Dalam kesibukan ABBB, pandainya Astro mencelah nak wat announcement. Suka tau nak tumpang hype ABBB....(matilah aku gelak sorang)
So ABBB memberi laluan wat sementara ke postring akan datang untuk pesanan penaja.
Yes...you heard it here first!
Akademi Fantasia IV is now officially on!
Hari ni, aku terima pengumuman tarikh dan lokasi audition untuk musim keempat program realiti terpopular kat negara kita.
Disertakan juga, senarai lagu yang menjadi pilihan nyanyian wajib.
So...cepat-cepat print out info dibawah!

Dapatkan borang permohonan untuk menyertai ujibakat dari balai pengawal Astro di laluan masuk uatara atau di pejabat Astro negeri or download and print out the form sendiri from the Astro website.
Borang permohonan untuk menyertai ujibakat mesti diisi dan gambar berwarna berukuran 3R mesti dihantar ke alamat : Unit Penyelaras Peserta Akademi Fantasia, Tingkat 1, Pusat Penyiaran Asia, Taman Teknologi Malaysia, Lebuhraya Puchong-Sungai Besi, Bukit Jalil, 57000 Kuala Lumpur.
Hanya mereka yang layak akan dihubungi untuk menjalani ujibakat. Peserta mestilah berumur diantara 18 - 27 tahun pada 1 Januari 2006 dan warganegara Malaysia.
Anyway....selain dari pengumuman Akademi Fantasia IV, ABBB berehat wat satu posting tuk mini review Puteri Gunung Ledang - The Musical aku selepas media preview semalam yang aku gi ngan my guardian angel, the manifestation of my evil side, the overexcited pom pom girl, the brooding writer, the housemate of evil (ni takde blog)...and a couple of their mates, which sorry yer guys...tak ingat semua nama...pening kalao nak recall. Dahler the musical was nothing to scream about kan....I am not exactly this avid theatre-goer but I have watched quite a few musicals, and it's safe to suffice that my observations were very fair evaluations that are unbiased.
I met the guys at the entrace just about 7.30pm, dan selepas sorang-sorang da mula sampai, we filed masuk dewan, berdebar ni....confident we were about to witness this grand spectacle.
And boy...was I disappointed.
Aku expectation takder ler tinggi sangat...after all sedangkan the movie pun aku tak larat nak tengok habis because it just didn't hold me...what more the musical ler punya fate.
Tapi ala ala grand opening scene dia...in the sense that it prepared me for a grand spectacle. The moment the curtains were raised...I was all hyped over what the night's performance was going to be like.
Tapi the first few opening scenes...aku da squirming sikit. The songs were kinda familiar and sounded like a million and one other things I've previously heard before. And checking the program, only then I realised Dick Lee was responsible for composing the songs. Hence the typical fare ler...
Takpe...tahan agi. Brace myself for the scene Stephen Rahman Hughes kuar...ye laa...nak tengok ler hero Melayu punya character camna. Dia bukak mulot je (sorry, tapi aku tak penah tengok dia nya performance sbeelum ni, let alone jumpa) aku tergelak. Lidah pendek lak...he speaks with a lisp...which is quite pronounced more often that not, spoiling the character.
It was like watching Daffy Duck in the lead role!
And it got worse...clear sangat ler mamat ni fail bab bahasa Melayu...sebab asik tersasul...and while pronounciation was ok, he really ada masaalah ngan penghayatan. It was as if dia hafal the whole script phonetically...dan tak paham haram sepatah pon yang diucapkan. Forget the charisma...the romance...Hang Tuah was a cold....dead...fish!
And then...it just took a big dip from there, sebab everything about the musical just turned me off.
Lighting was only decent at best, the set was bagus gila...or could have been...if they hadn't decided to overuse it in every other scene while the istana Melaka backdrop which was really grand muncul kejap je (really stupid!). The technical side was simply loose in execution from every aspect. While in most musicals the set changes were seamless and smooth (take Chang & Eng for example which utilised every stage mechanism of Istana Budaya), ni tengah masuk scene orang tolak tu sana orang tolak tu sini...I mean, they really should realise it looks messy as hell! Masa ada satu time meka bentangkan kain, and they were waving it to form ombak...aku yang dok dekat center pun nampak orang yang dok pegang kain at the wings of the stage. So amateurish!
Banyak benda camtu ler...minah backing dancer sorang ni pun sampai tanggal mic pack tergantung kat belakang masa menari ler...sound horrible gila most of the time. This included masa scene Hang Tuah menyanyi, bunyi sampai nak meletop je telinga rasanya! Time Tiara nak nyanyi tu seb baik ler sempat repair sat by disappearing offstage. Tapi tu pun nampak mamat yang tolong betulkan mic set dia.
It was horrendous to think that especially on the media preview night, they could afford so many mistakes. I really had to rely heavily on the subtitles to know what's going on sebab tak dengar habuk pon most of the time dari the muffled sound system.
Lakonan lak...Tiara biasa je. Stephen was fine singing...but sucked at everything else because you just couldn't feel that this was the pahlawan Melayu that is so legendary.
Memang very the Mat Salleh celup kayu yang haram paham sepatah pun sebab very the reciting the Rukunegara.
Adlin sebagai Sultan Melaka was ok....tapi aku blame the lame script on portraying Adlin as a circus act. Aku suka babak dia menyanyi and menari ala ala gadis kabaret, memang kelakar. Problem is...we are supposed to hate the sultan. He's supposed to be a figure of commanding authority. Instead...I found myself liking his character.
But the surprise...and I have to say this...is AC Mizal yang selama ni memang aku tak gemar! he acted and sang the best of the lot (which is not saying much actually). credit where it's due, aku rasa AC sorang je betul-betul pulled off the character assigned, selain dari Sukania Venugopal as Bayan dan Afif, budak kecik yang memainkan watak putera pada Sultan Melaka.
So should you watch it?
Only if you have the money and patience to spare. If it's your first time for a musical theatre production, you may enjoy it...that and if you're a fan of Tiara ke...Adlin ke...AC ke...Stephen ke....
But seriously...kisah cinta agung tu...didn't do jack for me, as the only emotion I got was to laugh at all the mistakes and listing them down. Sampai Fiebie hit the nail on the head by asking me, "Bila nak nangis ni?!!" out of frustration.
Memang susah ler nak feel anything at all...and emotional involvement is zero.
It's not all too bad seriously, and I agree with the sentiment of most people that it is quite impressive for LOCAL theatre.
Problem is...why do we have to degrade ourselves to feel good? I think that's a common problem with a lot of local products...mana kalau kureng sikit standard je...the consolation is, "ok la tu...for a Malaysian (insert type of product here)".
It's a lame excuse that will never get us further than we are right now. We need to start drawing comparisons with the best to push our efforts further.
So as far as local theatre goes...this can be considered a step...not momentous, but a miniscule pace, which should be improved upon.
Kalau nak baca ulasan lain, try these for size : SultanMuzaffar (daulat Tuanku), Patrick Teoh and Fiebie. These are the most honest reviews though their ratings differ from mine.
Will be adding more soon if I find any worth reading.
Meanwhile...don't trust everything else you read proclaiming it as great - after all...isn't that what they said about the movie?