Teater Muzikal Hati Emas - What we could learn from it?

Sebelum ke Boh Award pada 4 Mei 2025, Malaysia sempat menyelinap masuk ke Teater Muzikal Hati Emas di Damansara Performing Arts Center (DPAC). Ya, Malaysia sekarang ni kerja menyelinap je, sebab dulu2 cita2 memang nak jadi spy. Malaysia tahu yang ramai telah berspekulasi kenapa tiada review apa2 untuk Hati Emas. Ramai ke? Ada la 3 orang, haha. Kaedahnya bila Malaysia tak review, nanti orang ingat show tu tak best. Malaysia tak ckp apa2 pun masalahnya, kalian yang berspekulasi. Tak baik tau.

Untuk Hati Emas ni, Malaysia spend time sikit nak ulas. Sebab, ini production muzikal ke-2 Lantera Seni tahun ni. Yang pertama tu tragedi, takpe la. Maksud Malaysia ceritanya tragedi, sedih sob sob. Tapi execution pun lebih kurang la. 

Korang takyah nak api2kan Malaysia dengan Lantera Seni eh. Malaysia boleh cakap pasal tragedi tu sebegitu sebab at least begitupun, Malaysia pergi both of their showtimes masa tu.

And untuk makluman Malaysia dah discuss about it with tuan empunya Lantera Seni, the producer, talked about it. Takde bitter apa2, it was a healthy discussion, and tea spilling session. Masa tu Malaysia bilang, benda dah jadi, learn from it, improve. Mmg kita human kena mcm tu tau. Make mistakes, learn, improve. Kami very civil (aderr) and beliau pun aware dan dah biasa beproduksi, ada naik ada turun. That’s that. Kami takde block siapa2 kat IG ke apa ke. Pengarahnya je la kot eh block Malaysia, but tu lebih kepada personal decision mungkin and we shall respect it.

And then beliau (the producer) maklumkan, bulan 5 akan ada lagi satu produksi, so Malaysia being Malaysia, support je, go. Ini chance to show yang Lantera Seni can do better. Untuk Hati Emas, yang ni Malaysia bincang dulu dengan satu lagi figura, Srikandi Emma, apa level kita nak set. Nak harsh ke nak be extra kind ke, nak so-so ke? So Malaysia decide untuk, be harsher. Tiber. No la. Sebab kita ambil kira pelbagai faktor sebenarnya sebelum nak tengok and “judge” show. Teater Muzikal Hati Emas is also a musical from Lantera Seni, tapi different pengarah. Pengarahnya, Taufiq Hidir, a final year performing arts student, currently doing his internship under Lantera Seni. So Teater Muzikal Hati Emas ini ialah penilaian untuk program internshipnya, sekali with another intern, Amirul Qauyum, dinilai dalam bidang lakonan.

So, konteksnya dah jadi berbeza. You can’t treat every production sama. Cuba bayangkan, kau pergi tengok commercial production di KLPAC, kemudian kau guna mindset and expectation sama bila tengok production teater sekolah menengah luar bandar. That is not fair, that is not a good practice. I mean, yes you can, to sort of use the same rubric to determine how good a play is, penilaian yang lebih consistent and straightforward comparison, but I personally don’t think you should. Sebab levelnya dah berbeza, and nak tak nak kita kena ambil tu in our considerations. 

So, panjang eh mukadimahnya ni, untuk Teater Muzikal Hati Emas, mengambil kira pengarahnya masih di peringkat pelajar, and this is his debut as writer-director for a musical, Malaysia decide untuk be less harsh. Mantranya ialah you must start somewhere. I was not being entirely lenient though, due to several factors: he is a final year students of performing arts, he dare to pick a genre he never work with for his assessment, he chose or at least agree to stage it at DPAC albeit it was his debut as a musical writer-director, the tix costs for a total of RM57.70 (termasuk caj). 

