Ismail The Last Days

Ismail The Last Days On 8TV Quickie

2008-08-14T14:56:00.001+08:00

From A Backstage Perspective

2008-08-14T00:48:00.004+08:00

Managed to sneak my camera backstage during Act 2 and took a few shots. For those of you who haven't watched yet, what are you waiting for????? GET YOUR TIX NOW!!!

Also, if you are an avid blogger like myself, linora or min li, you would have heard of the company Nuffnang. Nuffnang has graciously posted up a post promoting Ismail The Last Days. Do go check it out here!

Thanks Nuffnang!!

Tick Tock

2008-08-07T15:49:00.003+08:00

It is now 4.00 pm and in 4 and a half hours we are 'ON' for Opening Night, our first, and finally it's SHOW TIME.

I am very excited, and I'm sure everyone else is. We received our Program Books yesterday, breaking the tradition.

Many VIPs is expected to come to our opening tonight including our PM and some royalties, and Ismail's wife and family.

Good luck guys, and as Tony and Nick would say before every dress rehearsal.." Break a Leg!".

Black Out

2008-08-06T02:29:00.002+08:00

Black...

That is all we saw for the last 10 minutes of tonight's full dress rehearsal run. There was a blackout at klpac.. which ended up with us ending the rehearsal time bit earlier. Whoopee and Baddie...

You know when you are on stage... you sometimes take things for granted. We know the director will see to us all looking right.. we know the stage managers will keep everything in check... the tech people will do their best with the sound, stage set, and the lighting... Everything is under control by someone.

But we never into account what could possibly happen if say something went beyond our control. Like today...

However... it doens't matter... the show has to go on! And that it did...
Even still, we all pray it does NOT EVER GET A BLACKOUT!!!

Hot Off The Press

2008-08-04T14:28:00.003+08:00

With opening night getting closer and closer, our two main leads Tisha and Malik have been going around to TV stations and begging to be featured so that they can promote the show. Thankfully, two breakfast shows felt pity on them and allowed them on their show. Click on the two links below to see their interviews....

The NTV7 Breakfast Show (skip ahead to part 6)
Malaysia Hari Ini

If you haven't noticed by now, our adorable faces have been coming up in several newspapers such as The Star, NST amongst others. Click on the links below to take a look....

Essence Of A Stateman - New Straits Times
Doc Ismail On Stage - Star R.AGE
The Sound Of Music - New Sunday Times
The Stuff Of Heroes - Sunday Star
Notes From The Top - The Edge Weekly
Capturing His Spirit - The Edge Weekly

First FULL DRESS run

2008-08-03T11:42:00.000+08:00

I have only two words for it..

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WE SURVIVED!

Ta-daaahhhhh!

2008-08-03T05:53:00.005+08:00

After months of making ourselves at home in Studio 5 & the AD Studio, we were told that it is time to move into Pentas 1!

Excited - yes! Curious - Definitely!!

Here's a peek of what is to expect...
Mind you, we aren't giving out too much ;)

Ismail on Malaysia Hari Ini

2008-07-31T16:21:00.001+08:00

We were on tv today! Check it out.

Yes, I second That!

2008-07-29T04:42:00.004+08:00

Like Linora had mentioned in the post before, Sunday was truly magical. Having the orchestra play along with us was just an experience that no words can describe. It honestly brought a tear to my eye and that's a first for me. Here are more pictures of the orchestra along with writer U-en Ng who decide to join in for the sheer thrill of showing off his violin skills.

In addition to what Linora has said about what we do in when we're waiting around, here's a few more examples on what we do.

Some of us dance.

Some of us take videos of the orchestra.

Some of us get some exercise.

Some of us catch up on some history.

And lastly, some of us just get really pissed off and decide to punch our fellow cast members.

Before I end this post, i've got an announcement to make. For those of you that have liked all the pictures you've seen on this blog or just simply want to see more of the madness that goes on during rehearsals, click on the link below to see all the photos that have been taken during rehearsals!

We Are In Awe!!

2008-07-27T23:29:00.003+08:00

It's like we have never seen an orchestra perform before.

Sunday was the day, we finally sang together with the orchestra that is beautifully conducted by Meryn and my gosh... we were in total awe. I mean, to hear the music being sung is one thing but to actually hear the live version with full on orchestra with the drums, oboe, flute, cello and violins.. oh did i mention there is a bass guitar and electric guitar as well.

we were.. just going wow most of the time..

