Monday 28 April 2008

Keterujaan Tiara Jacquelina terhadap P.Ramlee



Mingguan Malaysia gave us a nice full page yesterday. arrrrrgggggghhhhh! pre-show jitters are really setting in right now. its partyly the excitement and jitters about taking a show to singapore again, and meeting the fans who really gave us such a rousing welcome when we took PGLM there in December 2006. and i know its just going to get worse come 12th may when we tread the boards of the esplanade again. fingers and toes are tightly crossed...

Keterujaan Tiara Jacquelina terhadap P. Ramlee

Oleh WANDA IDRIS

Sean Ghazi dan Siti Nurhaliza tidak terlibat dalam pementasan kali ini.

TERUJA dan terus bersemangat. Itu perasaan yang dirasai Datin Seri Tiara Jacquelina dalam usaha untuk membawa sekali lagi naskhah P. Ramlee kesayangannya ke pentas teater.

Apalagi pementasan kali ini yang dilangsungkan di Istana Budaya bermula pada 28 Mei menjadi antara detik dan usaha untuk memperingati pemergian Allahyarham Tan Sri P. Ramlee yang kembali ke rahmatullah pada 29 Mei 1973.

Justeru, pasti sahaja hanya satu impian yang ingin direalisasikan oleh seorang penerbit berhati waja ini dalam memberi hanya yang terbaik kepada khalayak sebagai tanda penghargaannya buat seorang Seniman Agung.

"Memang semangat menjayakan pementasan kedua kali ini lain macam sikit. Selain sebagai tanda penghormatan kepada beliau, pemergian naskhah ini ke Singapura juga mengundang satu kebanggaan," kata Tiara.

Kembali ke Jalan Ampas dengan membawa bendera negara, P. Ramlee akan bertamu di pentas bertaraf dunia di Esplanade Theatre, Singapura bermula 17 Mei sebelum kembali ke Kuala Lumpur untuk menyingkap kisah sebenar ikon dunia seni tempatan, bermula tahun 1948 sehinggalah akhir hayat P. Ramlee pada 1973.

Menyingkap jalur-jalur kehidupan seni pemilik nama Teuku Zakaria bin Teuku Nyak Puteh serta kecintaannya kepada wanita-wanita yang pernah mengisi kehidupannya, pementasan kali ini diterajui oleh Adlin Aman Ramlie sebagai pengarah serta Zahim Al-Bakri yang bertindak sebagai pengarah bersekutu.

"Matlamat kami mencipta sesuatu untuk semua dan kepada semua yang menyayangi P. Ramlee," kata Tiara lagi.

Menjanjikan persembahan yang lebih mantap dalam pelbagai sudut termasuk skrip, persembahan dan teknikal, P.Ramlee The Musical...The Life, The Loves & The Inspiration juga menyaksikan kemunculan beberapa 'orang baru'.

Musly Ramlee dan Emelda Rosmila diangkat menjadi sebahagian keluarga pementasan P. Ramlee kali ini dengan masing-masing mendukung watak P. Ramlee dan kekasihnya, Azizah yang sebelum ini dijayakan oleh Sean Ghazi dan Datuk Siti Nurhaliza.

"Sebagai penerbit, saya seronok dengan keterujaan untuk menyaksikan perubahan dinamik dalam pementasan teater seperti ini.

"Saya juga gemar meneroka bakat-bakat baru serta tenaga segar dalam memenuhi perkembangan industri kesenian kita.

"Salah satu peranannya adalah memberi peluang kepada mereka yang berpotensi yang mempunyai impian kerana saya juga bermula dengan satu impian.

"Emelda memang seorang yang berbakat. Dia pelakon dan boleh menyanyi. Musly pula bagi saya sememangnya jelmaan P. Ramlee. Wajahnya, senyumannya, suaranya malah lenggok gayanya juga bak legenda kesayangan kita itu.

