Theater : Muzikal Tun Mahathir

(Tulisan ni dah lama terperap dalam draft tapi baru ada masa nak tengok balik dan publish...)

Apa kes?

Pengalaman pertama menonton teater muzikal di Istana Budaya. 

Apa cerita?

Muzikal Tun Mahathir.

Dengan siapa?

Adinda ku yang tercinta yang ku heret saja. Ternyata beliau boleh me'layan'nya..hehe

Apa yang 'besh'?

Teruja. Pertama kali menonton teater semasa di USM, itu pun kalau tak silap produksi student sendiri. Tapi ini kali pertama menonton sebuah produksi besar di Istana Budaya dengan cerita mengenai seorang tokoh negara. Dan ramai pelakon 'silverscreen' dan 'small screen' yang dikenali. Lagu-lagunya sedap didengar. 

Apa yang 'kureng'?

Tak dapat tiket 'besh'. Dapat seat kat Upper Circle, bila duduk macam biasa tak dapat tengok keseluruhan pentas dan screen besar di belakangnya. Last-last kena duduk condong ke depan, nasib baik kat barisan depan, ada tempat nak letak siku. Bila duduk macam tu, baru lah dapat tengok pentas sampai ke bahagian paling depan, tapi screen tu dapat tengok 60% je kot.

Adinda di IB

Alkisah...?

Oklah, sebab cerita dia pasal Tun Mahathir, ceritanya bermula dari zaman Tun dilahirkan, semasa budak-budak, ketika di kolej hinggalah ke zaman universiti. Tang menariknya masa zaman universiti tu masa percintaan Tun M dan Tun SH...(betui ka Tun M dulu meng'ayat' cam gitu sekali..? hehe). Apapun, persembahan Zizan Nin dan Erra Fazira masa tu kiut sekali. Pastu masuk lah bab bekerja di Klinik Maha dan akhirnya tiba lah zaman penglibatan politik. Masa ni Zizan Nin dah bertukar menjadi Esma Daniel. Adakalanya aku rasa loghat Kedah Esma tak berapa menjadi, tapi bila babak Tun M ditemuramah wartawan dalam satu wawancara tv, aku rasa cara dia bercakap begitu sebijik sekali dengan Tun (agaknya dia berlatih tang situ lebih sikit kot). Sesetengah babak tak diceritakan melalui dialog tetapi melalui lagu dengan lirik yang merangkumi keseluruhan episod babak itu secara simbolik. Contohnya ada satu babak berkenaan hubungan Tun M dengan timbalan-timbalannya...hmm...Tang politik-politik ni cek kureng sikit noo..

Apapun, oklah..ia adalah suatu cerita yang menarik dan pengalaman yang menarik juga...Cuma, kalau dapat tempat duduk yang lebih munasabah, dapat le menghayati cerita dengan lebih baik rasanya. Aku minat tengok teater dan lain kali bila ada masa dan bila ada cerita yang dirasakan best, aku akan tengok lagi.

Akan datang?!

Movie : Magika

Magika is another brave experiment from the KRU brothers. As I remember, the KRU brothers always try something different and do something that is not usually done by other people in the local entertainment industry. There may be some loopholes and brickbats but they keep thinking and moving forward. For that effort and vision, I salute them.

Back to Magika, if we can enjoy Narnia, Harry Potter and other fantasy movies alike, why can't we enjoy this Malaysian version of children fantasy movie, Magika? In a nutshell, this movie is entertaining and fun. First, it is a musical. So, between dialogues you may expect some songs and those songs are also the story. Some dialogues are delivered through singing. The songs are very nice. I must confess at first I almost laughed at the starting of the movie as I 'tak tahan' (couldn't stand it) to see Maya Karin in a fairy-like costume singing at the river. Feels like watching old Malay movies from the 50s - 60s era., but with colours. But then, I started to accept the concept of a musical film (in this modern days).

Talking about colour, the colours are amazing. Technical aspects aside (for I am not a tech-person), watching the movie is like watching beautiful pictures. Actors and actresses, they are all famous and widely known around the country. Characters? They are all of famous Malay heroes and mythical characters like Nenek Kebayan, Hang Tuah, Mahsuri, Awang (Lembing Awang Pulang ke Dayang), Naga Tasik Chini, Bawang Putih Bawang Merah, Pak Pandir, Orang Minyak and others (Funny I have to ransack my memories of Malay story characters just to find out who "Bad" is at first, ha ha). But there are so many characters that most of them appeared only in a short while, just to accommodate the journey of Ayu in search of her brother.

Oh, I have skipped the main part. I should have told you the main plot. Ayu and Malik are two siblings living in this current era, who are grieving for their mother's death, especially Malik as he thought that he was the cause of it. One day, Malik is being difficult and run away into the forest. Ayu, his older sister has to find him. Malik then lost into the world of Magika and is caught by Nenek Kebayan. Ayu, following his tracks, also went into Magika and had to encounter many strange things and meet strange people, whom later we know as the famous characters, in search of Malik. In Magika, their journey began.

Perhaps the ending is not so much alike as in fairy tales, and not so strong (not that I wanted it to be like in fairy tales..). The positive message (for Malik) is there but kind of hidden by the feeling of lost and longing in Ayu for Magika (sort of). Malik is the one benefiting the most lessons in this story but the sense of his accomplishments is only revealed by Ayu talking to her mother's grave. So, okay, but all in all, this 1 hour and 45 minutes movie is nice, fun and suitable for all ages. Kudos to KRU. Enjoy.

Footnote (added on 25th October 2010):

Congratulations to KRU Brothers on winning the Best Film and Best Original Music Score for this film in The 23rd Malaysian Film Festival 2010.

To know what other awards this film has won, click the newsclippings;

The Star

Utusan Malaysia