A Brief Account of Attending "Aladdin Musical Comedy"

A pose with Dr. Lim Ju Boo

A retired aviator of 45 years of which 30 years as a Civil Aviation Trainer/Examiner, Captain Mohd. Lokman Sardon aka “flyer168” invited the other day some e-buddies including me to the stage performance of his 14-year old grand-daughter, Lara Alyssa, one of the singing/dancing/acting girls in “Aladdin Musical Comedy” produced by Enfiniti Vision Media at PJ Live Arts Theatre, Jaya One, Petaling Jaya.

Capt. Lokman aka "flyer168" (pic standing left) and family

After reading the response from the "Great Sifu" Dr. Lim Ju Boo on Nov. 13, 2015 indicating his interest to attend, I wrote to Dr. Lim to express my interest too.  And both of us booked the tickets for the Saturday Matinee Nov. 21, 2015 at 3.00pm.

I brought along with me my wife Soh Ai and two sons Wai Kit and Wai Yu and Dr. Lim came with his wife Sally. 

We met at the entrance to Theatre @ PJ Live Arts at about 2.30pm and we sat next to one another at the balcony seats (while my two sons were allowed to take up the ground floor seats).

Dr. Lim's collection

The original folk tale of “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp” in the “The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ("The Arabian Nights") by 18th century Frenchman Antoine Galland is as follows:

Aladdin is an impoverished young ne'er-do-well in a Chinese town. He is recruited by a sorcerer from the Maghreb, who passes himself off as the brother of Aladdin's late father Mustapha the tailor, convincing Aladdin and his mother of his good will by apparently making arrangements to set up the lad as a wealthy merchant. The sorcerer's real motive is to persuade young Aladdin to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic cave. After the sorcerer attempts to double-cross him, Aladdin finds himself trapped in the magic cave. Fortunately, Aladdin retains a magic ring lent to him by the sorcerer as protection. When he rubs his hands in despair, he inadvertently rubs the ring and a jinnī (or "genie") appears who takes him home to his mother. Aladdin is still carrying the lamp. When his mother tries to clean it, a second far more powerful genie appears who is bound to do the bidding of the person holding the lamp.

With the aid of the genie of the lamp, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries Princess Badroulbadour, the Emperor's daughter (after magically foiling her marriage to the vizier's son). The genie builds Aladdin a wonderful palace, a far more magnificent one than that of the Emperor himself.

The sorcerer returns and is able to get his hands on the lamp by tricking Aladdin's wife (who is unaware of the lamp's importance) by offering to exchange "new lamps for old". He orders the genie of the lamp to take the palace along with all its contents to his home in the Maghreb. Fortunately, Aladdin still has the magic ring and is able to summon the lesser genie. Although the genie of the ring cannot directly undo any of the magic of the genie of the lamp, he is able to transport Aladdin to the Maghreb where he recovers the lamp and kills the sorcerer in battle, returning the palace (complete with the princess) to its proper place.

The sorcerer's more powerful and evil brother tries to destroy Aladdin for killing his brother by disguising himself as an old woman known for her healing powers. Badroulbadour falls for his disguise and commands the "woman" to stay in her palace in case of any illnesses. Aladdin is warned of this danger by the genie of the lamp and slays the imposter. Everyone lives happily ever after, Aladdin eventually succeeding to his father-in-law's throne.

The musical comedy turned out to be a hilarious PANTOMIME experience with lots of audience interaction, fun-filled laughter, popular songs (such as “Nine to Five”, “A Whole New World” & etc) and exciting new twists.  This included throwing sweets into the audience and asking the audience (mainly children) to cheer for the good guys and boo for the baddies.  Jokes about the missing RM 2.6 billions, RM 2,000 worth haircuts, the name of the lamp’s genie with an acronym of GST and etc. are really creative and related to our country's current affair! 

Most of the talented actors/actresses are very young.  I personally found the acting of the ring’s genie (played by a young Malay girl) very funny.  Of course, our (i.e. Dr. Lim and I) main focus of attention was the identification and performance of Lara Alyssa among the cast.  Her G-father “Flyer168” took the trouble to email us beforehand introducing her “as one of the taller ‘singers/dancers’ wearing a black head piece (long black hair) in white dress with a ‘heart’ in black on her chest” and attaching a photo of hers in such a costume.  It wasn’t difficult to spot her although there were two other girls wearing exactly the same costume like her in the show.  We found her performance splendid!

After the show, we were delighted to be able to ask Lara (through a production crew member) to come out despite having changed her costume (as she is not among the main cast for the photo-taking session) to introduce ourselves as her G-father’s friends and she posed three photos with us. 

It was indeed an entertaining event and I wish to thank Captain Loke for his invitation and according us the privilege to get to know his very charming and talented G-daughter Lara Alyssa who may one day become a successful and famous artist!

The following are snap-shots taken by my digital camera for the sake of remembrance:

Audience posing with stars on Aladdin Photowall after the show

Mrs Sally Lim (pic left) and Soh Ai

A pose with Lara Alyssa after the show