"Pasti ramai yang akan tergamam melihatnya di pentas nanti. Kerana saya sendiri begitu merasainya dan dia bagi saya adalah pilihan terbaik untuk muzikal ini," kata Tiara dalam keterujaannya memperkenalkan bintang baru dalam pembikinan itu.

Biar diberi masa hanya enam minggu untuk berlatih dan mendalami watak, kata Tiara, Musly yang sememangnya meminati P. Ramlee, menjayakannya tanpa banyak kerenah malah begitu komited mentransformasikan dirinya menjadi P. Ramlee.

Justeru, kata Tiara, dia percaya, kehadiran Musly pada pementasan itu mampu memberi impak terbaik sekali gus menjadi penanda aras kepada pengukuhan kedudukannya sebagai seorang bintang teater.

Masih mengekalkan Liza Hanim sebagai Saloma, Melissa Saila (Norizan) dan Atilia (Junaidah), pementasan terbitan Enfiniti Productions Sdn. Bhd. itu turut menyaksikan kelainan dari segi muziknya kerana kali ini, Roslan Aziz bakal menggantikan Erwin Gutawa sebagai pengarah muziknya.

"Banyak kelainan yang ditonjolkan. Orang kata lain tukang masak, lain pula rasanya. Dan di tangan Adlin, pengolahannya juga berbeza. Dapat pula bekerjasama semula dengan Roslan Aziz yang juga merupakan peminat setia P. Ramlee, pasti akan memberi impak tersendiri.

"Apalagi pementasan kali ini, kami menerapkan lebih banyak jiwa dan kehadiran Seniman Agung itu menerusi lagu-lagunya. Dengan penampilan dan gaya dan lenggok suara Musly yang seakan-akan P. Ramlee membuatkan Roslan lebih bersemangat untuk menambah lebih banyak lagu," kata Tiara.

Dia juga memberitahu, terdapat beberapa bahagian jalan cerita yang disunting semula dengan ada sebahagiannya ditambah manakala sebahagian yang lain pula dibuang.

"Apa yang boleh saya katakan, persembahan kali ini lebih padat dan mampat dengan iringan muzik dan lagu yang lebih daripada kelaziman.

"Kepada yang sudah menonton persembahan pertama pasti akan dapat merasai kelainan kali ini. Saya sendiri yang tengok latihannya lebih 20 kali tetap terasa perbezaannya.

"Apalagi, bila kita membuat perubahan pelakon, tentu semangat dan tenaganya juga akan berubah dan lebih dinamik. Misalnya watak-watak Norizan dan Saloma yang nampak sekali berlainan pembawakannya apabila watak P. Ramlee dipegang oleh Musly.

"Kemunculan Musly bersama Liza sebagai P. Ramlee dan Saloma paling membuatkan bulu roma saya berdiri," kata Tiara terhadap keserasian Musly dengan wataknya bersama-sama wanita-wanita kesayangan P. Ramlee.

Pesan Tiara lagi: "Saya tidak sabar menanti reaksi khalayak terhadap pementasan kali ini. Dan kepada orang ramai, buatlah tempahan awal kerana bukan selalu kami dapat menyajikan kepada anda pementasan seperti ini kerana kos yang tinggi."

Sunday 20 April 2008

chaos in unison by hands percussion




i have always enjoyed watching bits and pieces by this very talented group of performers, at the boh cameronian awards, most usually, and in spite of this weekend being the most activity filled one my phone calendar has seen in a while, i'm glad i made it to KL pac last night.

one other thing i'm patting myself on the back for is for FINALLY dragging myself off to watch a performance at KLpac since i moved into the neighbourhood last hari raya. effendi keeps reminding me that the main reason i chose to have a town pad at sentul west in the first place WAS to be next to the theatre. isn't that so typical though.

anyway. it was raining rather heavily so its very acceptable that the show started 10 mins late. i made this a big family night out with my mom and brother nick who loves drums, carol's kid erin, my 2 kids, and the husband got dragged in too of course.

