Currently viewing the tag: "Performing Arts"

The New Art Theatre Complex

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This was just in the news today and I didn’t even know about it till i was informed by Mister G. As some of you may know, The Actor’s Studio at Bangsar Shopping Complex is closing down this coming February 2009. Meaning that a number of performances will  be left without a home. This is quite sad, even though sure KLPAC can be the place to host all the performances but there would be just too many.  Giving a bit of good news. Selangor’s very own state-of-the-art theatre is finally completed and all set to play a big role in promoting the performing arts in the state capital of Shah Alam. That is just so darn far away.. I can just imagine the drives to and fro just to get to that place. Especially for actors, singers and dancers who are performing there.  The new art theatre complex, aka The Shah Alam Royale Theatre cost about RM43 million to build. The complex took about 4 years to buld, starting from December 2004 and finally completed this year in July – with about a years delay (why am i not surprise).  

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It is now the latest landmark in the capital city, located at Jalan Persidangan in Section 14, just behind the Grand Bluewave Hotel.  

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The complex features latest technology in sound and lighting. Well let’s see how it goes from here. I do hope that it doesn’t become just another monument and there will be shows there. My only concern, that it is really far from the KL city centre and honestly that is where all the action is. Hopefully it will grow anyhow.

I Miss Them

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Ismail: The Last Days ended last Sunday.. and to be honest i didn’t really have time to mourn over the fact that I will not be seeing my cast members anymore, for i have other projects i need to concentrate on. However though, my dahling Min Li just did up a post on the last day of the show – you can read it here – and it nearly made me choke back a tear. You know WHAT Mister CK, I don’t mind being a wuss in saying that i miss them :P (I know you’ll read this one day or another).

***Warning heavy picture post by the way. ***

So let me just share some of my moments of what happens on a normal day when the audience is not looking at us on stage. Bare in mind I’m inspired by Min Li’s post for this. 6pm – 6.30pm I shall be making my mad rush to get to KLPAC on time, where upon arrival I will probably be running as fast as I could. Then I’ll start screaming for Steph!!! Who is our stage manager, she made this ruling try to come 10minutes before call time which was 6.30pm sharp if not you are considered late… ouchie.. Our names on the door of dressing room 2.. We kinda had a bit too much fun and started making fun of everyone with another person ahha. 

The 'affairs' that transpired throughout

Where Min and I had prepared our costume which has blastedly fast. The first time I did it for the full dress rehearsal i got out on stage late.. oh my. Since then I got so paranoid, that I would be late and miss my scene. But after much thought, as long as i was calm, I got on all my clothes in time and with ease too. See there’s a reason why people say “Chill Chill”!! :) The place where Min Li got ready for our costume change for Ish the Son of Abdul Oh I’m going to miss the days that I borrowed Min’s black eyeshadow and eyeliner, Zizi’s rainbow colour pallate from Elianto, having Ann (our wonderwoman!) who will do my hair, while I did Min’s hair. And all the other in the dressing room chitter chatter.. before we headed out on stage. The Lin and Min duo… twins.. sistahs… whatever la.. 

    Not forgetting of course we have to do mic check. The last day was a real run (but by right we should’ve been focusing a lot on what to do on stage..notty notty). Nabihan finally said she’ll sing her Britney Spears version on stage haha with Tony and Ronnie dancing to it. She had been bugging us with that nasal voice for a whole month. Thanks to Min first for the video I still have to render mine :) How we all look (the girls in the same dressing room as me anyway) just before heading out to standby mode. Then once on stage this is how it goes. I would be standing next to Tyler cause he and I will be the ones running in first. From there on it’s all adrenaline and waiting for our next cue when to go in. Lawrence: Everybody on Staaaaggeeee..      Probably one of my favourite in the entire show. The 1940s scene where we all dressed up in gowns, gloves and white tailcoats. Hehehe this was so much fun to do and it’s also probably cause it’s the lightest number in the show.  oooooooooooooOOOOOOOoooooooohhhooooooo!     The following picture is from the party scene at Frederick’s house. I still don’t know how to thank my ‘husband’ Lex for tying ym saree for me all the time just before going on. And thanks to Ann Wonderwoman for the pics :)   Me and Min waiting at the side almost everyday just before going in to do Pak Utih. We’ll also be miming out what Razak, Ismail and Frederick would be saying just to entertain ourselves. Finally we are all now waiting for the finale.. Where we are at Ismail’s grave… Originally I had my hair piece on causing my head (according to Nick Dorian) to look like the alien’s head in Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull… NOT!!

Getting into the funeral mood 

This is what we all looked like right after the show ended.. can you see the red noses that will put rudolf to shame and the red teary eyes. I thin Nabs (the girl hugging Kerry Ann in the middle was still emotional there). My face was still all red just trying to keep the tears in. Dang you Zakri-Razak-Ismail why did your voice have to break on stage.. that was pretty much the trigger that turned on our tear duct faucets. And there was the last day of Ismail…  We all tried to dress up a bit more for the last day and check it we got umbrellas that can be bought.. but they seem to be seeling like hot cakes. Me and Min got just about everyone to sign on our umbrellas.. and we’ll never use them haha.  I miss them all :( sniff hugs

Opening Night

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Tonight marked something for me in my life.