Singing with them... was quite an experience - and hey let those of us who have not experienced it before - be in awe lah!

My my who is that I spy with my little eye... Can you see the weirdo there who is playing the violin... yes I mean the one wearing specs... male and ok ok.. I'll be nice :S

That's our 'beloved' writer U-En.

Multi talented, eh? :)

I don't think I've seen Joe smile this much... You can't see it but he is smiling. In fact we were all smiling. :)

See :)

Of course in between there was a bit of waiting around.. but we all had our own means of keeping busy..

some of us read a book..

some of us decided to play gangster..

some of us sat around.... She only looks it but she was actually playing a fool :P yes I mean you Tisha :P

some decided to strangle somebody's cello casing... I really think it belongs to the guy playing in front of us.. sorry mate... but it was just ..there!!

and some.. well decided to go APE!!

Wheee.... it hurts on the shoulder though.. Lex... show off hehehe

We were fed a very hearty and healthy meal. Thanks Joe and Faridah :)

We also got to makan together ... hehe ohh gosh now I'm hungry.

Black pepper chicken, salad, french loaf and bananas.. nice!

I was actually quite lazy to take pictures.. but this "Ah Mui" above holding her plate...asked me to and so I did..

drumstick anyone?

And that was the day we stayed back from 3pm all the way to 11pm at night.. phewwww. Long day but rewarding.

The Trailer

2008-07-24T14:37:00.000+08:00

The Uncanny Resemblance

2008-07-20T21:03:00.002+08:00

Tun Abdul Razak is indeed living amongst us today....

A Near Full Run

2008-07-19T03:05:00.003+08:00

Thursday was the first time Joe threw us into the deep end of the pool. We were to perform the First Act of Ismail: The Last Days as if i t were really run on a real show day. We didn't do an entire run, but just enough so we could gage how long was the first half before intermission.

Ooooh talk about adrenalin rush. Sure it was going to look terrible on the first go, but we charged through it all and sucked it up like people who were ready for war! Ok I'm exaggerating but it felt that way. And probably for the first time we were so well behaved during rehearsals :P.

No stops, not even for tiny mistakes. All were to be saved for after the run through. It was quite exciting, to finally see it come to life. The ensemble was finally pieced together with the principle characters. How did the run go? Not half bad I would like to think..... but I won't think that because we still have a long way more to go..

And worse still we have less than three weeks left.. Oh boy.... Nevermind.. Gambate!!! We can do it.. and we'll make it a really good show!

The Ismail T-Shirt

2008-07-17T02:06:00.000+08:00

Been a while since I updated here.. but lets go step by step to see whats new. Last week, the cast saw the official Ismail T-shirt for the first time. With us all bounding to rush to get our sizes.
Guess who was the first to get his T-shirt, rip it straight from the plastic bag and proudly parade it hehe..

Such eager hands... Gimme It!

Ta Dah!!! This is what it looks like.

And what it looks like from the back..

Wear it proudly people :)

Recipe for Chicken 69

2008-07-15T13:56:00.003+08:00

After much persuasion from the cooks in Ismail, I've decided to let the entire world know the recipe to the famous "Chicken 69".

I've to dig deep into my memory for this one! So better take it and make it good!

Gravy:

A bit of sugar, spices, mint, curry leaves, corriander, tumerick and lots of chilli powder and paste. Just mix all of them together and add abit of water to make it gravy-like. After that, put the entire paste on two whole chicken. (Use your hands when you marinate it, better if you havent wash your hands yet).

As for the chicken, place both the chicken in the 69 position for 69 days. Keep it in the fridge. You have to take it out once a week to have a husband and a wife quarelling out in front of the chicken for 69 seconds (Indian couple is the best!)

After 69 days, take it out and cook it in shallow oil for 69 minutes.

Soon after that, please eat it because it'll expire in 69 minutes.

There you go.. chicken 69. If you want more recipes, stay tuned.

This Is Our Writer

2008-07-14T13:00:00.004+08:00

In the midst of writing musicals, smoking a cigarette and taking pictures of hot chicks, I sometimes wonder what our writer does in his free time. After seeing this picture, I don't wish to know anymore....

