On This Day...

WISHING EVERYONE A VERY, VERY
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
BLESSINGS OF THE SEASON TO ONE AND ALL!

Musical End Note #1

"So this was one of the most refreshing projects that I managed to be a part of. The songs were really catchy and the message of the entire play was really good amidst all the punchy one-liners. This was also one of the only productions that I managed to play for and watch as well! So seeing the whole thing come together from the audience perspective really was a special experience for me - one that I will remember for a long time. Hope to see it again!"

- Kevin Theseira, Bassist II

End Scene

Aaaand it's a wrap! 19 shows, finished. It's been such an exciting, exhausting, exhilarating ride - a huge thank you to everyone involved, to everyone who came and supported our show! Fingers crossed, we'll be updating this blog shortly with some parting notes... until then, thank you once again!!! Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Another Promo!

Here's a new clip comprising performance pics, LIVE audio recording and media quotes! We're in our final week, so if you haven't bought your tickets yet... what are you waiting for? ;)

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Pat Fong for the new background image of Mary (Juwita Suwito) and Joe (Aaron Khaled)! :D

Extra, Extra! Read All About It! (Updated)

The reviews have come in, and so far it's been very positive, with some constructive criticism thrown in for our benefit. Here are the highlights; check out the Press Coverage section in the links bar above to read the full articles, updated with new review featured in The Edge Financial Daily!

"The strength of the script lays in the struggles of Mary (Juwita Suwito) and Joe (Aaron Khaled), with having an unexpected baby. How it affects them as a couple is also explored, as well as their individual struggles. It is very real, and you feel for them and empathise with their confusion, frustration and anger."

"The music and singing is what you remember most and take with you. The sheer variety and number of songs, from gospel and ballad to rock and rap, keeps you riveted. There are touching solos and lovely duets, intricate harmonies and soaring choruses, which make for a musical that is never boring. And the singing was pretty much faultless."

"... a delight... incredible musical numbers"

"The talented cast ... delivered commendable performances,
shining on group numbers such as Bethlehem and Three Gifts."

"Highlights of the show were [Juwita] Suwito’s beautiful, tear-jerking
renditions of Be It Unto Me and Beautiful Child, as well as Follow The Light,
a delightfully catchy tune that will stick in your head long after the musical is over."

"...just the thing to watch to inject some cheer as the Christmas season approaches."

"Professional singer Suwito shines as Mary in the production -
her maiden effort in musical theatre - as it is with [Aaron] Khaled,
who plays a dim-witted yet lovable Joe with zest. Their combined voices
are mesmerising while their acting is authentic."

"The stars of the show, though, are the highly entertaining
songs and lyrics, including Follow The Light and Something Big,
created by Choo and brought to life by the performers, Kir­ton and the band."

"Most songs are fun and memorable and the characters are a riot.
Don't expect the traditional characters from the Bible -
these ones are unconventional and uproari­ous."

Discounted rush tickets now available!!

LATEST NEWS!

GREAT SAVINGS!!
DISCOUNTED RUSH TICKETS 2 HOURS BEFORE SHOWTIME!!

TWO hours before showtime, all remaining unsold tickets will be available for sale at flat rates of:

RM55 for adults
RM35 for children/students/seniors/disabled

Rush tickets can only be purchased via phone or walk-in, not via online booking.

Now everyone can afford it!!

Medley, Medley, Medley, Medley, Life Is But A Dream

Here's what you're missing out on if you don't come and see Follow The Light! Click on the audio player below for a sneak-peek at the songs from the show, as performed live by our cast and musicians! This is two and a half minutes out of a two-hour show! So there's lot of song and dance in store!! Don't delay - get your tickets today!

FTL Medley
Live recording featuring the FTL cast and band

And here it is with a photo slideshow:

Special Family Package!

With purchase of 2 adult tickets at RM75 each, you are entitled to purchase up to 4 children's tickets (children must be under 18) at a specially discounted price of only RM35 each - a saving of RM20 per child! Spread the word!

Get your tickets today! Call PJLA Box Office at 03 7960 0439 or 012 683 2099 to book. Or click HERE!

Performance Photos Galore!

Hey all! We've uploaded a selection of pics of FTL in performance, courtesy of Timothy Cheng — click on Photos in the links bar above to check them out!! There are also some fabulous pics in this Facebook album, taken by Bernard Goh — go have a look-see!

The EDGE Options interviews Nick and Colin

Follow the light
A reinvention of the traditional Christmas story
by Elaine Lau; The EDGE Options, December 6, 2010


The celebration and tradition of Christmas exists today because of an event that took place more than 2,000 years ago — the birth of Jesus Christ. The story of this remarkable event has been repeated through the millennia, all over the world. It is one of the greatest stories ever told, and to this day, it continues to intrigue and enthral.

