malaysiangMELAKA, Feb 25 — Almost 10 years after “Ali Baba, the Musical” was successfully staged at Istana Budaya Kuala Lumpur, Melakans will get the chance to catch a three-day run of the musical theatre, from March 18, at Panggung Seri Kompleks, Department of Culture, Arts and Heritage (JKKN) here.
Melaka State Theatre Organisation president and “Ali Baba, the Musical” director Lokman Ghani said the RM200,000 musical production is an adaptation of the film “Hikayat Seribu Satu Malam” which was directed by the late Tan Sri P. Ramlee.
Lokman said the musical theatre production will involve a total of 130 people comprising actors, production and behind-the-scenes staff. The five central cast members are Ashraf Muslim, Datuk Jalaluddin Hassan, Aziz M. Osman, Dr Syasya Aziz and Najua P. Ramlee.
“There will be four stagings of Ali Baba, the Musical” per day, with a 200-seat capacity for each session, and tickets are priced at RM10 per person.
“Seventy-five per cent of the cast are Melakans. Rehearsals had been held for two months since December,” Lokman told reporters after a rehearsal of “Ali Baba, the Musical” here today.
Also present to witness the rehearsal were state Tourism, Heritage and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Muhammad Jailani Khamis and Melaka JKKN director Ezlina Alias.
Lokman said among the differences of “Ali Baba, the Musical” is that this staging adapts the Melakan style of speech.
He said that apart from that, he was working with a relatively new cast line-up, most of whom did not possess theatre acting experience as compared to the musical theatre staged in Istana Budaya in 2012 which almost entirely used the services of professional and well-known actors.
However, he said, it was not an obstacle for him to ensure this staging would be a success as the new actors selected had the talent and interest to learn and quickly master the skills of acting in theatre.
“We have five main actors who have great talent in the field of theatre and the younger ones will be able to learn from them. I am confident that they (younger cast) will be great theatre actors in the future, thus making Melaka famous,” he also said.
He added that ticket sales were encouraging and certain parties had made early bookings.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency
