It's SHOWTIME!!!

Having missed the first season, I was looking forward to catch the Puteri Gunung Ledang musical in its second run at the Istana Budaya. Since Hubby is only coming back after the run finishes on 20th Aug, I bought tickets to watch the matinee on Saturday with my sister instead. My mum and two other sisters caught an earlier show, and reviews were encouraging, especially AC Mizal’s portrayal of Gusti Adipati, the Majapahit ruler.

So did I enjoy the show? Let me just say that despite all the reviews (on par with West End & Broadway productions, according to some newspapers) I decided beforehand not to put my hopes up too high, lest I end up being sorely disappointed. And I’m glad I didn’t.

By Malaysian standards, it was a very ambitious production, and again by Malaysian standards it succeeded on certain levels. The set was pretty impressive, the score was good, albeit a bit too contemporary for me. I was hoping for something more like the M. Nasir-Siti Nurhaliza duet ‘Bagaikan Sakti’ that was the movie’s theme song, but the music was all new. I did enjoy Sultan Mahmud of Melaka’s jazzy number though, which was unexpected (jazz tunes in 15th century Malaya?) but somehow it portrayed the character to a tee. You could see a lot of heart and soul went into the show, but unfortunately, and especially for the title character, the passion could not quite make up for the lack of natural talent.

Oh yes, she did win Best Actress at the Malaysian and Asia Pacific film festivals, and she did spend weeks in a Javanese keraton learning the ropes of a Majapahit princess (method acting you!!) but this is after all a musical, where more than half of the dialogue is in song. With all due respect Datin Seri, you’re a brilliant thespian and dancer (probably better than anyone else on stage in these two departments) but you ain’t no Lea Salonga. It was especially jarring whenever she launched her mediocre vocals into a duet with the formally trained Stephen Rahman-Hughes, and there was one cringe-worthy bit where she seemed to have lost her note. I was almost wishing that I had bought tickets for the show with the alternate cast instead. As it turned out, AC Mizal wasn’t playing Adipati that day, and the understudy, though physically impressive, did not quite have the booming voice that would strike fear into you.

But at least I’ve watched it, and although for me it’s not exactly at par with Miss Saigon, we’re getting there.