"ADAM The Musical" review

Went for a musicale yesterday with 2 friends at The Actors Studio (TAS) @ Lot 10. I've never reviewed a theatrical play before, but would like to just share my opinion on it as an amateur actor and to help out a friend of mine with her "new curriculum report" on theater! So here goes.....

Adam The Musical was a collaboration between TAS and Malaysian AIDS Foundation and will be performing time and again from 12th of May till 20th of June, everyday at 8.30pm except Sundays at 3pm (no shows on Mondays). Synopsis here.

 “When it comes to protection, the hardest part is persuasion … if they still say no, I’ll stroke their ego until they rise and say they need a jumbo size.”

 “Do you know, the first day he met you; his face was shining like a moon…He laughed at me, hold my hands, look into my eyes, with a smile, and I know, maybe this boy don’t need me anymore?"

"Adam is about the dangerous time we live in, of suspicion and fear of people and things we don’t know. It is about compassion and strength, and how these qualities can turn the bleakest days into one with light, even if it is just a faint one.

Adam is about finding true love, and knowing that we can be very lucky after all."

Adam The Musical is a minimalist theater (not sure if there's such a term), where very little props are used; no extensive backdrops - only projections are flashed to interchange scenes; no extravagant costumes and definitely, no special effects! But then again, theater doesn't need all those to be good! Good acting, excellent singing and energetic dancing (after all, it IS a musical!) are enough to build a strong core for this production.

However, the show is not all that great...

Its female lead, Sylvia (played by Tabitha Kong) acted as good as her singing was, although there was one occasion she went out of tune. But hey! No one says a musical is easy to perform! One needs to act, sing AND dance at the same time....Heck! Imagine how much stamina he or she needs! So I'll consider it a job well done. She is better than the other casts and even overshadowed the male lead, Adam (played by Malik Taufiq) in both singing and acting! Malik was a bit of a let down. Acting wise was O.K., just not that great..... He may need to brush up on his singing a bit too to be equal with the female lead.

Sandra Mannas Wolf who played Sylvia's mother, was perfect in her bitchy and dominant character. Her convincing act was something to look forward to in the whole play. Mark Sobels who played Michael, the angel, was good too! He is, after all, a veteran in acting. So one would expect quality acting from him and singing too was pretty good. No flaws in him.

The set back to this, otherwise, awesome play is probably caused by Auntie Noni (played by Dato' Faridah Merican) and the two transvestites (Mo Dee and Fairuz Tahid) character. Although Dato' Faridah's acting was top-notch, I can't help but to furrow my eyebrows when she sings most of the time. There were obvious out-of-tunes and her voice isn't so strong to create a "dramatic effect" in the songs that she sang. And I swear to God that I heard "breaks" in her voice. (No offence but) I was kinda disappointed.

The transvestites did well in acting and dancing. However, they should really REALLY work on their diction!!! No joke! I couldn't make heads and tails out of their dialogues. Well, not all, but most of them! Yes, I understand it is a Malaysian theater, hence the Manglish. But seriously, if the audience can't catch what you say, you fail to deliver the message of the scene and cause the whole play to be a failure! Dah lah I was having a tough time deciphering their normal conversations, imagine when they broke into songs, it was just..........noise!

However, the star of the show was none other than Tria Aziz who play a crazy lady who was already dead. Awesome acting and singing (though not much dancing)!!! Her solo towards the end was indeed a standing ovation and managed to give a lasting impression! I was indeed impressed by her! Great job and bravo!

Kudos to the rest of the dancers too. And credits to the live mini orchestra band at the side of the stage. Great music and amazing original songs! I totally love them!

All in all, Adam The Musical was a pretty good play. I'll rate is as 3.8 out of 5. Go support it! After all, it is a local production and do your part for charity as all purchases goes straight to Malaysian AIDS Foundation. 

Below is my ticket! ;D

So, you are sexually active...

Recently, I have found out that a friend of mine was tested positive for HIV. It was of course, a shocking news and it affected my mood the whole day. That explains why the random post on safe sex on my Facebook status yesterday.

This made me think...life is so fragile. And I don't know.....it's sometimes just scary. There are just too many diseases lurking around waiting to invade, infect and destroy our oh-so-weak body! But then again, was it because we asked for it? Take HIV for example, you wouldn't get it if you don't get yourself multiple sex partners or just practice safe sex (use condoms for God's sake!) right? I mean....sexual contact is the most common route of infection. Hmm....but I believe some of you had heard, somewhere out there, HIV positive patients contaminate needles with their own blood and start poking people on the street "just to see what will happen"! Pity those innocent and unlucky people...

Everything happens for a reason...and so the saying goes. If you believe this, then what was the reason innocent people like mentioned above became HIV positive?? It's just a little unfair, don't you think?

But don't get me wrong....I am not saying that my friend was infected due to a needle prick. Till now, he/she (this is to protect the identity of the patient) still doesn't know the cause of it. Yes....he/she had had a few encounters of condom-less penetrative and non-penetrative sex with a number of partners. But a phone trace didn't manage to find a link because, none of his/her ex-partners were down with HIV, which baffles me.....

But then again, whatever happened, has happened....no point crying over spilt milk because, this is something that you can't do anything about. Till date, there's no cure for HIV yet, only medications to slow down its effects. In other words.....to prolong the life of the patient. I am truly sadden for my friend, some of you may think, we'll maybe he/she deserves it! Who ask him/her to not practice safe sex and have multiple sex partners? Or maybe some of you may say.....Well, since all his/her previous partners are HIV negative, maybe it's not sex after all.....maybe he/she was a victim of a HIV-infected needle prick?

Whatever it is.....it is a life changing situation. Of course, any normal person will be devastated to hear that they are tested positive for HIV. Who wouldn't?! His/her parents cried when they got to know..... and he/she felt like it's the end of the world..... and I felt so so so different on the perspective on life. He/she told me that he/she will live his/her remaining days to the fullest as he/she doesn't has much left. Which makes me think...... should we start cherishing our life now instead of pondering it over when we are at our deathbed? We receive tonnes of forwarded emails everyday, advising us to live life to its fullest! But how many of us really "listen" to it? I admit, I don't......in fact, I delete some even before reading them. Anyway, my point is..... I think we shouldn't count our blessings when we are old (or in this case, young!) and about to die. We should appreciate and be thankful to God now...

Sigh.....my thoughts are going haywire now.....filled with random emotions as I type all these down....so I think I will stop here.

Guys! And also girls! PLEASE...... bear this in mind....... no matter whatever the situation, no matter how handsome or hot is the guy or girl, PLEASE....... if you were EVER going to engage in sexual acts........... PLEASE PRACTICE SAFE SEX!!! HIV/AIDS death is constantly rising in the world, if not Malaysia,...... we DON'T NEED you to be on the list. SO PLAY SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!

And I am Effing serious!