Tun Dr Ismail: The Last Days - A Musical Journey.

Last Saturday night was fabulous! My family booked 5 tickets to watch the Tun Dr Ismail’s musical at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre @ KLPAC which begins at approximately 8.30pm. We leave home by 6pm and reached there around 7.30pm. Arriving at the KLPAC, we met Unc. Muthanna & his family having some bite at the café. If the opening night were attended mostly by VIPs, that Saturday night was the night for Ismail & Neno’s nephew & grandnephew & grandnieces instead! The theater was performed at Pentas 1 upstairs. There were some memorabilia of the musical & some related books regarding the late Tun were selling there. My sis bought me the programme book which I find quite interesting reading it.

(L-R: Neno, Gopal, Ismail, Delia, Razak)

I remember about 3-4 months ago, KLPAC were having an audition on the Tun Dr Ismail musical. It was a small article printed on The Star / NST. I thought I could give it a shot until my dad deny me & told me to concentrate on my studies. (Sigh) Oh well, I could only hope for the best back then that the musical would really be something that I should be looking forward to once it’s ready to show to the public.

(Making ourselves comfortable before the show begins)

In this musical for the main characters were Malik Taufiq who plays as Tun Dr. Ismail; Tisha Zarina Zainal as Toh Puan Norashikin @ Neno; Tunku Alizakri Alias as Tun Abdul Razak; Lim Soon Heng as Frederick (Though I think it should have been Robert Kuok); Belinda Richardson as Delia (TDI’s crush at Aussie); Ari Ratos as Gopal (TDI’s butler?). The ensemble of the musical were not bad either, most of them have the experience in the stage performing previously. Credits & many claps to the Orchestra team who really blows the surround sound effect at us with a THX cinema quality performance!

(Ismail explaining to Neno his duty for the country)

The musical was something not to be missed, even for a nanosecond! I find Act 1 i.e. the first part of the musical very much to my liking. The scene of this part takes place at the Heroes Mausoleum at Masjid Negara KL; A street in KL; The Queen’s College JCR; and at the Frederick’s Party. The songs in this Act 1 include 1. Overtures 2. Come Out, You Cowards! 3. Today 4. Dream of Tomorrow 5.Come Out, Come Out! –Reprise 6. Do You Remember? (My fav. English song in this musical) 7. Kekasih 8. Paradise 9. Ish The Son Of Abdul 10. I Cant Go On 11. Party 12. Sahabatku 13. My Love (I love this song too!).

(Neno & Razak at the final part during Ismail's funeral)

The second part of the musical i.e. Act 2 were set in the darker times of the late Tun. Some of the scenes including A Street in KL; Ismail’s House (I’m going to miss this place ;-p); The Queen’s College; The Sultan Sulaiman Club; and the Heroes Mausoleum again where he was buried which marks the last part of the musical. The songs in Act 2 were not bad either, these includes 1. Entr’acte; 2. A New Beginning 3. Which Way Now? 4. Pak Uteh (The only Malay song that I love in this musical) 5. The Choice 6. He Loves Me / She Loves Me 7. Delia’s Vision 8. Kekuatan Jiwa (I think this was the edited part where the GPMS should hold responsible for causing TDI’s heart attack?) 9. Last Request 10. Finale.

(Ismail & Neno with their grandnephews & grandnieces)

At the end of the musical, my family had the honour of meeting Malik Taufiq & Tisha Zarina who plays the character of Ismail & Neno respectfully in person. Malik told us that they rehearse for 3 straight months to make the musical successful. We were told that he’s working in the F&B at The Curve in KL and theater is only his part time job! Tisha on the other hand gets a lot of complements from our relatives telling her that she has the uncanny resemblance with Tok Neno herself! Generally, I enjoyed watching this musical. It is so good that I might possibly go for a second-round!