Sunday March 26, 2006
M is for mish-mash
JASON CHEAH, who was at the opening night of M! The Opera, sifts through the plot and musical composition of this made-in-Malaysia offering.
A tragedy of Romeo and Juliet proportions and an expanse of music that beggars description is perhaps the best way to describe Malaysian composer Saidah Rastam’s M! The Opera.
The project, with libretto written by Malaysian playwright Jit Murad, had its fair share of setbacks, delays, and last minute director and cast changes in its one-and-a-half years in the making, so the opening night on Thursday must have been a relief for all involved.
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The glamour of the fashion set is depicted in this scene featuring (L-R) Dominique Soong (Paula Malai Ali), M (Khir Rahman) and Sepi (Doreen Tang). |
A dissonant blast from the orchestra marks the start of the opera. The music accompanies the opening scene where protagonist M (Khir Rahman) – a famous young fashion designer – has a nightmare. His bad dream unfolds in the form of a flashback, and we are taken back a couple of decades to M’s childhood days.
M’s mother, Kak Ros (Maizurah Hamzah) is a single mum and a famous seamstress in Kampung Baru who has a dark past. There is a fracas as she is about to give birth to another child out of wedlock.
The child is born with a shining silver needle clutched in his fist. Controversial?
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The opening ‘nightmare’ scene. |
M has a mysterious childhood friend, Sepi, who is entrusted with keeping his sibling’s needle. The tale then weaves back and forth as we are introduced to Sepi ((Doreen Tang) as an adult, Kerabat (George Chan) who plays M’s half-brother and arch-rival, and a host of other characters.
Saidah’s music for the opera is certainly ambitious and features mellifluous but dissonant harmony: There’s traditional Malay music, Western classical, TV show theme styling, Malay pop, and house music. The music is a little draggy and disparate in places, so a little tightening and tweaking here and there, especially with the chorus, would have worked wonders.
The mix of styles lends itself well to a contemporary offering, but any showcase with that much variety is always going to be difficult to perfect.
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The fashionable kampung women include Kak Ros (Maizurah Hamzah) in the red kebaya top and Tom (Azean Irdawaty, left). The girl is Elyssa Murni Johari Azmi who plays Sepi as a child. |
The same goes for the Nuno wo kiru sequence which is set in Japan. Here, M learns his craft from the aptly named Mentor, who is played by Timothy Ooi.
All the main characters were pretty solid with their renditions, although the acoustic balance could have been better adjusted to give their performances more prominence. Instead, they blend too much with the chorus and the orchestra.
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A scene from Nuno wo kiru. |
Some scenes, though, could obviously do with improvement. The two fashion shows – by M and Kerabat – would have been better with more focus and detail. Also, while the dance scenes are modern and contemporary, they are sometimes distracting. This could have been deliberate, to depict the mental and emotional turmoil of the main characters, but again, a little tweaking is called for.
But at the end of the day, the scope, vision and the expanse of M! The Opera are brilliant. All that is needed is to perfect the execution. But that will take time.
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