Metro

Thursday October 16, 2008

Musical a runaway successs

Story and photos by ANTHONY LAW


THE musical, Broadway Parodies Lagi Lah, staged by the Actors Studio at Taman Budaya in Ipoh was a runaway success.

The performers, who presented a series of hilarious songs, kept the audience entertained with their two-hour non-stop performance.

The event provided a good opportunity for Ipoh folk to meet talented personalities like Farah Sulaiman, Ho Soon Yoon, Glamorique Arshad, Keith Yew, Mia Palencia, Shahila Johan, Tabitha Kong, Janet Lee, Sham Sunder Binwani, Sarah Low, Zeqthy Nattrah Ramli, Lim Ang Swee, John Siew, Loi Chin Yu and Edna Tan.

Sham Sunder, who virtually stole the show with his hugely versatile role, said it was a great experience to perform in front of a receptive audience.

“It gives us encouragement to perform even better,” Sham Sunder said after the performance recently.

He added that he and his group practised for seven weeks for the musical which was organised by the Perak Society of Performing Arts (PSPA).

Production designer Edna Tan said while it was a challenging experience to perform before the Ipoh audience, the wonderful response was really an “ego booster” for her.

“It was a sort of ego trip for me to perform as I was just stepping in to take the place of another member who was not available,” said Tan who took on the role of a rich Datin going on a shopping spree in the musical.

She added that she did not find any difficulty following the group throughout the performance.

Palencia, who was a lead performer, said it was very challenging to perform in front of an entirely different audience.

She said the Taman Budaya theatre was an excellent venue for her to get intimate with the audience because of its small size which meant that the spectators sat nearer to the stage.

“I enjoy every moment of the show and obviously I could see they are hanging on to the words I said and sang. They were laughing throughout the show,” Palencia said.

Kong, who kept the audience entertained with her humorous role by singing Good Morning Towels to the tune of Good Morning Starshine, said it was a wonderful feeling to be performing before an enthusiastic crowd.

Kong had been singing gospel for eight years and her great love for musical theatre attracted her to turn full time in performing arts. Prior to this, she worked as a brand manager in an advertising company.

“Wow! It is wonderful to appear in Ipoh which is such a close community and a good neighbourhood to be in,” Kong said.

PSPA president Datin Rosalina Ooi said the society decided to bring the show to Ipoh to expose the local folk to the performing arts.

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