Sekilas, the venue and the tix price, signaling to me that this is a commercial production. So, arguably I have the right to treat it as a commercial production. Untuk perbandingan, Malaysia paid RM35 for Teater Muzikal Sudirmania at Panggung Bandaraya DBKL tahun lepas, a production that received multiple nominations for the 20th Boh Cameronian Arts Awards, and from which managed to grab 2 awards (best directors and best actor in a supporting role). And to paint a better picture, Malaysia paid RM49 for Teater Muzikal Gadoh at Nero Event Space, PJPAC. Tapi tu harga early bird, kalau bukan early bird pun, the price was RM59, including the service caj perabah semua and paid RM20 for Pengembaraan Muzikal Pak Pandir di Seremban, N9. 

Those were great musical productions last year. So, in my mind, Malaysia dah ada certain standard untuk muzikal dengan harga sekian-sekian kena sampai level sekian-sekian. Ditambah panggung yang dipilih merupakan panggung commercial.

And in my mind, Malaysia pun dah ada certain standard yang Malaysia set for students of performing arts. Yes, walaupun arguably masih di peringkat students, but there are samples of performing arts students yang show that even on that level, they can deliver great works. Apatah lagi a final year student yang dah bergelumang dengan dunia seni persembahan for at least 3 years.

With that being said, how was Teater Muzikal Hati Emas?

It definitely needs more work. My biggest concern: the writing of the book, the story. Ceritanya mengenai Budi, yang bercita-cita nak jadi seperti Datuk M Nasir. Ada la background story yang ayah Budi ni pun seniman, bila dah berjaya tinggalkan family (so kekwat eh), and mak Budi mcm gemar tak gemar Budi ni ke arah seni. So Budi dan rakan-rakannya nak pergi ujibakat nyanyian di bandar. Untuk menambah rasa ada la juga kisah percintaan Budi dan Ana ni, sambil dijaki oleh rakannya Qaseh, and later made more complicated by the introduction of Mariah, seorang pengurus produksi di Bandar.

Story ini (cuba) dijalinkan dengan lagu-lagu Datuk M Nasir, yang for me may not necessarily work. Sebab, lagu-lagu Datuk M Nasir ada layers of interpretation, and some of the songs selected have tones of sufism in it. Jadi bila dipakai lagu2 tersebut dalam scene-scene tertentu, dia jadi macam sedikit tak kena. Well, ni of course bergantung kepada penerimaan penonton masing-masing. Contoh penggunaan lagu Kepadamu Kekasih, taken too literally about purely human relationship, essence lagu tu jadi flat and much of its weight is lost.

Sebenarnya the moment Malaysia heard about Teater Muzikal Hati Emas, Malaysia dah wondering dah mcm mana mereka nak create story so-so dengan lagu-lagu Datuk M Nasir yang heavily studded with sufism and layered interpretations. It’s definitely different with what one can achieve by using lagu2 Sudirman like the one Revolution Stage did for Teater Muzikal Sudirmania, sebab lagu-lagu Sudirman tema-temanya lebih merakyat, easily accessible and straightforward.

Is it a bright choice? Well, because it really didn’t work for me, so for me it’s not. Is it unachievable? Well, it can work, perhaps they need to sit back, work on the story back, find ways to make it work. I believe it can be done somehow, cuma perlu diteliti semula. Of course tak silap mencuba, again, the mantra is you must start somewhere, but ini kemudiannya membuka kepada persoalan yang Malaysia rasa kita kena address.

Is it a good decision to choose DPAC blackbox as venue, given that this is a fresh script, and this is his debut as a musical writer-director? It is not entirely wrong, but is it a good or the best decision? You see, bila ambil panggung commercial seperti DPAC mmg nak tak nak you can’t charge harga tiket murah you know. Unless of course you dapat funding yang boleh help cover the costs. So berbalik kepada keputusan tersebut, is the product really ready to be staged at such panggung, at such price?

