I went to KL last weekend just to watch Beauty and the Beast:the Broadway musical.

As far as musical goes, this one was good. I've watched more serious ones like Cats, Grease, Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and even M. Butterfly. So, to compare them to Beauty and the Beast would be unfair.

Beauty and the Beast is geared for children although the children need to be very well-disciplined to watch even a musical based on a cartoon. The musical tried to be entertaining to the adults as well as the children but some adults and children just aren't ready to appreciate this sort of entertainment just yet.

The one thing anybody in theatre knows is that a performance is always susceptible to technical faults and breakdown. In fact, any thinking being would understand this and be tolerant.

However, for that performance I went to, some people (and I'm sorry to say they were in the cheaper seats than I was) began making a big issue out of the delay. Granted, it was an hour late but technical delays cannot be solved within a few seconds. It did not warrant yelling and shouting from the balcony for refunds. One guy even started yelling for the Beast. He probably thought he was being very clever but it only made him look very homosexual and silly. Most of the yells sounded like they came from young adults, most likely college students who could only afford the RM100-RM200 seats.

I'm not being snobbish or anything but what they did was really uncalled for. And I figured if they felt that strongly about the delay, they could have walked out, although walking out would have meant forfeiting the money they paid. Then again, if you feel that strongly about something, what's a little money in comparison?

These people were very rowdy and uncouth. Not only did they dress very casually, they didn't even have the manners or the tolerance for which we Malaysians are supposedly famous for. I was ashamed of them, really. And if they claimed to be educated, where or when was this education shown in their manner? In additon to their behaviour, they also took numerous photos using flash during most of the performance and they started whistling and cheering. Very uncalled for.

Overall, I found the musical pretty good. I wasn't hoping for very much anyway and it delivered even that.

My sister did manage to take some photos but only after she switched off the flash and the viewer lights. I'll see if I could post them up later today or tomorrow.

It was generally worth it despite the crowd and shallowness of it. (What do you expect from a Disney production? No epiphanies there) I was pleasantly surprised by the children. Either they actually sat down and shut up or the songs and my focus managed to drown them out.

However, I do need to mention what I called the dancing werewolves. I know they were supposed to be the wolves that attacked Belle's father and later Belle and the Beast. But it was funny watching them dancing on two legs covered in faux wolf fur. So I called them the dancing werewolves.

And it was good to watch real theatre after so long where people actually realise it's a stage production and adjust appropriately.

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