24 days and counting (down)

2008-07-13T22:28:00.004+08:00

Looks like the other principals are not contributing to posting the blogs so I have the opportunity to create reality as I see it...like how everyone absolutely thinks that the musical should be renamed 'Razak: the glory days of Malaysia'.
Anyway, was another 1 hour plus of us going through a reading of the whole script and definitely seeing the interaction between Malik (Ismail) and the other cast members gelling. The flow for the first few scenes are cruising along and high comfort level. Act 2 on the other hand needs tons of work and as Joe puts it, thank God the press are not viewing it this Wednesday. OMG is it less than 28 days before our first show??? Arrgghhh....
Today saw a couple of firsts i.e. the Gopal / Neno scene in Act 1 being blocked, Ah Mui (Sushi) making her first reading with us and the first tickets for the play being bought (by me!!!). Also, just found out that our ad is now being shown on Astro so currently surfing the channels with the recording function on my Astro Max on standby. Belinda also mentioned that it was showing in the Box Office but as luck would have it, the DVD player was on the blitz today.
Tomorrow is going to be first time all of us will be in costume and hopefully the dilemma of finding a pair of specs that don't make me look like the King of Librarians is solved. Its really hitting home that this is for real with posters coming up and the flyers being distributed. WoW as Delia would put it. If the posting today sounds disjointed its becoz I think I'm coming down with a flu so hopefully things will be ok tomorrow.

Pak Utih Version 2008

2008-07-10T16:48:00.000+08:00

When I first read the lyrics to Pak Utih, I was so touched with the words. I mean just take a look at it:

Punya satu isteri
Mau dakap sampai mati
Lima anak
Mau makan setiap hari.

Of how a man loves his wife, THE ONLY WIFE whom he wants to be with till he dies. As a woman really I would LOVE to be treated that way, I think every woman would want to be loved by her man and to be THE ONLY woman that he wants to be with.. But the thing is ahh..reality check..these days I think most men will change this song and sing it this way:

Punya satu isteri,
mau dakap tiga lagi,
Lima anak,
Tak cukop mahu buat lagi..

An Animal In the Rehearsal Studio

2008-07-10T01:22:00.006+08:00

Aiyamak I tripped - fell - sprained my ankle - means have to rest - means can't rehearse - means telling the director I can't make it (shudder) - means I'm screwed - means I'm fired....

Woe is me...

.... all of the above did not happen, but it could! Naturally when we go in to the rehearsal area, we'll all have our humongous bags with us. These bags can be quite a danger to us see... So our stage managers have requested us to place them all of our bags at the back of the room, or in some obsolete corner which will not interrupt or obstruct our rehearsal process.

We have about 30 odd over people.... yes 30 'odd' people for the cast and that would mean about 30 'odd' bags owned by 30 odd 'odd' people. (I'm sleepy, let me write what I feel like writing :P ). With all those bags, lying around there was one bag that stood out the most and cause Fang to get a fright.

really i'll let you guess what animal it is

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guess..
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It's

oh the horror.. the pure horror.....

See... never know what kinda stuff wil freak you out. :P

I am now a blog virgin no more....

2008-07-09T22:59:00.002+08:00

This blog site has the singular honor of deflowering me....was a bit bewildering as took me 5 minutes to figure out how to put out a post. And now we have the formalities out of the way, I'm taking to this like a duck to water.

Anyway, having cold sweats and showers after realising that its less than a month to go and we've hardly finished Act One. Also wondering what the fringe benefits of joining this production are as the only person I get to fondle is Malik everytime he says 'Yes' to my proposal (Tisha eat ur heart out!!!)...must be my ability to get my tongue around those difficult vowels during 'Dream of Tomorrow' as I definitely see his pipe quivering.

After Monday and wearing my 70s glasses for the first time, I now know how it feels to be a Head Librarian. I console myself by thinking "I'm Clark Kent, I'm Clark Kent" but thank god I manage to stop myself before putting my briefs on the outside of my pants. Of course, this is not helped by knowing I have to put myself in a Bush Jacket during my scenes....Joe I'm not paid enough for this!!!! Was really hoping this was going to be a funky interpretation of the times but looks like realism is the key word here.

