ice-tray hanging from the top. Throw two more layers of tattered cloths and voila! you have a backdrop! *Thunderous applause* Cheh... Keep your rags la and just use the antique sewing machine coz both will have the same impact. Might as well save that little bit of money, eh? Oh oh oh, then there were the suspended Oscar wanna-be headless mannequins. Whoo hoo! Cheesy with a capital C - that is supposed to represent the fashion capital I think. Looks like scaryland to me actually... Low budget production here. Another thing, methinks they ran out of budget for paper leaves. In total I think they dropped 6 - 10 leaves only. Hahhaha. Don't know what the leaves were supposed to mean but damn funny with such measly droppings! Do you think they recycled those leaves? =P
There were too many extra characters that didn't need to be there. They somehow had no importance or impact in the story and the story would have gone on just fine without them. The whole 8.30pm - 11.30pm period, I was wondering WTF were the extras there for. I only realised, much later, that the extras were mentors and critics and social commentors. It was also very hard to understand what they were singing about! It's half of a good thing that the translation board up there was operational or else I'd been clueless throughout the whole show.
The supporting cast playing people from the past were good no doubt, and the opening scene with M!'s mother was quite delightful to a certain degree if not for the bad sound system. Everyone could sing to a certain degree but they do not enunciate their words properly. Paula Malai Ali didn't have that problem but she didn't sing much at all but rather talked her lines most of the times. That was a good move. It also didn't help that the cast were screeching their words in high notes most of the time or shouting it. And the vocal notes did not match, compliment, harmonise or even stand out against the orchestra music. The microphones were too soft compared to the loudness of the orchestra and most of the vocal was drown out by the music.
However, there was one saving grace - the score "There isn't much time" or something to that effect, when five talented ladies sang about their concern and panicked as the genius still had not designed anything for a show. Very cute the way they were fluttering about. Apparently, the beloved designer M was having some sort of designer's block and of course, when Sepi, muse or a-muse, came to the shop to see what the fracas was about, she dispersed the clucking ladies "coolly" (as written in the programme). LOL! Sepi then reminded him of the past and inspiration struck and they have a "passionate" moment together. *cringe* This score was repeated once more in the scene where the Sepi was getting fitted for her wedding to M with her four talented ladies-in-waiting. The score was memorable and catchy. Kudos to the composer for this song and to the four talented ladies for singing it. Can't say much about the rest of the score and lyrics though...
Now we come to the subject of the very talent and delicious-looking George Chan. Cast as one of the protagonist, Kerabat, he played his role as the evil ambitious brother with a whopping dose of passion and energy, amounting to good stage presence and over-shadowing the rest of the cast. He's very talented no doubt. Just wish they didn't make him shout his singing though... The best thing about George in this show was his striking dance performance and costumes. The display of his solid poke-to-test chest muscles helped elevate the show to better plains. *grin* The dramatic and bold dance moves matched the bold music, that symbolised and conveyed malevolence and ill-intentions and fury. He too had his own backup dancers and they too were fantastic. Their swirling two tone costumes worn over black boy briefs were delightfully outrageous with impressive play of muscles clearly visible. Paired with black thick cuffs on their forearm, they look positively sinful. *drool* Be my back-up dancers anytime, guys.
Doreen Tang as Sepi can be described as delightful and unaffected. But this show doesn't do her justice. For one, her songs were unmemorable and she didn't have any onstage chemistry with her leading man. But her moments with Kerabat was just hot enough to wish that he was the hero instead. Oh, and she had a wardrobe malfunction and almost flashed the audience. One of the strap on her white floaty empire cut dress snapped in her scene with Kerabat and his men. The men in the audience must have held their breath waiting for that white translucent quivering flesh to pop out of the bodice. Haha. This was when Sepi was being wooed away by Kerabat after being ignored by M in his glam television interview with Dominique Soong, played by Paula.
Also... OMG on Sepi's wedding headdress! It looked like half melted marshmallows or whipped cream swirled on her head! That was hilarious!
In the last scene where M was dying in Sepi's arm, we see the writhing hero suddenly getting up and walking around, with Sepi still staring at the ground where he lay. What the-? M dead mother appears, and Kerabat starts crying because he killed M and his knees buckles and he falls dawn shedding mournful tears. The funny thing was that I didn't know that it was M's spirit walking around coz it sure didn't look like it. Later I read in the programme synopsis that Sepi had followed M into the underworld, together with Kerabat. Why? I have no idea. How does one follow a dying love one to the underworld together with the killer??! Apparently when this death scene was being acted out, the rest of the cast froze in the darkness and covered their eyes with a veil. I didn't see that but Zona did. Only coz she was watching Paula. Seriously, how are people to notice anything the cast do in the dark? Zona made a point when she said that that scene would've been conveyed well if they had use artificial smoke to symbolise dreams or the underworld. Better to hire Zona than the guy in charge of this, whoever he is.
My advise to you, if you're watching M! the Opera soon, buy the programme or at least go read up on the synopsis before you go into the theater. Will save you a lot of confusion. The boredom bit, that's on your own. Either you'll like it or hate it, or just laugh about it... ~_^
Other reviews:
Jason Cheah
Zona
TV SmithSuanie
Fireangel
