Grease is the word….

“I got chills, and they’re multiplyin’ “

Went with Yan for Grease the Musical at KL Convention Centre. 1st time a musical is held here I think. We used to go to Istana Budaya for these things.

The venue’s just a walk away from my office… when we arrived the place were crowded with people. Some all dressed up for the nite! Cool…..

We looked around for a quick bite, found some, service expectedly awful, the lady serving us doesn’t seem capable of smiling (duh), and the food was, well when you are hungry and still prefer not to finish the sandwich, that’s how bad the food was.

Anyway we consoled ourselves saying we were not there for the food… and prep ourselves for the musical.

For those who were brought up on boy-bands, Grease was a hit movie in ’78 starring John Travolta (then the Disco King from his earlier film Sat Nite Fever) and Olivia Newton-John. The musical came before the movie.

The musical Grease was voted the Best Musical of All-time in 2003 by a Channel V poll. And the movie itself remains the highest grossing motion picture musical.

What about the musical then?

We were ushered in at 8.30 PM sharp… the show started on the dot with the MC trying to get crowd particpation to come up on stage to rock-n-roll. After many many many tries, he finally managed to get a few daring women to go up including one little gal who even danced using the hoola-hoop.

Of the few musicals we’ve been to, this would be the most feet-tapping one with rock-n-roll songs that are just so danceable. Surprisingly the musical underwhelmed us…..

Can’t place my fingers yet on why it didn’t WOW us… the right songs were there – Summer Nights, Hopelessly Devoted to You, Grease Lightning, and You’re the One I Want.

Perhaps it’s the delivery… we dun feel the passion in the voice. The Oomph’s not there…. But anyway it was a good evening out for us, we bought Grease t-shirts (haha, we are suckers for merchanise!)

Even the merchandises were disappointing. They’ve the usual t-shirts (but which just seem to be normal tees with the GREASE logo stitched to the upper left corner), musical CDs (which we can get anytime at Tower Records) and umbrellas (huh?). Nothing else?

Somehow I get the feeling the whole event looks like a rush job!

Grease is the word (its the word that you heard)
It’s got groove it’s got meaning
Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion
Grease is the way we are feeling

Hmm.. as for the venue I think we still prefer Istana Budaya. And if you have not watched Grease before, I suggest you get hold of the movie DVD.

Still waiting for Phantom of the Opera to do its round over this part of the world.