In exactly a week's time we're having our first official teaser preview to the press and I'm suffering issues like an ape on constipation pills. Totally paranoid of forgetting my lines during the song and OMG the monologues!!!! Does not help knowing that I have to make the announcement of the formation of Barisan Nasional at Act 2 and re-examining the social contracts made after May 13th (guys if I don't appear after the premier, I've done a Balasundram and gone into hiding to avoid the ISA). Well, if I'm going to suck, I have to make sure others suck worse so have to encourage Tisha to go into her full American Accent, Malik to nod like a demented marionette all the time and Ari to SING!!!! Either that or go into full Prime Minister mode and make any damn changes I want....

Ok, I've had fun for now and will post some more musings and thots soon. Anyway, I'm off until Sunday so have to talk to myself to practise the lines.

The Prodigal Son

2008-07-08T15:09:00.002+08:00

About a week ago, the entire cast and crew of Ismail The Last Days were in for quite a treat. Tun Dr. Ismail's very own son, Tawfik, and grandson, Seth, dropped by our rehearsal to give us some insight on the man himself. This is the point where I stop talking and let the pictures take over.

PAK UTIH, PAK UTEH, BAK KUT TEH

2008-07-08T12:17:00.004+08:00

The new song, Pak Utih is very.. 'whew'.. challenging. Apparently it's a Melayu Asli Song (susahhhhhnyerrr especially when you're not used to listening or singing this type of genre).

Concentrating too hard trying to get the lyrics right without screwing up the notes, I guess that was why I phased out unconsciously for 5 seconds (according to Mervyn) and did not realize that Mervyn was actually waving at me ( and I was standing right in front of him at that time).

Pak Utih is supposed to be pronounced as 'Pak Uteh' . The danger of this is that if not pronounced properly, our singing will sound like 'Bak Kut Teh'.

The turns in this song, my oh my...all I can say is luckily it has been simplified.

Guys, Bak Kut Teh tu sedap ke?

Then There Was The Poster....

2008-07-05T20:11:00.000+08:00

SPANKED, and SPRAYED

2008-07-04T17:04:00.002+08:00

He spanked me look that man of three
Doc Ismail, Ismail come and see
It's he it's he that man of three
The savior of our liberty.

It was hard to keep a straight face when Ismail did an impromptu spank on 'me butt' during rehearsals yesterday.

Congratulations to Dean for getting his parts, and thanks for sharing the excitement by 'spraying' it on me.

To Zamil, farewell, so unfortunate you won't be joining us, miss ya loads.

The Pillow Fight

2008-07-03T05:06:00.001+08:00

I have a story to tell...

At rehearsals we 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.

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!!!

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...

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

I got stuck..

Why?

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...

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I cry okay!

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

**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!

Tawfik, The Son of Ismail

2008-07-01T01:14:00.003+08:00

If Ish is the son of Abdul, then Tawfik is the son of Ismail. Yesterday's rehearsal was a precious one as I (we) finally get to meet Tawfik and his hot but barely legal son. Both were charming I must say- and friendly. Definitely a good breed of future generations produced by Ismail- if he is still alive he would be VERY proud.

It was great to have Tawfik answering our questions related to his late father, the man whom we have been singing and dancing about. I especially love his story on what his father said to him when he(Ismail) visited him in Australia.
If I'm not mistaken it was something like this- " I delivered many babies when I was here last time, and most of them were girls. I wonder where they are now?"

So I guess Ismail's desire for beautiful women was, hmm.. true?

Thanks for spending time with us Tawfik, I know you'll be reading this. It was awesome to know that you've been following our blog.

Showtime is coming real soon. Keep up the good work fellas!

-Dayana-

Cheers to U-EN!

2008-07-01T01:10:00.002+08:00

Wa caya sama lu U-EN! Gosh I never even thought of writing in JAWI like that. Hehehe. So 'FANIIII' (to be said in Fang style).

I agree with you U-EN.

"SAY IT, DON'T SPRAY IT!"

2008-06-26T14:23:00.004+08:00

Last night's rehearsal was intensive, but Nick's million dollar outburst tickled my intestines and made my day!

We were rehearsing Ismail's song and I was intensely focusing, but I burst into laughter when Nick shouted to Ismail " Say it, don't spray it man..!" .

Yes, to dance and sing at the same time AIN'T easy, and making sure that the words are articulated clearly is DEFINITELY a challenge that sometimes you try so hard to SAY IT, that you SPRAY IT.