the show opened with a solitary person sitting on the stage drumming sticks onto the floor. i loved the lighting and set, very minimal and effective. especially loved what looked like the "all-seeing eye" dangling from the ceiling on stage left. the drumming continues, and after a minute one drummer walks onstage, carrying in a drum, places it onstage and walks off. in between, we are introduced to a very slender guy in red baggy shorts who starts to do his stretching and warm-ups. he's in no hurry to get going. the drummers walk on and off stage for what feels like about 10 minutes now of zero action. i'm watching my kids, they're shifting restlessly in their seats by now.
when i caught my son dani's eye, he can't help himself but grumble a little louder than i wish he did. "mom...these guys aren't even ready yet, why did they start the show?" the guys sitting behind us couldn't hold back a giggle upon hearing that.

the guy in the red shorts was all stretched and warmed up by now, and he started running in circles around the "set". he goes on running and running for about 15 or 20 minutes okay, and i'm getting really worried by now because he really did look very convincing as an absolutely exhausted marathon runner. i must say i couldn't find my artistic side last night though cos i couldn't make out the story in the long silent opening, the marathon man and what was going on on stage, for the whole first half.

once the drummers actually got going though, i knew this was what i came here for in the 1st place. the hands percussion team are made up of a young, vibrant, and very passionate bunch of boys and girls. their energy and enthusiasm was very catching, for me. in acting terms, we would say they "committed" to the roles and the stories they tried to tell, more successfully in the second half than in the first though, i must admit. and when a stage performer "commits" himself, he has to absolutely believe in what he is trying to convey, then once the audience buys what he sees, he invests his emotions in the performer and wants to follow his or her story, whatever it is he wants to share.

as a producer,i'm asking myself how i would have edited it myself. i think i would have trimmed the fat - the very trying "arty" bits at the beginning, and stayed with the action and with what the team are best at. i'm also thinking how i might incorporate something more visual and physical and entertaining just to add color and a change of "texture", but that's me and probably not in tandem with the artistic director's vision.

i can see from their perfect synchronization and timing, that a lot of time has been invested in rehearsing their act. in live performance, there's no faking effort and discipline. whether you put in 2 days' effort, or 2 months of work, that's exactly what will show onstage.

they absolutely deserve the cameronian nomination for this year and i hope to see the team up on stage receiving the recognition for a job well done.

Saturday 19 April 2008

Interview with The Peak magazine

Why did P Ramlee inspire you so greatly?

He was one of those people whose true greatness was not recognized in its own time, much like the story of Mozart or Picasso.

What's inspirational for me is when people successfully use their talent to impact and affect others too. In the case of Malaysia and Singapore, he was a big part of the success of the film and music industry back then, and he inspired many others who wanted to be as great as him, as multi-talented as him - He was an outstanding talent, an artistic genius, the most successful multi-talented actor, director, writer, singer, entertainer we have seen in our days and i am most inspired to at least try and be as good as he was. He emerged from a very humble background and overcame the many life hurdles (and there were plenty, both professionally as well as personally) to become the name every Malaysian and Singaporean regardless of color, creed and political leaning agree upon when you ask them about their favorite actor/singer of all time.

- What life lessons do you think we can learn from him?

P.Ramlee dared to be different, he believed in his dreams, and he followed his own star.


- And what's next for you, artistically, after the Singapore run ends?

I want to make more films. Doing a stage musical takes more than a year of my life to complete every time, and i must admit that after making Puteri Gunung Ledang the Musical i have been bitten by the stage bug and couldn't wait to produce more, but this year i hope to be able to also go back to making movies, which i think i really have a knack for. I want to produce a body of work that will be remembered long after i leave this world, just like P.Ramlee.

