Musicals have always been a part of our lives and families. We grew up on a steady diet of The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins and such, and soundtracks are part of our car's CD list.
Five years ago, Girl #1 took part in the Fusion musical theatre workshop and loved it. They did songs from Annie and Mamma Mia. The next year, it was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
After a few years hiatus, we signed her and Boy #1 up for another workshop, this time by The Jumping JellyBeans theatre company (bascially the same people behind Fusion). Musicals to be covered included Cats, Hairspray and Frozen.
The week-long holiday programme was held at the Pusat Kreatif Kanak-Kanak Tuanku Bainun in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. I have probably passed it many times but never knew what lay inside. It's a really picturesque place, with many studios and auditorium, to encourage children in the arts.
The Courtyard at the Creative Centre
The children learned how to sing and dance under the tutelage of facilitators from Malaysia and the UK (some of whom performed in the Broadway edition of these musicals). So they were taught actual choreography and inside tips and tricks by the pros! This was definitely an integral part of the experience. It was grueling training, though and the kiddos were often exhausted by the end of each day.
Learning the moves and positions
The last day of the workshop was performance day!
Sorry for the poor photo quality ... my handphone doesn't perform well under low light. Thankfully, the children performed excellently.
Gumbie Cat
Scenes from Hairspray
In Summer — probably one of the cutest number of the afternoon
The cast ... a job well done!
There was limited seating, so each family had limited number of tickets for the show. Thankfully, the entire performance can be viewed here. Enjoy!
I admit it. I first fell in love with Jane Austen with the 1995 BBC TV series adaptation of Pride & Prejudice many years ago. Mr Darcy ... swoon!
Occasionally, I would rewatch the DVDs. I've tried to get others to share my love, but it's not everybody's cup of afternoon tea. Surprisingly though, my then-8-year-old enjoyed watching the series with me.
When I was visiting Bath in 2012, I came across the Jane Austen Centre. It's quite a delightful place, with lots of historical facts and trivia, period costumes and backgrounds on Jane's best loved novels.
With a renewed interest in her works, I bought two other BBC TV series based on Jane Austen's novels — Mansfield Park and Sense & Sensibility — to watch with my girl. I found the former rather slow-moving, but Sense & Sensibility was a lot of fun (with yummy eye candy too!).
Her original effort was a bit rough, so Mummy had to help her to plan and redesign the layout into something more befitting her idea and concept.
The final product!
When she first asked me to print out coloured pictures of the characters
in the Les Mis movie, I dithered. Thankfully Girl approached Daddy, who
happily obliged. Thank God for Daddies :-)
Since they first viewed the Les Misérables' 25th Anniversary concert DVD, the kiddos have been learning some of the songs on their own, with the help of Youtube.
They started with "Castle in the Cloud"and later moving on to the season's favourite: "Do you hear the people sing?", which forms part of their performance repertoire and top-pick sing-a-long during car rides.
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
Here's a video of an impromptu "rehearsal" video before bedtime:
(apologies for the blurred out faces — am trying to preserve a measure of their privacy online for security reasons)
During the school holidays, the kiddos got to watch an impressive local production by young Malaysian actors called Bites of Delights, produced by Rhythm in Bronze, at the Temple of Fine Arts, Brickfields.
Besides being exposed to the many-faceted talents by the children and the chimes of the traditional art of gamelan, the kiddos got to learn about some of the popular (albeit slightly morbid) Asian folklore from countries on a journey along the Spice Trail — Persia, China, India, Malaysia and Japan.
After watching Dr Seuss' "The Lorax" movie, we followed up with the book.
Bedtime reading: "The Lorax"
Was never a fan of green eggs and ham, but the movie definitely piqued my interest, introducing me to the whimsical, magical world of Dr Seuss.
"The Lorax" is an entertaining yet thought-provoking story about the importance of protecting and preserving our environment, long before it became an "in" thing. It brings us to a time where children grow up in a world without any trees and relates the events that led to the final tree falling — "the very last Truffula tree of them all".
What's not to love about a fiesty damsel with beautiful long hair?
Overall,
a much more entertaining watch than our last Disney cartoon, The Frog
Princess. Although I was a little disturbed by the scene where the
show's villain, Mother Goethel, sings eerily, "Mother knows best!"
While
yes, Mother Goethel was a fake mommy, at best. And there is such a
thing as parental abuse, where parents exert their authority to lie,
manipulate and deceive their children. But to the typical young child in
the audience, it might send the subliminal message that mommies do NOT
know best.
As a mother of young children, I've always
told my children to trust me to make decisions in their best interests,
even if I cannot always explain every single factor of my decision. I may make mistakes, and I'll admit it when I do. But I believe that such trust is essential, especially in the early years.
Anyhow, the Girl was scribbling today and drew this picture.
At
one glance, it doesn't seem much. Until I realised that she was drawing
the lantern scene from the movie. Pretty abstract, but I like it!