To Nick, I hope I don't EVER SPRAY IT to you.

-Dayana-

A Day In The Life Of An Ismail Cast Member

2008-06-23T00:34:00.002+08:00

Wake up
Rehearse Song
Eat Lunch
Practice Dancing
Go Rehearsal
Eat Capati at Caltex
Go Home
Blog
Sleep

Repeat daily....

Meeting The Son

2008-06-21T03:23:00.007+08:00

A bunch of us had the pleasure of meeting not only Tun Dr. Ismail's son, Tawfik, but his grandson, Seth, as well at the performance of Sybil last night.

L-R: Tony Selvaraj, Linora, Min Li, Tawfik Ismail, Faridah, me, Seth Tawfik, Tisha Zarina, Nick Dorian.

It was a great thrill to meet the two of them and it was an even bigger thrill that Tun Dr. Ismail's son, Tawfik has actually read this blog and recognised us from it. It was a pleasure meeting the two of you and hope to see you again real soon!!

Oh and if you haven't watched Sybil, I urge you to go see it!! It ends this Sunday. It's Actors Studio Bangsar. Believe me when I say, this is one piece of theatre work you should not miss.

New Movements

2008-06-19T01:32:00.003+08:00

Well you already saw the Kekasih girl pics, in the previous post right? So now we have some new ones of the boys :)

Todays rehearsal was focusing back on movement again. Aris made us do a bunch of plyometric (meaning physical movements that requires short bursts of energy like jumping) exercises to get our heart rate up for the rest of the night. Yeah goes to show how unfit some of us are... we should be forced to go to the gym everyday to buck up... Any takers??

Our Choreographer Aris Kadir. He has amazing body movement and whips up stuff on the spot.. whoa!

We've already gone through the song "Come Out You Cowards" a number of times, singing it anyway. Today we finally had more movement with the song.. we are nearly at the ending for that matter woohoo..

Oh oh and today we learned how to do.. i think it was the waltz... it's the one that goes.. slooooow sloooow quick quick, slooooow slooooow quick quick ot something like that.. that was the counting by the way. This is to prepare us for the 1940s dance which we are soooo looking forward to. :)

Pictures of the Kekasih Girls

2008-06-18T03:12:00.004+08:00

Kekasih finally now has a form rather than just the ladies singing this lovely lullaby.

One of Those Weeks

2008-06-18T02:57:00.002+08:00

It's one of those weeks I would say where rehearsals are getting a little bit slow. Despite the fact that we now have movement along with our vocals. Yes people we have started choreography along with us trying to keep a proper pitch.

For the past weeks, we have been working on the vocals for Ismail. So far we have already gone through 9 songs including today. And a while back we also got to hear the Principles sing their part :) hehe.. All this while we usually rehearse separately because the director wants to get his main actors into the right frame of mind.

We heard Malik singing his "We've Found Him" solo, which I must say was very well done! So just to give you a taste of what the sounded like.. i'll upload a video later on... emphasis later but soon no doubt. We also heard our darling Tisha who is Neno in the cast, sing her version of "Come back my love" as well as Ali singing his solo piece. So far we have only sung a song with Malik / Ismail not Neno or Razak.

Anyway back to one of those weeks, rehearsals have been productive, but very very unfortunately at the moment, it feels almost as if the singing is not up to standard..just yet! I suppose when we start rehearsing at night we are a bit drained from the day earlier on. Most of us have jobs we need to worry bout, some like myself do not need to worry bout time but rather the bills i have to pay.

So yeah, i don't know if it's creeping into the rehearsals.. but it feels like something is amidst. Overall rehearsals are still going smoothly. Sunday was the day which us girls have been waiting for... We were going to see who will get picked to dance in the 1940s dance.

See we have a zapin to dance too, which will then go straight into the 1940s dance later on. Now most of us girls have been wanting to do the 1940s one.. specifically because we get to wear at 1940s outfit. think like tuxedo and very umm... proper, with gloves and long flowing dresses. That kind thing and we have been really looking forward to that.

Here's the thing though not everyone can of course be in every scene. So a few were chosen to do the 1940s dance from start to finish while the rest are to dance the one with Neno. The good news though is that we get to do both.. Meaning we still get to be in the 1940s outfit... whee!!!!

Joy hahaha. That's the fun part about playing pretend.. hehe. Till the next post and more videos.

