Despite the rain and horrendous Friday evening traffic, thousands of KL-ites, including us made our way to the Istana Budaya to catch Enjolras of Les Miserables (Simon Bailey), the Phantom of the Opera (Ramin Karimloo) and Akaash of Bombay Dreams (Stephen Rahman-Hughes) in the opening night of the West End Stars in Concert.
Actually, we missed the media preview night held the day before because we went to Melaka to witness the TV3 new drama series JUVANA launch. Thanks to the generous people at Enfiniti Vision Media, we get the chance to watch the awesome concert on the opening night! (Insert a lorry-load of yam leaves for Enfiniti Vision Media here. Heheh!)
If we only have one word to describe this concert it would be AWESOME! Check out the pics from the show. I wish you could hear the photos sing!
This is Ramin Karimloo.
He starred as the Phantom in the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera, later originating the role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel - Love Never Dies, as the first casted Phantom for the show. We were told that Ramin took a few days off from donning his Phantom mask to sing for his Malaysian fans. :D
Meet Simon Bailey.
Simon's accolades include many hero roles such as Raoul, the dashing love interest of Christine Daae in The Phantom of the Opera, Enjolras, the charismatic leader of a student group in Les Miserables and Romeo's BFF Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, amongst others.
...and this is Merong Mahawangsa with clothes on. LOL!
Stephen Rahman-Hughes is no stranger to musical loevrs in Malaysia. He starred as Hang Tuah in Enfiniti Vision Media production of Puteri Gunung Ledang few years ago. In West End, he has appreared in numerous leading roles in plays such as Bombay Dreams, West Side Story and The Merchant of Venice.
Stephen dueted with Malaysian Idol, Jaclyn Victor in the song, Di Puncak Tertinggi, taken from Puteri Gunung Ledang - The Musical.
Jaclyn Victor is the luckiest girl in the house! Not only she gets to sing with the three hunks, she gets to "touchy touchy" with them too. LOL!
Jaclyn Victor mesmerized the audience with the goosebumps-inducing version of Somewhere. She looks so different from the sweaty and no make-up girl we saw at The Orang Asli Trail Run a couple of weeks ago. See Jaclyn Victor runs HERE.
We love you, JAC!
Stephen Rahman-Hughes made a delightful announcement that he will be releasing an album in Malaysia soon. He even sang the first song he recorded for the first time LIVE, titled "Bertemu Di Syurga"
"Bertemu Di Syurga" is a sweeping love ballad. We see the word HIT written all over on it already. (Insert thousands of swooning female SRH admirers here).
We love SRH's attempts to utter a few words in Malay, especially the interjection, "Alamak! Nasi Lemak!".
Speaking of "Alamak! Nasi Lemak!", a friend of mine, Lis had an "Alamak! Nasi Lemak!" moment at Istana Budaya yesterday night. She is a huge fan of SRH and went to the concert alone because she couldn't find anyone to acoompany her. To avoid the traffic jam, she arrived at Istana Budaya around 6pm and had a cup of coffee at the IB cafe.
As she was sipping her coffee, two hunky Mat Sallehs asked her if they could join her at her table because the cafe was quite full. She agreed without paying much attention to the two guys who were having their rice. Some tourists or musicians, she thought.
Her jaw almost dropped to the floor when she saw the two guys she was sharing the table earlier appeared on stage! They were SIMON BAILEY and RAMIN KARIMLOO!
"Alamak! Nasi Lemak!" LOL!
She was kicking herself after that for not recognising the two stars and not taking pictures with them. Well, I couldn't blame her totally because the guys look quite different from the poster. LOL!
Alamak! Nasi lemak!
If only SRH were with them, then only it would dawn upon her that the two Mat Sallehs were the stars of the show!
Alamak! Nasi lemak!
So, for those who are going for the show tonight, do go there early and hang out at the IB cafe. Who knows, you might get to sit next to those West End stars. Heheh!
Back to the concert, the one and half hour show saw the creative magical touch from Pat Ibrahim as the director, Suhaili Micheline (choreogapher) and Lee Sze Wan (Musical Director).
Thank you to the founder of Enfiniti Vison Media, Tiara Jacquelina for bringing these three amazing performers from West End to Malaysia!
It was indeed a rare, up close and personal West End experience right in our prestigious Istana Budaya without the hinderance by a computer or television screen!
We wonder if there will be a follow up titled "West End Divas in Concert" after this testosterone-charged show. Tiara, are you reading this? Heheh!
Check out the little slide show I made after the show. Actually I stayed up all night making it. Too excited to sleep. Heheh!
The background music I used is the surprise encore song by Stephen Rahman-Hughes, Simon Bailey & Ramin Karimloo feat. Jaclyn Victor. And when we say surprise, we were really surprised by that choice of song! Total AWESOMENESS! :D
ENJOY!
Catch the final concert in Malaysia TODAY!!!! I promise you that you will not regret making the trip to Istana Budaya for this! Seats are extremely limited. To purchase tickets, visit the Box Office at Istana Budaya or call 03 4026 5558.
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