Chacko Vadaketh

By JASON CHEAH

KLPac straddles Christmas and the New Year with a fun take on
popular children’s tale Aladdin.

FROM one Aladdin, to another. Soon after Istana Budaya’s children’s
theatre version ended its run, the Kuala Lumpur Performance Arts Centre’s
(KLPac) staging of Aladdin – The Pantomime began at the Pentas 1,
KLPac on Monday.

So popular indeed, is the tale, that taking influences from other
genres of music and theatre and adding it to the mix might seem irreverent

but don’t get yourself confused, that’s all part of pantomime.

Written and directed by the same
“panto” mastermind who brought the hilarious and outrageous Cinderella
(2005), Paul Loosley has once again adapted a traditional British
panto for the Malaysian stage.

“The Panto tradition is about fun,” Loosley said during a press launch
recently. “Nothing compares with the laughter and excitement on kids’
faces when they see the fabulous and mostly silly costumes, hear and see
the craziest gags.”

And because it was 40 years ago today that Sgt. Pepper taught that
band to play, Aladdin – The Pantomime will pay homage to the
wonderful music of The Beatles and the swinging 1960s.

“When KLPac did Cinderella we used, with great success, the
music of Elvis and the whole look and feel of the 1950s. This year with
Aladdin – which in itself is full of hippy atmosphere and eastern
magic – we chose to have music by the ‘Fab Four’ and theme everything
60s.

“This was not really a very hard decision given the great tunes
(perfect to sing along to), the great fashion (cute and, looking back,
fairly ridiculous), and the setting (big strong shapes and psychedelic
colours).”

To help realise this psychedelic vision is artistic director Joe
Hasham, executive producer Datuk Faridah Merican, musical director Mervyn
Peters, choreographer Pat Chan, costume designer Dominique Devorsine, set
designer Loo Jia-Wei and lighting designer Lim Ang Swee.

To bring the show bursting to
life there will be a star-studded cast of some of the funniest stage
personas from the Malaysian scene, including Indi Nadarajah, Douglas Lim,
Joanna Bessey, Chacko Vadaketh, Doreen Tang, Joanne Kam Poh Poh, Monti,
Nell Ng, Sham Sunder Binwani and Badrol Shah Manan.

So whether it’s Aladdin (Bassey), his mother Widow Twanky (Nadarajah),
his dim brother Wishee Washee (Lim), the evil magician Abanaza (Vadaketh),
or Princess Paris (Tang), her parents Emperor Chun Dek (Monti) and Empress
Ho How (Kam), Won Ton (Ng) or even the two genies – of the ring (Binwani)
and the lamp (Badrol), it should be a fun show to watch.

The main cast will be joined by a chorus of boys and girls who sing and
dance as townsfolk, prisoners and skeletons. And there’s even the
possibility of some guest stars sneaking in from time to time. To top
everything off there’ll be a totally live, totally rockin’ four-piece band
singing songs such as A Hard Day’s Night, Ticket to Ride, I Want to
Hold your Hand, Something, Help, Can’t Buy Me Love, Yellow Submarine,
Yesterday, She Loves You, Hey Jude, From Me To You and All You Need
Is Love.

With all the ingredients for a great show, there is no other reason
than to live up to the heartfelt promise from Sgt. Pepper – “a splendid
time is guaranteed for all!”

From “The Sun”, 14 December 2007