Monday 14 April 2008

meet our new p.ramlee!

gosh it really HAS been ages since i last posted. so much has happened i can't even find a point to start. been travelling - to egypt, on a gorgeous nile cruise and a very historical journey back in time, and then to greece, for the continuation of that historical trail (for 2 days, at least - then i couldn't stand it any longer and had to get away to the gorgeous greek islands to get my sanity back again. well thats the excuse i needed to give myself anyway, ha ha)

the greek islands part of the vacation wasn't much of a work-free vacae anywayz, my dear friend and compatriot adlin saw to that. SOS SOS CALL ME BACK URGENT was his sms to me. now, nothing freaks me out more than the word SOS cos that almost always means trouble. adlin told me that we had a fantastic turnout at our recent auditions for p.ramlee singapore tour/season2, and one of the new faces that walked through the door almost made him fall off his chair - this guy was p.ramlee reincarnated. in the audition, he even behaved, sang and spoke like p.ramlee, God rest his soul... the big question adlin posed to me was whether or not enfiniti was prepared to take our chances with a new p.ramlee, with only 6 weeks to go til showtime.

gosh babe, don't do this to me,i said - not when i'm thousands of miles away like this! we were due to announce the cast line up officially to the singapore press in 2 days.

thats what happens on an "ordinary" day in the life of tiara i guess. and like they say in tinseltown, THATS SHOWBUSINESS! anything can happen, change is challenge, and we have to be ready to take chances if we want to be part of that change. thank heavens for technology. i had to watch a quicktime video audition of this new guy and decide.

that day, a new star was born.

last thursday eja and nora broke the news of our new cast line-up to our friends in the media. this was our media statement:

Tiara's statement on P. Ramlee The Musical's cast line-up.

As producer, I enjoy the excitement of how different elements change the dynamics of "live" theatre. I also love exploring with and discovering fresh talent, new energy, which is integral for the growth of the arts industry. One of the most fulfilling part of my job is the opportunity to realize peoples' full potential and realizing their
dreams.

I'm glad we are able to stage this musical again, because even though 25,000 people came to celebrate this tribute with us, when P.Ramlee's premier season opened on 18th October 2007 at Istana Budaya, many more missed the chance to watch the show as all tickets were sold out before curtains went up on opening night.

This season, we have the opportunity of presenting a fresh take on our musical based on the life, the loves and the inspiration of P. Ramlee. With this, we also have the opportunity to enhance the show and to
heighten the pace, making it more engaging and entertaining than the first season. With "live" theatre, every time you change any of the creative elements, it completely changes the dynamics of the show.
This is one of the wonders of theatre that I personally enjoy very much.

the cast line-up for P. Ramlee Tour Singapore & Season 2 Istana Budaya:

Principal:

Musly Ramlee - P.Ramlee

Liza Hanim (nominated for best actor, theatre category – boh cameronian awards 2008)- Saloma

Melissa Saila (nominated for best supporting actor, theatre category – boh cameronian awards 2008) - Noorizan

Atilia Haron ( nominated for best female vocalist and best newcomer (female) – AIM) - Junaidah

Emelda Rosmila - Azizah

Supporting Actors:

Chedd Yusuf (nominated for best supporting actor, theatre category – boh cameronian awards 2008)-P.Ramlee's best friend Sukardi

Andy, Alvin and Rafik of "Infinatez" - The Paparazzi

Azrul "Cham" - The Paparazzi

Baby Erin, Ruzana Ibrahim & Nadia Aqilah - Tiga Dara

Douglas Lim & Colin Kirton - The Shaw Brothers

Joseph Gonzales - BS Rajhans

Wan Kenari Ibrahim - D'Harris


On Musly Ramlee:

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I watched a recording of his audition, to see how much like P. Ramlee he looked and sounded. He has captivated the imagination of Adlin Aman Ramlie who is the writer and director for this season, and when Zahim (associate director for season 2) auditioned him, they both agreed that Musly WAS P. Ramlee. I believe Musly will bring to the show a fresh interpretation of the character of P. Ramlee, and literally "bring to life" the persona of this great man.


