Watching and waiting

I hope you’re doing fine out there without me
‘Cause I’m not doing so good without you
The things I thought you’d never know about me
Were the things I guess you always understood

- 3 Doors Down's " Here By Me" -

I feel obliged to present a write-up, albeit very short one, of the much-talked about production of the Puteri Gunung Ledang: The Musical (PGLTM). I was very fortunate to have a friend who has a very bersungguh-sungguh friend, who managed to get us tickets for the last show, which was staged last night. I supposed you can say that I went with a tiny bit of apprehension. I wondered if all the favorable reviews I read were merely to boost the egos of the people behind the production. I wondered if the movie version of PGL could actually be translated into a musical, and how would it be presented to its audience. And, I wondered to what extent can Stephen Rahman-Hughes speak Bahasa Melayu, not of the pasar variety, but the berkias-kias type. Most of all, I wonder if our children will grow up thinking that this love story actually exists, and if this is going to be included as a sub-chapter in my children’s history textbooks, 10 years on.

So, witness the majestic Istana Budaya united with the grace of Enfiniti Production I did last night. And I was pleasantly surprised to find myself absorbed in many of its scenes. Twas a grand production of elegant dances, lovely lyrics and score, massive props, and talented cast. It was also the first musical I went to that has subtitles *i now know how these subtitled theatre productions work*, so at times when I can’t make out what they’re singing about, I just look up at the subtitles. Very convenient :) And Stephen Rahman-Hughes? was not as bad as I thought he’d be, or as the reviews claimed. I thought it was a fine effort, considering he doesn’t speak our mother tongue at all, despite having a Malaysian mother. While others may gush at AC Mizal, I personally adored the Sultan Melaka, if only for the short but very engaging/ sleazy dance number he performed in his garish bright yellow Sultan outfit. Oh, and the extremely comel Tnegku Ahmad. I squealed when he came on. Twice.

All in all, I had a great time. It was very, very entertaining, and obviously has a special place in the hearts of many of the audience. I heard some even went 3 times. Oh, and what better place to rub shoulders with glamorous celebrities and socialites? Yes, dahling, we must make sure these musicals go on. We do need an occasion to meet up and catch up! And of course, dress up in :) Tom Abang Saufi was there with clackety bead necklace and a vibrant striped top. It must have been on of la creme de la creme of her collection *snicker* And many, many other celebrated icons in transparent outfits *this is for u Tina Ninja hehe* But it was a lovely, lovely show. Congratulations to the production team. Maybe its too soon to say Malaysia Boleh, but I can see that given dizzying amounts of funds, research and publicity, this could actually go somewhere.

I caught a low key theatre production last Sunday as well. Toast and Wake Up and Smell The Coffee. Very entertaining. The latter is actually a 45-minutes monologue by a certain Malik Taufiq, who was one of Cleo’s Eligible Bachelors once, my senior in Uni once, and actually a distant relative. He was good! Very energetic and focused. I actually missed about 15 minutes of it, but what I can make out is that its prolly a satire on the characteristics of Americans under a microscope. The former was a production by Aroma Theatre. I actually watched one of their production back in uni days, and was entertained back then. So, it was out of curiousity *and the very cheap tickets, RM10 wey, mana nak dapat, zaman belajar dulu boleh la*, that I decided to watch it. A good effort, entertaining, but with a wickedly disturbing ending. Keep producing more theatre shows at that price guys, and I’ll keep up with my appearances. I personally loved the Big Boss character, and how he pronounced Brazil...hilarious!

And I managed to catch up with friends from the past, and a karaoke sing-along session during last weekend as well. Ellisha is as beautiful as ever, and still as friendly and funny. Note to self: Must do lunch with her soon. The karaoke singalong to celebrate fellow colleague’s birthday was fun, fun, fun! Loads of laughter, bad and good singing, as well as yummy Air Asam Merah, along with wacky colleagues equals to oodles of fun. And a very near sore throat. Got home at 3.30 am, the latest i’ve been home in a VERRRYYYY long time. Thanks Fuzzy Wuzzy for a really great time :)

Pity about the flood the next day tho. My prayers and sympathy goes out to every one of them. And to think that they’ll be greeted by the oil hike prices. I do hope the RM4 plus billion allocated to develop the public transporation system WILL develop it. Maybe this is a good time to go public with my experiences as a seasoned commuter. Bet the consultants will prolly need some statistics, seeing that some of them prolly have not stepped foot into a public transporter, let alone endure a full journey.

By the way, moi? am flat broke this month. Am. So. Flat. Bleedin’. Broke. After settling most of my obligations *debts*, i’m left with basically pasir to feed on for the rest of the month. Therefore, this is Bulan Careful Spending or otherwise know as You Are So Dead Meat By the 3rd Week Month. *sigh* But strangely, I felt a certain nostalgic comfort at gazing at supermarket shelves, whilst carefully choosing any items to purchase. It reminded me of my student days in London where I would zoom around Tesco picking up anything I want while grocery shopping, then at the last aisle, near the desserts, will ponder upon contents of supermarket trolley, and proceeded to slowly put the unnecessary items back onto the shelves. Oh yes, that I did. And now, its time to flex those prudent muscles again. Then again, I can never say no to a good makan-makan session, so we’ll see la how I survive this month.

Now, about that letter to N$T...