The story centres on Mary, Joseph and the birth of Jesus, and the struggles they went through leading to that joyous event. Other characters include the wise men of the East, who followed a star to find the baby, and the shepherds who received a heavenly announcement about the birth.

This December, Kirton Call Productions and Nick Knack Productions are staging a reinvention of this story in the musical theatre production, Follow the Light. The libretto, music and lyrics are written by Nick Choo, with actor and director Colin Kirton directing and producing the musical.

Says Choo, “The way I approached the material was with a mass appeal. There was very little effort at preaching, evangelising or trying to convert anybody... Even though the theme is religious, it isn’t a religious story. A lot of [creative] liberty has been taken with the material.”

Choo first staged the musical in 2005, while he was a student in Australia, and it won second place for best musical in Western Australia’s Finley Awards for Independent Theatre. Choo received a special adjudicators’ certificate for overall achievement (music and lyrics). Upon returning to Malaysia in 2006, he went about finding someone to work with to stage it here. He found Kirton, artistic director of touring theatre company Footstool Players, and a veteran of stage and screen.

Kirton says it was the calibre of the music and lyrics that attracted him to the musical. “A lot of musicals done here in Malaysia are relatively straightforward musically. I’ve been in some of them myself, so I know,” he says. “With all due respect, they’re great musicals, but they don’t push the limits in terms of musicality... This show has intricate harmonies woven right through it. You will hear a lot of complex harmonies, as you would in a choral production, and a lot of things happening musically at the same time. I think it says a lot for Nick’s ability to weave words and music together, even rhymes and rhymes within the rhymes. It’s just quite crazy what this guy has come up with. And that’s what particularly drew me to the piece when I first heard it. I thought, ‘Wow, this has quality’. Not to say it can’t be improved — there’s always room for improvement — but there was a base here that shows talent and quality. And that was one of the reasons I said ‘yes’ to working on the project.”

Kirton pointed out areas to Choo that needed to be reworked, such as introducing more variety in the music. The original had a lot of rock, as it was billed a rock musical, but the new version has songs that range from pop, rock and funk, R&B and hip-hop, to jazz, gospel and emotive ballads.

Another area was in developing the characters, where much creative liberty was taken to do so. The shepherds, for instance, are cast as siblings and the wise men are guys who grew up in the slums.

Choo elaborates, “One of the key things I wanted to highlight were the shepherds and wise men, as there’s not very much known about them. There were some back stories created just for these characters in the original 2005 version but I never explored their relationships and characterisation further. A lot of development that has taken place in the rewriting has been to flesh out these characters — give them more storyline and juicier subplots to work on. In doing that, the music also changed.

“That’s the key — it’s not just about the Christmas story anymore, it’s about relationships. The young couple, in love and preparing to get married, and suddenly there’s a baby in the mix and it’s not even his baby — how do they deal with that? The shepherds — we’ve got sibling rivalry, a younger sibling craving the respect of an older sibling.”

Adds Kirton, “Another theme is ambition and significance. Mary has her dreams and suddenly she has a baby on the way. Joseph, who has his plans for this child, and Mary reminding him that God has other plans. There’s the downtrodden shepherd boy who wants respect. We have the wise men, cast as three guys from the slums looking for their glory in life, who think the star will lead them to their significance.”

The musical is made up of a varied cast of both established performers and theatre practitioners as well as newcomers. AIM award-winning singer Juwita Suwito plays the role of Mary, singer-musician Aaron Khaled is Joseph, and American stage director and performer Tim Howe is the angel Gabe. The shepherds comprise singer, vocal coach and musical theatre performer Zalina Lee, former Malaysian Idol finalist Rydee Anna Abdul, and talented newcomer Adrien Zaffri. The wise men are AIM award-winning R&B recording artiste Liang, stage and television actor Xavier Fong, and up-and-coming singer-songwriter Tony Leo Selvaraj. And the angels, who serve as storytellers uniting these ragtag characters, are established musical theatre performers Suzan Manen, Annie Too, Song-fan Seah and Nicole Ann Thomas.

At turns poignant and dramatic and at others self-deprecatingly humorous, Follow the Light is a show for everyone. Says Choo, “At the end of the day, going back to the whole reason I did this, it’s not about [beliefs]. It’s really a story and this is our take on the story. And like all theatre, you want to be moved, you want to laugh and also just be entertained. It’s the Christmas period and it’s just something to commemorate the season, to add more to the celebration of the season regardless of what you believe in.”