What You Won't See On Stage

2008-06-09T15:40:00.005+08:00

To see all the pictures, please do click here or here....

Tra-la-la-ing!

2008-06-06T10:47:00.009+08:00

My my it's been ages since this blog has been updated. People must be wondering what the cast of Ismail has been up to. Instead of blogging we have been licking wounds, healing muscle aches, nursing bruises and tending to our voices by ensuring we stay away from chocolates, durians, peanut butters and anything that can cause phlegm (like soya bean)...

We have already started learning the Ismail songs... it's been 2 weeks since we had words like "Pa-da-pa-da-pa" (is that even a word), "Come outtttt, you cowards" and "Allllllllll deriddddeeeddd" thrust into our brains. "Come out, you cowards" is the opening song of Ismail and is a battle-like song, so by the time Mervyn, our musical director is done with us... we'd probably be ready to go for war singing a song. With one or two of us bobbing our heads as we go along. "Come outtt *bobs head*, you cowards *bobs head*".

You know what I mean *wink*.

The girls have also learnt a second song in a Zapin tune called "Kekasih". Beautiful tune, romantic lyrics *does the kiss fingers and go muah! like ze French*... However, the very first time we sang it in our soprano voices, Mervyn's face screwed up like a shrivelled prune. You know-lah, girls nowadays are all about girl power and women strength... where got like last time, all soft and lembut and lemah-gemalai!!!

Anyway, under his steady directions, we kinda found that old malayish feel, so now we sing "buihhhhh-buih" with that lil twang. Kakakaka.. we sound so good! *perasan-ing*

...

When it comes to movement rehearsals... Lax our dance captain is da bomb!!! He makes the dances and choreography so interesting with the different movements that we never tire doing it like 10 times. Everyone loves dancing to Saturday Night Fever and pretending to be John Travolta in his shiny white jumper and struting. Oh----yeeaaahhh!!! C'mon baby lets move that asss~~~...

And everytime we finish our dance, Lax stands behind Joe (our director) jumping up and down with joy or pretending to snap pictures with his invicible camera.

Like at the end of each dance we usually have to pause and pose-lah for like a few seconds or so... so with Lax doing his damn funny antics at the front, how to keep a straight face like that? *pengsan* A few will burst of laughing, a few will try to tahan the laughter and saliva comes out instead and some will be so focused (or blur) that they dun notice Lax in front at all... Then Joe will stare at us.

We also learnt the Zapin, Joget and Inang... but I don't want to talk about these dances because most of us still can't get the 'feel' right (especially the guys)~~ Waaaaahahahahahahahhahahahaaaha.... Don't kill me yall. *smiles*

Ok, I'm done. Dunno what to say dy. I think I'll start compiling a list of "Funny Things People Say at Rehearsals" very soon. It will probably be enough for a book and be a best seller. Crazy people we bunch are, I tell you.

MiNiMiNLi signing off! xoxo

Ismail Starts Singing

2008-05-27T11:29:00.002+08:00

Right so now with Mervin back from his travels, we are now left to the hands of the musical director. Who very clearly stated down his rules.

He won't encourage us, cause that is just plain well ridiculous. He believes that you as a performer will know when you've done it right. So he won't give us false pretense of "Oh you guys are doing well"
No directing of oneself, be it tapping the foot, movie your hands up and down the air, and even bobbing your head to the tempo.
One is not allowed to sit down as long as the musical director is standing. (Phew and that can be a very long time - aiiiee bad for the back)
If one person sings out of key or screws up, the whole group will get a shelling.
Oh yeah mistakes on the first day is ok... Mistakes on the second day... NO NO NO!
Don't change anything that he has not changed in the pieces.

Hmm did i miss anything out?

So those are the rules, and we first studied the overture and the song for the 'rakyat'. Of course like any musical we are separated into three parts :Soprano, Alto (Both sung by women) and Bass (Men).

The men singing were so cute! You'd never have thought they could be so well behaved and look actually worried that they weren't going to do well. Sweet!!! lol. The song actually sounded pretty good when all the sops, alts and basses, were in unison. Harmony people.... Harmony!!

Besides it's the first time singing to this script. Overall I think we gave it a good go.

