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About a week ago, I was really contemplating to go or not to go for this stand up comedy show at Zouk. Then just a couple of days back, my good pal offered me a couple of free tickets in. Needless to say it didn’t take me much longer to make up my mind and I immediately jumped at the chance to get a few laughs in for myself this week. Or rather I got myself a whole stomach stitch full of laughs. The Comedy Club KL was held at Zouk KL and I was not disappointed at all. The Comedy Club KL had three stand up comedians.. or four.. depending if you want to count the host himself for that night who was our well known funny Canadian “Mat Salleh” dude Steve Northcott – (What are the odds he’s from up north with a north name :S – lame lol) In order these were the people that came out torture our faces for that night. (pictures courtesy of The Comedy Club KL).

Steve Northcott

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Steve is most well known for singing his controversial “Mat Salleh” song on stage for us Malaysians. Whipping out a guitar he will serenade you with the lyrics on the stereotypical mat salleh. Such as being too tall and too white at a mamak stall or even something even naughtier like they marry and convert to a malay so they can have more than oneeeeeee…. lol All just for laughs.. don’t take anything to seriously.





Papi Zak

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Papi Zak, a tv producer and tv director shows his personality by giving us a bit of a Russell Peters Malaysian style flavour. You would think that this big guy is up from the bronx lol. This was my first time watching him do stand up comedy (I don’t watch stand up comedy everyday so pardon me!) but i did enjoy his act and would like to see what else he’s got in the future. My favourite joke from him of the night had to be on ‘the GT queen, who are forever perky’.





David Smiedt

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This dude has done up stand up comedy with infamous funny woman and latest Celebrity Apprentice winner Joan Rivers! And he was equally as funny as her. He kinda reminded me a lil bit of the youtube guy What the Buck, but at least i really really laughed at his sarcastic remarks. Oh oh oh and he had other props! Most memorable joke of the night for me had to be the impromptu stuff some guy on the right hand side of the room was throwing at him. He could handle that bozo all by himself lol and poke fun at him while at it. Oh and also the camel toe joke.. i’m sorry but that was the most memorable thing for me :S Find out more about David Smiedt





Jeff Green

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THIS MAN WAS THE BOMB. I was a bit skeptical at first because i saw one of his short lil shows on youtube which didn’t really get me cracking to laugh. But by golly can he make you laugh!!! His jokes on the male behavior to women were crazily funny because part of it was crazily true! And you could relate with stuff like that. Wish I had a video to show what kind of jokes was made by him. But you would have to be there to seriously appreciate it. I highly recommend The Comedy Club KL, worth the RM60 if say i had to pay for it. Definitely worth it to see upcoming funny men and internationally well known ones that are already established on the funny market. Watch out next month for the next show at The Comedy Club KL!
Puteri Gunung Ledang Season 3 just had it’s last show day. This was my first time seeing the musical and it was also the first time that I got picked to be in but.. had to let it go. Min Li, Abby and I went as a group to watch the show.

After watching it, I’m trying my best not to have the regret of not beeing in the show. Because I have to say it was fantastic and extremely grand. The cast was equally just as spectacular. I went to watch the show cause four people i knew were in it. And boy was I so proud of the three girls that were in Ismail with me!! Safia, Tisha and Kerry Ann. You all look gorgeous on stage and Tisha your Malay kampung girl mannerism was so cute! Safia you worked so hard for it and I’m glad to see you there. Kerry Ann you’ve always been a beautiful dancer.  The cast consisted of Tiara Jacquelina who reprises her role as the Puteri. Lovely and gracefully, she slinks in to character with ease. West-end player Stephen Rahman-Hughes as the dashing Hang Tuah. That man has a wonderful voice with turbo boosters just to pump out more air and volume when he sings.There is one scene where he belts out a long note for at least 20 seconds without losing his breath! Ida Mariana was fantastic as, i have no idea how she got voice to that creepy and haunting chants but she’s my favourite female singer there. 

To me Puteri Gunung Ledang had a very Disney theme to it. It almost felt like it was a combination with Mulan and Pocahuntas. Everything was either yellow, red or had the bluish hue that you see a lot in Pocahuntas. Think Disney on ice.

That’s a compliment okay! I’m not saying that the performances weren’t great but man, the performances were seriously helped a lot just by the mere sets the stage had. The moving mountains alone was enough to go whoa. 

