Grease

The arrival of Grease marked the growing popularity of foreign musicals in Malaysia, i.e. Cats, Saturday Night Fever, etc. This was showcased in the Plenary Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, starting 16May06 to 21May06. I recall first watching Grease a long way back, when I saw the film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. Both were way cool in the movie, about High School’s love and life in the 1950s!

I went in for the musical with limited expectations as I had a vague recollection as to how the story line went, but being my usual self, I didn’t bother doing research on it (and too lazy [err.. too cheapskate?] to buy the programme!). And yes, I had good seats (very kindly sponsored by a friendly Bank who supports the arts scene), right in the centre. Only grouse were the technical instruments just a few places in front, but will come to that later.

Before the show began, Vince (the radio host DJ for Grease) started the ball rolling, warming up the crowd, clapping, getting the crowd to do Mexican waves (almost made it), etc… as well as inviting a few people to go on stage to twist and dance. What’s more!, awarded two prizes to the top two “outstanding” moves (one young girl – who did the hula, and another lady got it by the way – where are the guys? Too shy to go on stage, I bet!). The young girl did some cool moves – I guess at that age (I think no more than 12) the shyness wasn’t there (then again, some kids are damn shy or conscious wan these days and are afraid to stand in front of a big crowd) – or maybe she’s a star in the making (watch out KL!). Vince was good, good voice, good energy. The crowd, well, was half way enthusiastic, has reserved – a difficult scenario for entertainers I can tell you.

And on to the show! Well, to be real frank, I thought it was a let down, even with my limited expectations. Something was missing, no ommph! To be fair, there were good moments in the musical, but these were far and few in between. My “issues”:

a. Main male lead was not up to scratch, vocally not as impressive as some of the support casts, even towards the energy channelled to entertain. Yep, no doubt he has the height, the looks (? – the cool rebellious type), but somehow, he was not quite “there”. There were also like moments of silence (which I thought was a bit awkward) when he had to do something or say something next.
b. Main female lead – had her moments, but generally so so I think not so much due to her per se, but more towards the technical support bits – mike-ing a bit inconsistent. Well, at least she reprised her role better than the main male lead.
c. Sound system – general disappointment. I went on the second day, would have expected issues like these to be ironed out, but sadly, it persisted. Some mikes were not properly balanced (muffled for one of the male support cast – who sang brilliantly by the way – but effect spoilt by the sound system – the female’s voice mike was way too loud in the same duet). When the musical started, I background music literally drowned the singers, and was adjusted, readjusted, reworked all through the show.
d. The technical gears and guys were just a few spaces in front of where I was sitting, so was distracted a bit at times. The various screen monitors around, admittedly critical for the production, should have been placed somewhere else. If no place to put elsewhere, then it’s the design of the Plenary Hall which is in question. One thing interesting was I could see the musical director/conductor giving cues etc on one of the screens, so was doubly distracting – but interesting to note whether the singers followed.

Enough about the negative bits, could have gone on a bit more, but better not. Was it a total waste of time? No, I don’t think so. There were some very good bits (wished there were more):

a. The lady principal’s vocals were very good, especially when she sang as the guardian angel or was it the fairy godmother. It was quite gospel like, maybe that’s why I liked it heaps! I think the crowd liked it best too, as after her rendition, she got the most cheer!
b. A few of the support casts were very good (while one of the Pink Ladies could have done with more energy - it showed as though the moves made were very half hearted – maybe it was. Hmmm).
c. The drive-in movie scene was simply hilarious! Good of them to have injected such humour.
d. Vince was good, full of energy, and I thought shone on stage. (Nice stage set up by the way).

Overall, I preferred the second half of the production, but bumped into another banker on the way out, and he said that he thought the second half was a bit “dry”. Each to his own I guess. I think one of my colleagues (who also went for the show) put it succinctly – this production of Grease lacked “heart”. The casts were mostly going through their motions, but didn’t reach out to the audience enough. Even with popular songs like “You’re the One That I Want,” “Summer Nights,” and “Greased Lightnin’” which could have help relate to the audience fell somewhat short. Pity though, but I guess it is difficult to outmatch the original film with John Travolta and Olivia Newton John, as the whole thing is “life” – either you do well, or you don’t. Let’s hope they do better in the ensuing shows.