Come on down to Ipoh town!

This is Ipoh Life!

(photo on left taken during a rehearsal)

am still reeling from Opening Night Euphoria... the culmination of 4 months of hard work has been nothing less than a thrilling rush of exhilaration... imagine watching your favourite musical from the stalls and wishing you could be one of the actors on stage, revelling in moment after moment of rapture and giving all you've got to the audience.. now imagine actually being up there on stage. this was not my first stage appearance, but certainly a debut appearance in musical theatre... and first freaking LEAD ROLE in ANY musical performance... i suppose this is a pretty significant milestone in anything in the performing arts i've done in the past 6 years (strangely enough, not even being a Grisette in Merry Widow - my first major dancing role - came close!)

could almost not deal with the magnificent surge of backstage adrenaline rapidly welling up as as the band striked up the Overture to the serene Beggar's opening to the rousing first 8 bars of the signature tune (which, by the way, has been my all-time favourite moment of the play - the strings, piano and drums setting the mood and revving us all up to our first appearance as townsfolk of an town awakening to the hustle and bustle of a typical morning).

everything seemed perfect.. from the klutzy cha-cha amongst the drink-drinkers (our Ringo says I look like Olive Oyl in the costume - complete with lanky limbs and hair up in a bun - I must say I haven't heard a better analogy!! :-D) .. to the energy, passion and intensity of the second Act.. tears were coming on as if on cue... they might as well have included boxes of Kleenex on the prop rack ... i could swear a good majority of the cast was so emotionally involved in the story they were trying awfully hard not to choke on their tears by the time they got on stage for the requiem scene and thereafter..

i'd figure if there was such a thing as pure rapture, the Opening Night of Broken Bridges would come pretty close. (and i don't think it's the champagne in me speaking! :-D)

it was quite amusing how some friends thought that the musical accompaniment was "pre-recorded by an orchestra"... (now WHOM did you guys think we were acknowledging at when we turned to face the back of the stage during the curtain call? :-D) i guess the band should take that as a compliment.. i.e. that the music was so perfect it sounded too good to be live.. There IS a 4-piece live band at the back, folks! and (God forbid) in case anyone is guessing, we were singing live too.. (each of us was carrying a few thousand dollars worth of equipment on our heads and around our waists, which had to be subject to painstaking sound-checks before every performance..)

must say i was pretty impressed with our programme book too ... 76 freaking thick glossy pages in full colour where everyone looked absolutely stunning .. and they even printed freaking lyrics to all the songs... all that at a value-for-money 10 bucks! i was quite taken by the simplicity of the cast's unassuming biodatas... right now you guys are the people i love most on this planet...

oh yeah, also, i have a new warm-up CD now for the long drives to the theatre the next 2 weeks ... the Original Cast Recording of songs from Broken Bridges The Musical! i play Track 1, Ipoh Town, and i start to cry. i'm going nuts!!

tickets to Broken Bridges The Musical are still available! call the KLPAC Box Office (03-4047 9000) to get your tickets NOW!

here's to a grand 2 weeks ahead, all you wonderful Ipoh towners!!