Kirton adds, “This is very much a landmark production for our country. We live in a time where unfortunately our country is very divided religiously and racially. There are so many sensitivities associated with the whole area of religion. We’ve encountered them even as we tried to mount this production. I’m thankful we have a multi-religious, multi-racial cast that really reflects the variety of who we are as Malaysians coming together to put on this show. I hope the audiences who come will leave with a sense of the fact that we have individual stories that may seem separate, but really we have a shared humanity. I hope it will make a powerful statement in modern-day Malaysia, where we’re at now on our own journey as a country, that we can come together, enjoy and celebrate and identify with the themes that come up in the story.”

Follow the Light runs until Dec 19 at PJ Live Arts, 2A-3, Block K, Jaya One, Section 13, No 72A, Jalan Universiti, PJ. Tickets are priced at RM75 and RM55. Call the box office at (03) 7960 0439.

Bump-In, Tech Run and Dress Rehearsal!

Here are pics of the past couple of days in the theatre! Click on the images for bigger views, yea? More pics to come!

The venue - PJ Live Arts @ Jaya One

Setting up - trying to figure out how to squeeze the band into the boundaries of their wooden playpen • Guitarist Isaac, pondering the prospect of squeezing the band into the boundaries of their wooden playpen

Bassist Joe, who's a fine ambitious guy • Set design by Fang Chyi

Blue behind • Rydee (Zemira) headbangs • Feelin' blue on stage

More views of the stage, from different vantage points:

The band, looking cool as always • A scene right out of Rent • Hey, Mr Producer/MD!

Cast in costumes by Dominique Devorsine (Pics by Aaron Khaled): Nicole, as one heaven of a sexy angel; Anrie, as another sexy angel, with the rugged Joe (Aaron Khaled); Marvin the Shepherd boy (Adrien Zaffri) with Joe; Joe and Wise Man Bart (Liang)

(Pics by Tony Leo Selvaraj and Nick Choo*) The Wise Men; Zemira*; Wise Man Gasper; Tim Howe as the suave Angel Gabe

Good Times and The Bigger Picture

Here's more media preview coverage of the show: an article on Good Times, as well as this interview with yours truly, the composer/musical director, as featured on BFM 89.9's The Bigger Picture, which was broadcast on Wednesday afternoon. Click below to listen! :D

Don't forget to check out the articles in The Star and New Straits Times, as well as behind-the-scenes glimpses of our photo shoot!

A Post-Preview Performance Post

Hey all! Well, it's been a crazy week — "hell" week, as we in the theatre industry like to say, though in our case it's probably more appropriate to say "heaven" week, BWAA HAAA — but we're finally there: performances! Last night we had our very first preview (which, really, is our only preview) — and apart from some tech stuff that needs to be ironed out, I think the show went really, really well!! From my limited vantage point in the band area, we could see and hear the audience really responding to what was going on (perhaps a bit apprehensive and uncertain in the first 20 minutes or so of the show; like, "Ummm are we supposed to laugh? I think we're supposed to laugh. Um. Okay then. Let's laugh. BWAAA HAAAA HAAA.") — and it was really awesome to see/hear some of the funny moments receiving such uproarious response!

Unfortunately as of time of blogging I haven't been able to officially obtain better feedback from the crowd (I'd left the theatre after audiences had dispersed.. and I just woke up ten minutes ago, arf arf)... but I say with some apprehensive excitement that people loved it. Well, if not loved, then they really, really liked it. And if not that, well, then, they enjoyed it enough. And if not that, well, then, they liked it enough to stay for the whole show. At least, it didn't look like anyone left during intermission and didn't come back. Or maybe some of them did, I don't know, it's really hard to tell with the stage lights in our eyes. Um. Yeah. Cough. **foot in mouth syndrome**

But in all seriousness, boys and girls, please do spread the word about the show! If you came last night and liked what you saw and heard (tech issues notwithstanding), please, please recommend it to all your friends, families, acquaintances and complete strangers! If you came last night and didn't like what you saw and heard, please, please recommend it to all your friends, families, acquaintances and complete strangers!! We promise we'll iron out the stuff that needs to be ironed out... that's precisely why last night was a preview performance, arf arf!! So come one, come all — we're performing until the 19th!!

I'll be back with some photos of pre-performance (haven't got any performance pics on hand yet), as well as updates on media coverage of the show. Check back real soon!!

All That Glitters...! ;)

Heya, boys and girls, ladies and germs! Last Friday, Colin and I did a photo shoot, organised by our publicists Grace and Liyana. Here are some behind-the-scenes glimpses of the gals making us look all angelic, arf arf. The pics have already begun to appear in the media — check out this article, and this one! More media coverage will be linked to this blog shortly, so check back in soon, ok? ;)