dark comedy
October 3, 2010Tun Mahathir The Musical was slightly on the disappointing side. I’m surprised to read many good reviews about it because majority of the people who I’ve talked to were pretty disappointed with the musical as well.
I thought the childhood scene was pretty long with many songs but content was very little (basically just to show he was a very good boy who was always reading and didn’t skip his mengaji classes). Then the love scene with Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah was so draggy and cheesy. There was also a scene involving a boat which I thought was so unnecessary.
I was hoping the musical would be a happy one to highlight Tun M’s achievements and all the glory he’s brought Malaysia. Instead, his “achievement” scene was basically a dance scene with dancers holding up a black “Proton” cardboard. What they focused on was the not-so-good history of Tun M’s political career. It was a dark scene with dark music and suddenly on screen was a newspaper with headline “Musa letak jawatan”, shortly after “Ghafar letak jawatan”, then a guy with a songkok came out and had some silat scene with Tun M, and suddenly, “Anwar something something.”
Then they showed the part where Tun M resigned as President of UMNO and Prime Minister of Malaysia. And there was a scene when he was talking to his wife that he is just so disappointed with the Malays and how he has failed to change them. And he doesn’t think he can do it anymore, that’s why he resigned.
It showed such a bad impression of the Malays.
It was awkward. I really wonder how Tun M feels after watching this.
It was already approaching midnight and we got so bored we just left before it ended. I have no idea how it ended, but I really hope it ended on a slightly less gloomy note.
RedMummy was also there on the same night as me and we both agreed that it was pretty draggy. She left early too! Haha.
Disclaimer: All these are entirely my own personal views, which may differ to others.
Hye I was supposed to go tonight and watch it but didn’t so i’m glad I didn’t waste my money on it.
Seriously that BAD???I guessed Tun have seen that…and somehow or rather affected him..kot?Adoiiila
a friend of mine is watching right now. seems like she’s enjoying it (based on her tweets). hmm.
That’s intimating that BN is going to lose in the next election.
i have to agree with u. i was disappointed but i stayed till the end. hey guess what? i was there on the same nite when u watched it. i saw u getting ur tidbits during intermission and was really tergamam till i forgot to say hi.. hehehe.. u were with Dean that nite kan?
now i rasa nyesal tak say hi to u. hahahaha.. but one thing for sure, i will not stop reading ur posts!
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Totally agree with u. They ran out of focus and showed un-necessary scenes..waste of time.good thing is I got d ticket for free so save my money :p oh BTW I left IB during intermission just now. Which I’ve never done it before to any play that I’ve been. N I don’t have any single regret to not knowing what’s d ending.hahaha
Eek. That doesn’t sound good at all! Such a pity!!! There are some real good Malaysian playwriters out there though. =(
I only stayed till the end of the show because I paid rm50++ for the show. Very disappointed with the musical. It by no way portrays Tun. I think the show is full house everyday just because of the name of the show.
my fren oso said the same thing..aiyooo..ashamed lah..
my fren oso said the same thing..aiyooo..ashamed lah
owh… really that bad eh? was thinking to go. now that byk sgt bad reviews.. then mebe not.
i went bcoz i got free tix,if not..mungkin tak pergi hehehe.it looked boring.
it proved to be right,there’s no wow in it.read the simple review in my blog yeah.
i gave it 2/10.CUCi musical were in lotsa ways better.(though the’re in different genre).
it is such a shame to WATCHED the musical. for someone who contribute a lot to our country, the gov should spend lotsa money and hire big name producer/director to direct the mucical.
as for TUN? definately he’s sad to watched Tribute to him arranged in such bad way… *Frust*
vivy,
Agreed!
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nasib baik tgk tikets rm23 je ๐
i will go to watch the theater dis coming friday…so i will see how bad it was..hee
sounds interesting, despite the bad reviews. To be fair, The Malay Dilemma was what propelled Tun M into the spotlight in the first place, so I can see why they would focus on that. Furthermore, due to that he launched the NEP. The elephant in the room has got to be the whole Anwar saga. I remember attending Tun M’s face to face in London I think back in 2008, where after he gave a speech and ANYONE could ask him questions. He was particularly scathing about Anwar, and urged all of us ‘to come home and rid the country of corruption’ and blamed the decline of Malaysian universities on the Chancellor of the universities of Malaysia (yeah, we were all like ‘what is he going on about?’). I still think he’s one of the greats in Asia, and the reverence for him and his legacy is manifold and is across all countries. However, like every great politicians, he’s made some big mistakes. Ones hopefully, that Malaysians won’t be paying for for generations to come.
I agree completely with Yerdeh. The musical wasn’t meant to leave a “bad impression of the Malays”; I think it tried to show a man who is as flawed as the next person, despite his position as a (former) leader.
As a Malaysian, I am proud of our progress, which has his liberal economic vision to thank; but the NEP remains the elephant in the room.
I don’t believe the musical intended to be a “tribute” per se. I think it attempted an honest depiction of Mahathir. In a country where so much cultural expression is suppressed, I think the musical should be lauded for being brave enough to tackle both sides of the coin.
the theater was really good actually…it made me cry for last scene…its normal la kalo ade part yg boring…but for me, i really enjoy the show…esma daniel look alike as Dr.M..the way he talk, the way he dress up, the way he walk…everthing is the same…exactly the same…hahaha…dat is my opinion bcoz i just left the show until is over..;)