There is no denying that I love love love P. Ramlee The Musical (Season 1) - season 1 being the operative word here since the seasons after that, everything just went south.
I was introduced to musical theatre in Malaysia by chance in late 2007.
Then, my aunt worked with Istana Budaya and had extra tickets to give away for P. Ramlee The Musical (Season 1). I took up the offer just out of curiosity.
That is when I fell head over hells in love with this musical and everything it had to offer.
The cast (Sean Ghazi, Siti Nurhaliza, Atilia, Melissa Saila and Liza Hanim), the songs, the stage set, everything was so mesmerising, and since I went in without any expectations, I was totally consumed by the experience.
Season 1 saw me in the audience three times.
I was absolutely, unequivocally hooked.
(Review of my third sitting for Season 1 is here.)
Then came, in mid-2008, P. Ramlee The Musical (Season 2).
I was more than thrilled when the production group decided to run the musical again, but I had some reservation since the man portraying P. Ramlee in Season 1 was replaced with another. Azizah was also portrayed by someone else.
Curious as to how this will make or break the musical that I so love, I got my ticket and went in.
They have removed the scene with "child" P. Ramlee and went straight to with him as an 18 year old. Nothing wrong with that. But, man, the scene between him and Azizah; the singing of the new Azizah was atrocious. Everything else that they did not change - Junaidah, Norizan, Saloma, the ensemble, the stage sets - however remained top notch.
All in all, the spark and energy from the previous P. Ramlee is now gone and sadly replaced by someone who tries so hard to mimic the real P. Ramlee that a lot of the time it appears fake.
Yes this new actor can sing to some degree but his acting is stiff and his dancing, well, let's not go there.
One thing that annoys me the most is that whenever he sings, his right arm seems to be held at an angle and swinging and sweeping like a dead branch that he does not know what to do with.
From what I had experienced in Season 1, this was such a big disappointment and a big blow to me.
(I pretty much said the same thing here.)
So, now here we are for P. Ramlee The Musical (Season 3).
It was advertised as a remake of the previous seasons and putting a new spin or a breath of fresh air to the musical.
Seriously?!
I mean, where do I begin??!!
I thought season 2 was bad, but this is just a new low.
They brought along some popular names of Malaysia's celebrities to replace all the previous cast.
The one I was looking forward the most was seeing Tiara Jacquelina taking on the role of Norizan.
The show starts straight in Penang at the market square.
There is no Remy-Sally moment at their home as previous seasons for the opening act.
Ok, fine. I can live with that.
But then, they have completely removed scenes between P. Ramlee and his first love Azizah (
Horror!!) which I think is an absolute mistake since Azizah remained in his heart and thoughts throughout his adult life until he married Saloma.
This time around, the whole Azizah scene is just P. Ramlee sitting under a tree while a voice presumably that of Azizah, reading out a letter given to him by her friend earlier.
What the heck is that?!
How can you demonstrated the strong love he had for her and her love for him through a boring under-a-tree scene?
I mean, seriously?!
What were they thinking?
And to make matters worse, it was a pretty long scene with just a voice and P. Ramlee under a tree staring at the letter.
So it was a sudden shock when Sukardi emerges and they now head to Singapore in a split second.
The train scenes were still good though I don't know, it did feel a little laboured and not so upbeat.
Anyway, if you're a first timer, it is quite impressive.
The Jalan Ampas Road scenes and those with Junaidah were quite decently done. Lisa as Junaidah is nowhere compared to Atilia who has a melodious voice and could utilize her singing to express her emotions. With Atilia, as she is singing, you could feel the pain she had to endure but for Lisa, it's just plain singing.
See, they should have hired a singer and train that person to act.
This is a musical. The story telling is in the songs and the singing.
So the primary focus and skill must be nailing the singing and making sure the emotions are felt and expressed via singing.
Typically, the arguement scenes with Norizan would see the worst of the singing. Well, with Tiara the singing is of course much better than Melissa Saila but not that great. I prefer Melissa's portrayal and acting as Norizan. She has more sass and her voice is more prominent. I can excuse the singing in this part since this is a very highly emotionally charged scene. So yeah, the singing can take a back seat to the acting.
I had high hopes of the ability of Tiara as a singer and actor. I have not seen her in anything yet so I did not have a benchmark for her. She did not however meet my expectations here. Disappointing...
Oh, and during the viewing of Penarek Becha, they did not use the black curtain/veil as the screen of the cinema. Instead the movie was projected on a white curtain and two pathetic small groups of ensemble on each side of the projection staring out to to us as if watching the movie.
Now come the dumbest part of the whole show.
For seasons 1 and 2, after the argument and Norizan leaving him, Saloma appears on stage from under the stage singing to P. Ramlee as if singing to him from afar, expressing her longing for him and how much she understood what he was going through during this rough times.
This time, the stage was closed/covered using the white sheet/curtains and there was Saloma in the middle of a completely empty stage, spotlight on her and there she is, singing to the white wall.
Oh my God!! It is the most stupid scene ever!!
If you cannot catch the lyrics of the songs being sung, you would have no idea she was expressing her longing and her understanding of his situation, and that she was actually singing for him and to him.
OMG! So pointless!
By this time, my head was at the brink of bursting with frustration on the butchery they have done to a once spectacular musical.
Justttt hold on to the end...
The funniest scene between Saloma and P. Ramlee during their Gelora shoot was far below par.
Tony as P. Ramlee, lack comedic timing and what made it worse here was the lost of audio from Sudarmaji when P. Ramlee tried to land his arms around Saloma while they were seated on the garden bench.
This is supposed to be comedic highlight of the whole musical.
It was completely gone due to this technical glitch!
What a pity.
They combined the shutting down of MFP and the collaborations that Saloma had with P. Ramlee in one scene.
Again, what a mistake.
It is mixing good times and bad times in one, and thus making everything so confusing.
Are they happy they can collaborate and be successful with each other?
Or are they in distressed that they have to leave Singapore and head to Kuala Lumpur?
What.. is.. going.. on.. ??!
The ending scenes are Saloma and P. Ramlee on a sofa at their living room.
They are talking about whether people will remember him etc. but then at some point, Saloma stands to sing, spotlight on her and P. Ramlee secretly leaves the scene in the dark.
Where did he go and when did he leave?
And why?? Is it as if to say he has died?
Saloma is left alone after she is done and ends up calling for him.
The end.
What the heck?!
Major major disappointment.
The main cast did not deliver the hype that surrounded them.
In fact, to me, the best part of Season 3 is the ensemble and the paparazzi.
They carried the whole show.
The best singing and acting came from them.
I wish that the production team cast some of the ensemble as the main cast because most, if not all, of them did a far better job than the main cast.
But yeah, theatre production is expensive. I am sure they had to use known names to attract the general crowd, buy tickets and get a good profit.
Oh well...
