Magical Musicals: Behind the Scene at Sunway Lagoon
Thanks to allMalaysian Bloggers Project (AMBP) and Sunway Lagoon, I was given an opportunity to join the other AMBP’s bloggers to a special preview of Magical Musicals – Behind the Scene at Sunway Lagoon last Saturday (4th June 2011).
Despite the massive traffic jam inside the carpark of Sunway Pyramid, Sunway Lagoon and Sunway Hotel, I managed to find a parking spot after scratching my side mirror to a pillar (boohoo) and reached the Sunway Lagoon main entrance just a few minutes shy from the registration time.
The group then were led to the Amphitheatre, where all the magic begins. At the artiste’s studio (just below the stage) we were greeted by David Kort, the choreographer and Chris Colby the director. Both of them won the “BrandLaureate Personality Award’ as choreographer and director in Performing Arts and Theatre respectively for their work in Peter Pan The Musical last year.
The female leads from left: Amanda as Stephanie, LJ as Amber and Stevie as Megan
Let’s meet the three talented main female cast for the musical. Amanda Salmon (as Stephanie) is from UK and recently performed at London’s O2 Arena in the spectacular 25th Anniversary show of Les Miserables alongside Lea Salonga and Nick Jonas for 14,000 audience, LJ Neilson (as Amber) also from UK and I love her performance since I saw her played Wendy in Peter Pan The Musical last year and Stevie Tate Bauer (as Megan) hailed from UK had played the female role of Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
The male leads from left: Gareth as Josh, Neil as Ryan and Stephen as Danny
Now here comes the three amazing main male cast for the musical. Gareth Heesom (as Josh) is originally from The Isle of Man, had just finished touring the UK in the hit musical Annie, Neil Couperthwaite (as Ryan) hailed from UK, appeared as Riff Raff in the 30th Anniversary tour of The Rocky Horror Show and also can be heard on the original cast recording of Hot Mikado and last but not least Stephen Weller (as Danny) is from UK too had played Raoul in Ken Hill’s production of Phantom of the Opera at Theatre Royal Lincoln and more recently part of the cast of The Producers, Theatre Royal Drury Lane & UK Tour paying Roger DeBeris and covering Leo Bloom.
As you can see, these are just snippets of the main casts past work and experiences (the list is too long to write here, phew!). Combined with the credentials of the award-winning director and choreographer, you will get….
All the lead cast and dancers
An awesome musical that spans in 2 acts with over 35 songs from widely loved musical such as Mamma Mia! Dreamgirls, Fame, Saturday Night Fever, Moulin Rouge!, Grease, Footloose, We Will Rock You, West Side Story, Hairspray and even the phenomenal Glee, performed by a cast of over 30 dancers and singers!
During the rehearsal, I found myself humming and my feet tapping along to ‘Heroes’ and ‘Footloose’. The cast and dancers even performed the infamous ‘Jai-ho’ song.
Welcome to New York's Times Square!
After the short preview of the Act I rehearsal, we were given a grand tour of the impressive stage that is set against Times Square in New York.
Here is Broadway!
The stage is complete with spectacular pyrotechnics, props, backdrops, lifts and even the infamous Apollo Theatre on Broadway.
Giant LED screens on each side of the stage
We were being told that the stage design and construction team (all-Malaysian team) started working on Magical Musicals just after a short break from Peter Pan The Musical last year. Phewww…
Meet the big-ass fan!
I was impressed by the dedication level of Sunway Lagoon team as they took the feedbacks they’ve received from last year’s Peter Pan The Musical and further improve the Amphitheatre. They’ve installed a few Big-Ass Fans (it’s true! you can Google the name) which makes the air circulation better (and less heat), adding more sound speakers and they even numbered the seats now!
The bling-ful costumes
Once we’ve done gaping at the spectacular stage, we were given the chance to mingle with the cast and dancers in the studio. On contrary belief, some of the bloggers are shy (such as me). So one of my question is, ‘What is your favourite costume in this show?’ and suddenly all the girls eyes were lit up and hurriedly picked up their favourite pieces. Yes, us girls and dresses… Go figure…
More bling-ful costumes and props
Most of the costumes and dresses were custom-made, from oversea or locally for the show but a few of them were bought from Sg. Wang Plaza… Sg. Wang Plaza Couture yo!
Come and join us in a magical musical journey!
Magical Musicals is made possible with the support of Tourism Selangor, AirAsia, AirAsiaX, Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, Magnum, Ganad Media, 8TV, NTV7, LiteFM, TheSun, DYou Magazine, Voila, Avante, Campus Plus, AllMalaysia.info, Nestle and F&N.
The ticket prices are RM100, RM200, RM250 and RM300 and you can buy it from the official ticketing agent AirAsiaRedTix or call 603 8775 4666.
So if you love musical shows but just can’t afford the almost-RM200-cheapest-ticket, this is just the thing to quench your artsy thirst.
Fellow AMBP’s blogger take on the preview:-
Me, The Contradiction
Home is where the heart is…
Dustyhawk
~Devi da Lil’ DeviL~
My Sweet Escape
CikLilyPutih Story’s
Will blog about the Gala Night this Friday next week, till then stay tuned!
Author’s Note: I’m supposed to upload a short video that I took during the rehearsal but Malaysia’s Internet service had failed me. Gonna fry someone’s ass till I can get it uploaded *glaring at the tech support* —> Video uploaded, finally!
All pictures here are taken with Lexa, my Panasonic Lumix LX3
Magically awed-Musically inclined blogger,
DiEsE of BaYnN.com