flowers The program book and a special gift left on our dressing table :) It was the first time ever on stage making a professional appearance as an actor, performing to a crowd of 400+ odd people.  It was the first time i sang an acted for a big production such as this. This was the first time I got to play different things all at one go. This was not the first time however i have performed for royalty before… This was forever the first time.. I struck a chord with my parents on performing. My parents had come to watch the show of course and when I walked out.. regardless of the fact that I am their daughter and they came to support me. The smiles on their faces was enough… and the one that touched me most of all… well there are a few but I would like to mention two things.. 1. My dad spoke about the part that touched him the most and was sentimental.. which meant he was concentrating. My dad has a thing for sleeping in plays and to hear him focusing on the show must have been a huge effort .. lol… 2. The reaction that stole everything… my mom and my parents friend… cried during the show!!! They cried!! I can’t believe that they cried. I’m overwhelmed to hear that..because I’m satisfied as an actor then that at least the torn message that was shown in the play was brought out and moved someone. Even more so that it is my mother who is some tough chick mind you! :P Love you, mom. The last thing that really made it worth all the hardwork which will go on for another 22 more days. My dad is glad I went with acting. I don’t know how true it is him saying that but it meant a lot, lot , lot to me to hear my dad say that. I still wanna cry just thinking about it actually, for they have never seen me perform.. sure this is not a thing where on stage with a solo, it’s a collaborative effort. It is the first step… and for those who are already veterans that’s great… for me it’s what will keep driving me and i’m gonna make it stay that way. Before the show started, Joe, Faridah and Mervyn said a few words of encouragement. Along with a special message from U-En, our writer who is away in Jakarta and even with just words… he still knows how to dramatise his message :P The words were enough to move us all, to really want to give a dayumn good show and moved us enough to want to make me scold them… cause a few of us teared. It was so sweet, and the rush of everything… the thoughts of our rehearsal days, the journey of getting to this very point of opening night. The hard work and scolding we got from time to time. The harsh realities of some of us who work during the day just to run to Ismail to do another job…. it all just came in one blow and Joe said this

“Tonight the stage is yours. Own it!”

And it was with all the fumbles and great moments, we took it all :)

I think this deserves a mention too.. Mervyn Peters our music conductor along with his wife Yutsam.. they are such darlings. Mervyn had given each and everyone of us flowers. As we had gone into our dressing rooms, we were so extremely delighted to see a rose placed on our dressing table. It’s so terribly sweet! Then after that his wife, bought the entire cast chocolate cake!!! We were allowed for that time to eat chocolate!!! oooohh yummmmmm.

That’s for just the opening night.. the bits that mattered the most. As for pictures.. hehe hang on more will be coming.

Ismail Rehearsals Are Always A Ball

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I really wish that I could do this everyday, where there are either rehearsals or just shows or auditions i could go to. It’s terribly fun but if only it will bring in the bread and butter here…sigh. Warning this post is going to be pic heavy and it will show a shorter version of the Ismail journey.. Anyway I want to say I’ve been really enjoying the Ismail rehearsals that have been going on. The musical is set to open NEXT THURSDAY people on the 7th of August at 8.30pm. This will run for a whole month everyday except for Monday.. phew tiring as it maybe but I’m really looking forward to it. We are now at the touch up sessions of Ismail. We’ve already seen the set, sang with the orchestra and been mic-up to test our levels individually. Yeah yeah I know I sound so jakun.. but this is my first time being in a musical… even if I am just an ensemble.. I’m relishing every bit of it. Here are some the pictures to entertain you guys. http://picasaweb.google.com/Aronil/IsmailJourney Thats it for now guys.

Pin It Down

By On · 6 Comments · In Uncategorized
I have a story to tell… At Ismail rehearsals, we will sometimes begin our session with some breathing exercises. Now the thing with our breathing exercises is that it follows some ‘yoga’ techniques which requires us to get on our knees. Hence it can be a bit painful on the knees and ankles. This becomes rather uncomfortable and obviously the best way to keep them from hurting is to either use a pillow or a blanket, to give some cushioning to the floor. In KLPAC there are three big pillows and since there are only three we have to really rush to be the first to reach any one of these pillows. There are a certain THREE PEOPLE i fight with for this pillow – whom i shall identify later. I have come to accept that sometimes I can’t get the pillow, but this time I saw one of the big pillows left unguarded, next to the bags.

Big Pillow

Here I am… I found the pillow and the most obvious thing to do is to grab it quickly before the person who left it alone sees. With eyes deadlock on my target, I grab it with all my might and sink my finger nails into the soft cushiony thingie called…. cushion….i can’t think of a word, k? But it’s the BIG PILLOW!!!

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See my happy face! I was so happy that it was left unguarded i didn’t realised a small tiny problem. As i get ready to run off with my prize possession… something held me back. Click on it to view a bigger picture and see if you can spot my problem…

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As i pulled it towards me, by giving it a good yankidy yank. This is what happened.

I got stuck..

Why?

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The fella actually PINNED the big pillow to his bag!!!!! Talk about wanting to make sure no one steals your stuff while you are away. Sniff sniff, as I pulled the pillow, i felt it weighed down. When i turned to look, i saw a humongous pin attached to the pillow and the bag….

What i can’t have the pillow???

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Wait… breathe…

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I cry okay!

I shall now reveal who are the people i fight with for the BIG PILLOW!

The Pillow Hoggers

**hongky accent** The peeepel hor I fight fight with for the beeg Pillow hor… is that short haired person at the back who looks like got no lip (fang: don’t hate me ^_P ), Minli – my blogging event buddy and finally that dark thing there that you cannot see except for his teeth (don’t hate me even more for that ^_P ) LAX!!!! **end of hongky accent**

That fellow hor (oh wait still got sumore) he is one funny funny funny dude and he makes rehearsals a lot more alive. Hahahhaha while I don’t forgive him for taking the pillow and kacauing us a lot.. I still think he’s cool. Hah!! See!! I’m still such a nice person! ^_P

Lesson here.. come earlier… earlier.. like super super early and save the pillow and when you are done… hide it!