On Emelda:

Emelda Rosmila is an established TV actress, and has garnered a huge base of fans through her dual role in the popular TV3 series, ManjaLara.

Playing Azizah, P.Ramlee's first love, will be her first experience acting for the stage. Emelda delivered a very soulful audition,
pleasantly surprising us with her singing, but being an actress first, she has managed to bring a different meaning to the P. Ramlee-Azizah love scenes as well as the lyrics of the Azizah-P. Ramlee love theme.

In a musical, the criteria for selection is always the acting capability first, and the singing second.

With the new Musly-Emelda partnership playing P. Ramlee and Azizah respectively, I'm looking forward to something fresh and more exciting to watch.


On Roslan:

Enfiniti is happy to be working with Roslan Aziz again, after our very successful partnership on Puteri Gunung Ledang the Musical. Being a musical, the music makes up more than 50% of the "soul" of the show, and having a different man at the helm will no doubt give the show a whole different feel. Roslan is a huge fan of P. Ramlee, and has
researched his work thoroughly for past album projects such as Sheila Majid's "Lagenda". I'm looking forward to being wow-ed again by the magic that only Roslan Aziz can create with his music.

On Adlin:

This will be Adlin's first foray as solo director for this season. Zahim Albakri will play the role of Associate Director. The creative team (Adlin, Zahim, Pat, and Malek) and I had a very thorough post-mortem session of season 1 and we looked at the different ways we could further improve on the show for this season. Adlin is working on
the changes and the new season promises to be more fresh and exciting.


Adlin on Musli:

Creative people are never satisfied with our work. We shouldn't be, if we want to keep improving. I want to take this opportunity for a second staging to further enhance and improve the show wherever possible. I'm glad that we received lots of feedback and comments from our friends in the media, as well as the public and people that considered themselves "specialists"(pakar) on the topic of P.Ramlee.

In our premiere season of P.Ramlee the Musical, we were aiming for a more "Broadway" traditional style of musical theatre. For the second season, we will try to present more of the "soul" and "spirit" of P.Ramlee, and also feature more of P.Ramlee's original songs.

When Musly turned up to audition, Zahim and I looked at each other and basically said to each other, do you see what I'm seeing? Musly was SO MUCH like P.Ramlee! I feel I would be doing a great injustice to my story and to the production if we didn't try him out.

Musly has "mastered" P.Ramlee from studying his past films and songs. "P.Ramlee" memang ada kat Musly – rupa dia, suara dia, gaya dia… cuma sekarang ni yang kita nak work on tu dalaman P.Ramlee.

On working with him – memang seronok dia lain kali ni. I'm enjoying this process because we share our different experiences – him from his study of P.Ramlee, and me from my point of view as writer and director. Its really exciting, and I think audiences will be in for a wonderful surprise.


Melissa Saila on Musly :

He impressed us all by being a carbon copy of P.Ramlee especially with the singing. It was scary to see a "jelmaan"
P.Ramlee & read the script with him! I hope we can get more insight of the LEGEND himself since Musly is a master of impersonating P.Ramlee. More importantly,i hope we will be able to achieve more than a predictable presentation and maintain the musical and theatrical aspect of performance. Musly is diligent and a high achiever and I think we should work hard to bring this guy another level higher.


Chedd on Musly :

"With musli, the rehearsals aren't complete without laughter and it is weird and scary at the time because he looks and sounds like the real thing!"


so, fingers and toes are crossed, and rehearsals are looking very very very promising, and i hope everyone in singapore and k.l will welcome a fresh new musical star who's here to stay. check his first promotional pics out for yourselves:














friends in the media have been real supportive - THANK YOU GUYS! here are links to the articles on musly ramlee so far:

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/Features/20080410152749/Article/index_html

http://www.bharian.com.my/Current_News/BH/Monday/Hip/20080414065629/Article/index_html

http://www.murai.com.my/article/default.asp?article_id=1063&c=1&s=1



till the next post...