In Perfect Harmony
I first heard of "In Perfect Harmony" (IPH) from my friend, Freida, who told me that she will be performing in it as one of the ensemble. Of course, I was delighted for her and told her that I would support her by going to see her performance =) All I know of the Dama Orchestra at the time was that it was an organization that does a lot of Chinese music and musicals. And from what I've read in the promo material for IPH, it's a musical journey from the 70's to the present. I figured, it MIGHT not be my cup of tea, but meh...I'm there to see my friend perform anyways, so why not?
And so, I bought a ticket and went in without much thought into how they're going to gel everything together. But boy, was I in for a very pleasant surprise! IPH was AMAZING!
Okay, first things first....due to my 'overestimation' of time, traffic and my own kooky sense of direction, I was late for the show(!!!!! Epic fail) and missed out on the opening number as well as a couple of songs after that. To make it worse, my seat was right smack in the middle...about 4 rows from the stage! LOL! It was seriously hard to get there and I thought my seat was taken by someone else. Didn't want to make a scene since I was late myself, the usher kindly let me sit at an empty seat further up so that I could at least watch the show. During the intermission however, they found out that my seat wasn't actually taken (it's only my blur self who can't see. LOL!), so I went and got my money's worth in the second Act. YAYY!
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| Patrick Teoh & Douglas Lim! Heart their performances (Photo credit: The Star) |
There is no real 'story' in IPH...rather, we were treated to a lovely amalgamation of songs from the 70's up until the present. And instead of just international songs from the West, there are also a mixture of Malay, Chinese, Hindi and even a popular Korean song thrown in! As we go through memory lane, we are guided by a wonderful narration of none other than the legendary Patrick Teoh! Seriously, it's one thing to listen to him on the radio or on television....but to hear him live it's astounding! The flow of words, his diction, intonation....I want to learn English speaking with him! *grins* Anyways, all gushing aside, the narration inserts lovely bits of trivia and facts in the particular era...as well as some well-injected puns and digs at some of the funny things that happen in our country at the time. Big, big kudos to the playwrights for their great sense of humour!
Also amazing was the performance of Douglas Lim who plays a DJ that introduces the songs in the musical through his 'radio shows'....his lines coupled with his perfect comedic timing are superb! Never failed to generate laughs whenever he comes on *grins*
There were also guest artistes that come to perform at the different dates of the show. When I went, Sean Ghazi was the guest artiste, and he did not disappoint with his smooth crooning of "Lagenda" and the ever famous Theresa Teng's song! Yes, he sang in Chinese! And it was with good diction too...how cool is that??!
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| The 3 lead singers...loved their voices! (Photo credit: The Star) |
As for the songs itself, they were splendidly done! The Dama Orchestra did not disappoint with their world class musicians behind the music, and the lead singers (consisting of Tan Soo Suan, Chang Fang Chyi and Tria Aziz) were AMAZING! Each singer brought their own style and flavor to the songs (Fang Chyi brings a soulful, jazz-y feel; Soo Suan has an AMAZING range and classical tone; while Tria blows me away with her strong and heartfelt voice!), which is pretty impressive seeing that the songs are very well-known songs throughout the decades! Just to name a few, "Lagenda", "I Will Always Love You", "Dancing Queen", "Getaran Jiwa", "YMCA" are some of the timeless classics you will hear in the musical. Popular music now would be like "Bad Romance", "Thriller", "You Raise Me Up" and "Gemilang"! I recognize a lot of Chinese songs too, but I don't know how to write them here...LOL!
The ensemble is not to be pushed aside as mere backup vocals though! True to their title, everybody worked really in harmony and as a team....and almost everyone had their moments / solo parts to sing, which I think is SO cool since most musicals usually focus on the main cast! I would say the energy radiating from the whole cast is very infectious....if in the beginning, one would be kinda reserved and not feeling the jive, by the end of it all, that same person would have been standing on his / her feet to give a standing ovation or at the very least clapping as hard as one can! It's really, really something to watch =)
The stage sets were quite cool too! Though not as complicated and grand as "The Secret Life of Nora", they also employ the clever use of two curved stairs to suit the scenes that they are portraying, and it's quite fun to watch...especially during a certain Hindi song that will make you giggle and sing along at the same time!
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| Me with Tria (far right) and Freida (far left)....YAYY! |
In short, IPH is a well worth your money spent....you will be taken back in time and forget all your worries for a good 2 hours while the cast entertains you with their cool dance moves, harmonious voices and witty narration! And as it ends, you'll even feel like you don't want it to end because it was SO. MUCH. FUN! *grins* IPH is still running now, and as I hear they are extending their shows to the 24th and 25th as well! So, go grab your tickets now before they are sold out! The show that I went to was a full house, and I've heard that some even went more than once....that's how good it was =)
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