Please see editing notes in yellow<\/p>\n
Tarki girls score with Beauty and The Beast<\/p>\n
Kenny Santana
\nContributor
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Besides a strip club act, who would have guessed that an all-girl
\nshow could be so much fun? This is a rather sexist comment --
\ndoes he really want this to be printed?<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the students of Tarakanita I (Tarki I) high
\nschool in South Jakarta, did just that by putting on an
\noutstanding, three-day play based on the Beauty and the Beast
\ntale.<\/p>\n
The recent show at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, Central Jakarta,
\nwas hugely entertaining, thanks particularly to witty scripts,
\nwonderful choreography, great original songs and amazing acts.<\/p>\n
And it was family-oriented too.<\/p>\n
The event's media coordinator, Ismi Dian Rochimah, 17, said
\nthat they used the theme because everyone was familiar with the
\ntale.<\/p>\n
\"And most teenagers love romantic stories. That's what makes
\nit a perfect choice,\" she told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The girls had been working on the show since last October and
\nasked Aji N.A., a Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) graduate to direct
\nthem.<\/p>\n
Aji had directed several performances for Tarki I, such as
\nHamlet in 2001 and Panji Koming last year.<\/p>\n
This year's play was not an easy task for Aji, especially
\nduring the casting, as each part must sing. But over one month of
\ncasting, the director pulled it off.<\/p>\n
After nearly four months of hard work, the sold-out shows
\nbegan on Feb. 20, and were kicked off with a prologue from an old
\nwoman, followed with some weird-looking creatures dancing around
\nthe stage.<\/p>\n
It turned out the woman was the old Beauty and the creatures
\nthe Kromaks, mutants born from the hand of does this mean
\n\"fathered by\"? Warhole, Beauty's father.<\/p>\n
Years before, as Kromaks kidnapped Warhole, the young, pretty,
\nkind and sweet (you name it!) Beauty was willing to replace her
\nfather.<\/p>\n
That was when she met the Kromaks' leader, the Beast, played
\nby a girl who hardly ever shows her face during the entire play.<\/p>\n
And the rest is history. Beast falls for Beauty when he sees
\nthrough her beauty (hence the title) inside out. But hey, if that
\nwas so simple, why bother to make it into a play and charge the
\naudience up to Rp. 50,000?<\/p>\n
The girls made the plot more exciting by inserting dozens of
\nsupporting characters, most notably Gaston, a cocky, handsome
\nElvis-esque playboy, besotted with the gorgeous Beauty.<\/p>\n
As the most fun character of the evening, Gaston charmed the
\naudiences more than the leads themselves. Laughter roared as he
\nthrew out the funniest punch lines with attitude, not to mention
\nhis cool sideburns and quiff.<\/p>\n
The girl who played Gaston, Irma Borland, really should
\nconsider acting in the future as her glowing performance
\novershadowed Beauty and the Beast themselves, although the latter
\ndoes he mean just \"Beauty\" or \"Beauty and the Beast\" - it's not
\nclear, but the difference is important was also played
\nwonderfully.<\/p>\n
Other characters to appear were likenesses of celebrities,
\ndead or alive, such as Pamela Anderson, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe
\n(who for a moment looked like Monica Lewinsky as she joked about
\nthe White House) Marilyn Monroe was allegedly connected to
\nPresident Kennedy so that character could have joked about the
\nWhite House, without it necessarily being implied that she was
\nMonica Lewinsky as the girls who were dying to have him and Bruce
\nLee as his who is meant by \"his\"? assistant.<\/p>\n
Without question, they were the highlight of the show. Unlike
\nfake sinetron (local TV soap opera) dialogues, the funny lines
\nthat spilled from their mouths were so real and made the
\nyoungsters who dominate the audiences feel they could relate to
\nthem.<\/p>\n
It wouldn't be a bad idea if, maybe next year, the girls made
\na spinoff play simply titled \"Gaston and the Girls\".<\/p>\n
The collaboration between the entire ensemble was excellent as
\nthey made sure that the audience of over 400 people really had a
\ngreat time during the play. And we did. We laughed our heads off
\nand at some moments I laughed even louder than at any Hollywood
\nor local movie I had watched recently.<\/p>\n
The catchy sound effects also made for some entertaining
\nmoments. If two thumbs-up are to be given, the writers, the
\nplayers and the incredible director are the most deserving.<\/p>\n
The downside, perhaps, was some sound problems at the
\nbeginning, and the lengthy, four-hour duration plus 20-minute
\nbreak.<\/p>\n
Some scenes could have been cut, such as the one where it took
\nannoying old Beauty some 15 minutes to walk downstairs, just to
\nshow how fragile she was. Or some scenes in the Kromaks' cave
\nthat were not exciting enough to justify their length.<\/p>\n
Despite some flaws, all in all, it was an excellent show. Loud
\napplause for the girls, and we look forward to see another great
\nproduction in the future.<\/p>",
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