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I felt this set was absolutely gorgeous. The movable mountains turned into the edge of a cliff, with ‘water’ flowing in the middle. It’s just a white cloth with blue light and some gabo effect and ta da you have shimmering water.

The biggest whoa for me had to be when they brought in the ship! Although i was a bit peeved that the ship only lasted for a short while just before they went to intermission. How can you not go whoa!

The show enveloped itself on the romance happening between the Puteri and the Hang Tuah. The ending is just heart wrenching if you think about it. It’s the two lovers who can’t be together story… but you just wish that they are in the end. Puteri is cursed to forever be alone on Mount Ledang and whoever that sees her before the dawn will die. Likewise Hang Tuah who suddenly disappears to be with him can never see her… tragic love. But it stays with you. For a happier ending we can imagine that Hang Tuah and Puteri are together forever up on the mountain with their love to hold them close.  

 

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.. You know as much as I can say I wasted an opportunity. But at the same time I have to accept that I made a choice and I did do stuff. It’s not to say that I couldn’t have done PGL as well. Just that probably I would’ve killed myself from too many things. Like I said in my previous post here – December was just mad and I had to make some sacrifices. If ever PGL comes to town again, i will definitely try out for it again. :) It’s a gorgeous show, just too bad that Tiara Jacquelina will not be playing the Puteri next time round. I imagine it will be quite difficult to find a replacement for her.
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
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.

While I would love to tell you about how I learned to drive, but I want to point this post to a play which happens to have that title. I’ll tell my story later on ^_P. Let me bring you to the latest show, that will be hot in town. Presented, directed and performed by youths in the performing arts here in Kuala Lumpur.

THE ORAL STAGE presents

PAULA VOGEL’s

HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE

How I Learnt To Drive Poster

Growing up in a family with thin, penetrable personal boundaries, Li’l Bit becomes the victim of an incestuous intimacy – Uncle Peck does not only teach his teenage niece to drive, but sexualises her childhood as well.Narrated through a series of bittersweet flashbacks, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE is an honest, coming-of-age account on forgiveness, healing and growth – and how one can find light even from the unhealthiest of relationships. HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE was first produced in 1997 in New York City and has since been awarded, in addition to the Pulitzer: the Obie, the Drama Desk Award, the New York Drama Critics Award, the Outer Circle Critics Award, and the Lucille Lortel Award. Featuring Amelia Chen, Johann Lim, Doreen Loo, Davina Goh and Mark Beau de Silva, with Kelvin Wong as Creative Director. Supported by Living Arts and Autodetailer.

“…one of the best plays of the decade.” – USA Today

“…a tremendous achievement; genuine and genuinely disturbing.” – Village Voice

*FOR MATURE AUDIENCES

Check out the interview on the NTV7 Breakfast Show.

Click here to watch the interview.

HOW TO WIN SOME FREE TICKETS

The wonderful word : FREE. Yeah TOS is being kind enough to give away some free tickets to a few lucky people and bloggers. So how can you get free tickets? Two ways: 1. Head on to Kakiseni and join the How I Learned to Drive Contest. Click here to join the contest NOW! 2. Just do ONE POST on How I Learned To Drive, telling people about it and you can be one of the few bloggers who will receive some complimentary tickets to watch the show. Make sure you have a link back straight to TOS and once you have your post done send the link of your post to this email: linora.publicity@theoralstage.com HELP OUT TO PROMOTE We have a couple of buttons mad out if you some of you out there would like in spreading this show to the public. Just save the following buttons and link them back to this link http://theoralstage.com. It will look something like what I have on my sidebar. http://www.theoralstage.com/publicity/hiltd/button1.jpg http://www.theoralstage.com/publicity/hiltd/button2.jpg SHOWDATES & TIME 4th – 7th June 2008 @ 8.30 pm 7th – 8th June 2008 @ 3.00 pm VENUE The Actors Studio Bangsar Level 3, West Wing Bangsar Shopping Centre 285, Jalan Maarof Bukit Bandaraya 59000 Kuala LumpurTICKETS RM33 (Adults); RM22 (Students, senior citizens & the disabled) TICKET CONTACT TAS @ BSC Box Office: 03-2094 0400/1400THE BLOG! http://howilearnedtodrive.blogspot.com ON THE WEB http://www.theoralstage.com http://www.theactorsstudio.com.my