Rehearsal Day 4,5,6,7,8

2008-05-26T15:43:00.004+08:00

Ok this is how lazy... i mean busy.. BUSY.. we are with rehearsals. Over the past rehearsals we have been having nothing bu movement training and haven't touched anthing on vocals yet.

Lex our captain has been mostly teaching us to get ready with certain movements along together with some appearances thrown in here and there. With much pain in the thighs, we've learn about 3 traditional dances so far, which are the zapin, basic zapin, joget, and imang .
They aren't that hard to learn, but whats hard is getting the style and the correct timing for it.

Yesterday was the first time we actually did do something different, which was dancing with simple step ball change steps along with.... a variety of music.. ranging from Saturday Night Fever, Immortality and Put Your head on My Shoulder. They wanted to see how we reacted to the music through our movements.

This is the closets i could get to what we've been doing, in terms of movement and even the song, that we are using for practice.

Take a look at the shots.

Rehearsals Day 3

2008-05-09T02:28:00.006+08:00

Being in a lot of pain from the second day of rehearsals, it was no surprise that it was an incredible feat to walk up the four flights of stairs at KLPAC. You see, i'm walking like a penguin and anytime that i get up or sit down, its like a knife in my thighs. Yes, i'm in pain.

Thankfully Lakshman, our dance captain, was slightly easier on us today. We started off with the same warm up routine, but our second half was more fun. Learning the Zapin and the Joget. Still trying to get the Joget down without tripping over my own feet. Not easy having 4 left feet.

Not going to say much due to the fact that i'm not so much a writer. People who know me will know my blog is filled with photos, so in true Nick Dorian tradition, i give you the first in many many MANY photo filled posts. I will therefore leave Linora and Fang to write, purely because, their better at it! Hahaha....

Rehearsal Day 2

2008-05-08T01:51:00.003+08:00

Right on to second day of rehearsal.

A couple of us had arrived early to practice of course, just to ensure that we weren't late. Day two was all about movement. Purpose of this was to nimble ourselves and get us prepared for any action command that is thrown at us by the director or movement director.

But before that we had a half hour session with breathing master Dominique Lonchant, the breathing guru. While not many or any theatre groups out there practice on breathing, here for the KLPac production we are trained to concentrate on our breathing. As an actor, our voice and body are the most important things to us, so naturally some exercise to loosen it up is necessary. One important accessory you will need for breathing exercises...

A pillow! If not say hello to bruises on your shins and knees.

Moving right on after breathing exercises, was the movement exercises. The movement director wasn't around so we were left in the very capable hands of our Dance Captain. Starting first with some warm up and stretches which I think some of us wanted to die, from not being used to stretching a lot. And even worse when we had to do a side split (or as far as one can go) and go down with your forehead touching the ground... Yeah we could cry! When Laks told us to relax... you should have heard the sigh of relief from the entire cast. Hahaha.

I have to say, we did a lot of rolling. The two words stuck in my head now is "Pink Paper". lol See there is this pink paper stuck on one of the pillars smack in the middle of Studio 5, which we all use as our focus point. So imagine this.. We are all walking around and then suddenly we are to stop and look at the pink paper. Then shift our head to the clock at the back of the class and then pink paper again.. woohee.. and then clock and then pink paper..

Pink paper clock pink paper clock... aiii - there's a purpose for all this and it is great practice for testing how sharp we are. Back to the rolling..

Our captain, was teaching us how to roll... so we had a lot of rolling on the floor, which concludes with us using our thighs a lot. Along with our butts being very very strained. Roll to the right.. now to the left .. oh wait pink paper clock.... roll right, left.. pink paper clock... pink clock... roll right.. left... you get the picture :P

It was personally fun to see how some got confused :) Which is alright actually because the cast we have - some are new to performing arts and some have been doing it for a while. It's a learning curve and what a fun start it is.

Let's see what happens tomorrow!
yes.. we have rehearsals tomorrow.. :P

First Day of Rehearsal

2008-05-06T02:50:00.001+08:00

Well, it looks like we now have a blog. The cast and crew finally came together last night for the first reading of KLPAC's big musical this year, Ismail The Last Days. It's a pretty well thought script with some interesting insight to the man that is Tun Dr. Ismail. To be honest, when I heard that there was a musical based upon Tun Dr. Ismail's life, I didn't know what to expect.

So keep tuned to this spot to receive updates from myself, fang and linora as well as several other cast members!!