Arts & Literature

Puteri Gunung Ledang (PGL) The Musical

By Sharizal ⋅ February 9, 2006 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

I must confess that after watching the movie my expectations of the musical was low. For a RM20million budget I had expected a lot more… So this time I prepared myself. But at the back my head I wished it to be good as I had invited a guest of mine from New York to watch with me as this was her first trip to Malaysia and what better way to introduce a popular legend and some bits of culture in one sitting?

Firstly I have to thank TV Smith for politely asking me if I had a date for last night at 1am in the morning. I had no idea for what initially what the date was for and calling my guest at 1.15am in the morning to see if she would like to go hardy seem appropriate. It is also heartwarming to note that I also watched PGLthemovie with TV and watching the musical with him seemed somewhat romantic. (euw) If you were a woman TV I would have kissed you lat night…

But I digress. Let me give you the sandwich evaluation of the musical. For those who are not in Toastmasters, a sandwich evaluation is when you give the good, the bad and then wrap it up with the good stuff again. It’s an evaluation technique that is supposed to be encouraging while hightlighting areas to improve!

PGL the Musical has put a lot of effort in the music score and the lyrics. If your friend from New York is humming the PGL tunes in the car after the show, you are definitely sure that the tunes are good!

I find the set impressive. They have sure done their homework to make set changes in between scence go smoothly. The lighting too! I especially loved the effects of night starts the spotlights made and as it turned into dawn the lights turned away from the audience…

But Mack pointed out that during one scene in Majapahit it seemed as though it was a right rip off from Disney’s musical the Lion King. It was the scene where Simba and his father was on the cliff with the hyena’s roming at the foot of the cliff. He half expected Timon and Pumba to appear around Hang Tuah and Gusti Putri Retno Dumillah and to start singing Hakuna Matata!
But I cannot gush much about the sound. There too many glitches especially with the microphones which made the experience somewhat a little annoying. It is even more annoying when it was Tiara’s mic that was having trouble. Luckily Sukina as her role as “Mbok” told the Princess that she has to step aside for while the other girls practice their dance. Once Tiara’s mic was fixed, she rather seemlessly joined in the dance practice and I was impressed.

The music at times drowned the singing voices too. Mind you Stephen Rahman-Hughes as Hang Tuah has a very beautiful voice. It is just too bad that the mic cannot hold the gain too well as he belts out a very difficult high and loud note with the music roaring in the background. You can hear the speaker crackle.

The worse was the ending. I thought they rushed it and I found it confusing. I even had to ask my New Yorker friend if she understood the ending (she at times was reading the barely readable english surtitles placed way up high above the stage). She was just as confused. The ending defintely needed more work.

And now the cast. Yes Stephen has a beautiful voice. He is handsome and taller than me (cheh). A dream Tuah. But as a Malay hero, he was stiff and I thought he was finding it difficult to act “Malay”. He should have sung all of his lines.

But I find Tiara much better than she was in the movie. And yes boys, she looks hot in that semi-berkemban Majapahit dress. Dato’ Affendi is one lucky barger.

I find that women look extra hot in traditional dresses

The cast to watch out for AC Mizal as the Gusti Adipati Handaya Ningrat. He had a strong stage presense and fit into the character very well. Expecially when Adipati shows his anger raising his voice in pure Javanese Folk Theatre style. I am without doubt that AC Mizal was the best performer last night.
The other bit to watch out for is Sultan Mahmood aka Adlin Aman Ramlie does the crotch movement ala Michael Jackson and the young Tengku Ahmad which brings another dimension of comedy to the musical.

So in the end would I recommend you to watch it? Yes I would. Despite all its faults, PGLthemusical is fun to watch. If you are a die hard West End and Broadway enthusiast you may be a tad bit critical at the end of the show. Unless you’ve watched Uda and Dara (which I missed) then maybe you can compare the two.

Comparing it with the movie. I liked the musical better. It was indeed more magical and this time there was more chemistry between Hang Tuah and Puteri Gusti. I guess singing helps.

So why not? Go and watch it and have a fun night people!

On a side note, I did not managed to take many pictures because I was told off by the usheres “No cameras allowed”. Never mind it was a media night, never mind I did not use flash photography, never mind I was writing a review for the musical and Istana Budaya. Nevermind there were TV crews with big ass video cameras… “No cameras allowed!”.

So you can hop over to the blogs of the other bloggers who were present that night. Hopefully they would update their site with their own reviews and photos soon.

1. Midnight Lily
2. Thinking Aloud
3. Kaki Cucuk Langit
4. Screenshots
5. Tokkok
6. Seadevilyn
7. As Suanie Sees It
8. FireAngel
9. TV Smith
10. Brand New Malaysian
11. Sultanmuzaffar
12. Nizam Zakaria

On another side note another friend of mine went to watch the musical on the charity night and her comments were the same. Many technical faults: wigs and headgear dropping, Hang Tuah making a loud smooching mmmuah sound as he kisses the princess’s forehead, she is in love with the Sultan and Adipati rocks! And yes, she found it fun too!