Michael Hui Live Talk Show

8 August 2009 - Astro broadcast this guy first talk show in Hong Kong sometime back. Everyone knew him as the eldest Hui brother. That talk show was very entertaining and refreshing. A Chinese stand-up comedian. Not heard off. But it was reported his 2 shows in Hong Kong then were very well received. So when I knew that he was going to perform in Genting, I simply must catch that. But I bought the cheapest ticket available. RM90 for the 'mountain' seat. I reckoned that we were there to hear him and not so much to see him in performance. Therefore even with a seat far away from stage would be OK, considering that there will be giant screens available (well, that was my assumption).


It was my first at the Arena of Stars, Genting Highlands. The hall is smaller than expectation, but probably big enough. My seat is about 10 steps down from the highest seat and at the left (facing stage) most edge.





The show opened with clips of his earliest movies. Then he was accompanied to stage by a group of kompang players. There are reasons for showing the clips as during the show, he was trying very hard to relate his talk with the show, to flashback scenes from the show to his current talk. But I guess most of the audience would have forgotten them. I did except for one scene. I think it was the 4th movie - Security Unlimited (摩登保鑣). That scene where he taught his brother Ricky Hui to drive. That really brought back some funny memories.

The most disappointing thing about the arena has got to be the big screen. Firstly they are not giant screen that I hoped they were. Secondly, the quality of the screen is worst. There are very dark and one could hardly much from the screen. If this were to be a singing concert, then it would be terribly disappointed visually.





In terms of joke content, some of them were from his earlier show in Hong Kong. The only 2 local flavours (as I can remembered) was about Bangsar and Tongkat Ali. As expected, he utilised lots of his facial expression to generate laughter, as in most of his movie. His wife was probably the biggest victim, as he protrayed her as a 'san-pah'(3-8) woman in his jokes. Overall it is entertaining, but slightly short of my expectation. A 2-hours show with 10 minutes break. Ended with a Sam Hui's song, as the encore part.

Mamma Mia!

4 January 2009 - After watching the movie version, I have wanted to watch the stage version. When it was announced that the musical will come ashore, I was trying to get the ticket. But due to 'unforeseen circumstances', I missed out. Then they announced that it will be extended for another 3 days. This time, I made no mistake and went to get the ticket the following day after the announcement. With WK's Enrich Card, we got a 10% discount for the ticket. Priced at RM303, we pay RM273. This is supposed to be the final show of their tour here in Malaysia before moving to Sweden.


The seat is on the second floor. And it is only 5 rows behind the VIP seats. And this guy was just right in-front of me.

(Picture taken from the The Star Online)

It was my first time in Istana Budaya. The only other musical theater that I have visited is the one Vienna (cant remember the name though). Istana Budaya has big entrance hall, the stairs leading to the second floor make it looks a bit grand. But that's it. All others are nothing compared to the one in Vienna. But probably I should not compare.



But I got to compare this - the movie and stage version of this hit musical Mamma Mia!.

Thanks to the publicity, I had big expectations (if not huge) of the stage version. I always had the impression that huge hit musicals like this would need a huge stage to support its huge props. But I was all wrong. There are only two fake bricked walls, which they turned back and front umpteen time and at different angles to suit the scene. And of course, some chairs, tables and beds. And that's it.

Singing and Acting - Surprisingly, the voice and acting skills of some the key performers are not really what I expect from a hit musical. While I can excuse the acting, but at least the voice should be great. Save for the lead roles of Donna and Sophie, the rest struggled through a solo performance. I am not a music expert or critic, but those are not exactly great singing to me, as far as my ears are concerned.

However, nothing could beat listening to a live rendition of ABBA hits. Watching these performers live and humming live together with them are probably the only reasons rendered worthwhile forking out 300-bucks from the pocket.

Will I catch another hit musical? Yes.

And You are Welcome!!