Perkara ni mungkin berbalik kepada keputusan penerbit/producer. But, dear pengarah, you do have a say bila conceive the idea, proposing it to them, and go with it. Knowing that this is your first step, you should be able to voice that perhaps you should start with a smaller, less costly panggung. And I personally believe that this should start at a smaller panggung. 

Of course there’s nothing wrong with choosing a commercial panggung for a fresh script or for one’s debut, but doing so will set or demand a certain level of expectation. And then it will beg the audience to rethink, ok ke the value for money? Bila jadi mcm tu, you can throw all those saya-budak-baru-belajar mantras, but then we (the audience) can rebut why a saya-budak-baru-belajar production dares to choose such a venue and set such price. We have done our part to choose to spend our time and money to catch the show, so in return we expect the production to keep their end of the bargain. 

It is at best a mediocre production. It is a good attempt, but much more work need to be done. Explore more samples of musicals, learn more musical directing from established musical directors. Learn more writing and composing for musicals. It’s okay, this is where we learn. 

Ada la one scene yang Malaysia rasa a saving grace of the whole musical, scene mak Budi tarik nasib with an excerpt of lagu Suatu Masa. Given penjiwaan wataknya, and kena dengan peletakan scene, scene tu for me yang paling work. Itu pun sayang sebab it’s very pendek, and it still gives this too much of a concert vibe. By concert, maksud Malaysia ialah bila nak masuk ke lagu, dia punya line differentiating it sangat ketara. And some (if not most) of the songs in the musicals used tak carry the plot forward. Dia jadi sekadar ornament, atau at best recapping the scene. A waste use of songs for a musical. So, scene mak Budi tarik nasib using Suatu Masa tu je for me yang the best use of the song. 

I had a brief talk with Emma about what makes a musical a musical, and my syarat would be the song must carry the plot forward, else dia jadi waste. And to really test whether the song is integral to carrying the plot, cuba you take away the song, ceritanya berjalan macam biasa tak? Ada tak anything lost? Will there be a jump in the plot? Jika tiada yang lost, no jump in the plot and cerita just berjalan macam biasa and boleh difahami, then lagu tu ornamental at best. Jadi penyeri. Contoh ada scene masa Budi dan rakan2 sampai ke bandar, terserempak dengan Mariah. Budi tanya kenapa Mariah pakai suit, blazer seluar and all, macam lelaki. So Mariahnya nak explain la dia kerja pejabat and kat bandar tu banyak je orang kerja pejabat, sekian sekian, kemudian, setelah canggungnya menunggu cue muzik dan penari2 masuk, mereka nyanyikan lagu Kolar Biru. Lagu tu, kalau you delete from the musical, takkan usik apa2 plot pun. Konflik-konflik dan cornflakes yang ada takkan terusik, takkan rosak. Thus sejenis pembaziran lagu. And plus, Mariah is arguably closer to white collar worker ok, so bila dia punya song from her POV ialah Kolar Biru, dia jadi biru langit tau.

The same with lagu Mentera Semerah Padi. It was just there sebab nak tunjuk scene mereka di gelanggang silat. The structure is mereka berkumpul, tok gurunya datang bagi instruction, pecah kepada kumpulan dan lagu tu start. That’s that. It’s just a showcase. You tak dapat new info about the stories or the characters from that song. The way to save it, perhaps it may work, kalau the scene start je dengan lagu tu, kemudian you kena insert break within the song untuk tok gurunya share his wisdom, masuk lagu for the next verse, sparring, break lagi, sambung next verse lagi, and then maybe selit Ana dengan Qaseh sparring, while they express kerengsaan to each other sebab dua-dua hamakkan si Budi waima Budi tu… Now, if this was done instead, kalau you take away the song, you lose tension antara Qaseh dengan Ana contohnya. Else dia jadi mcm, you know, kita nak pakai lagu Mentera Semerah Padi, so jom wujudkan scene gelangangg silat. Lepas habis scene tu, all of them yang belajar silat bergaul bebas ya, sentuh2 la, apa la. Essence hilang. 

Yes you can argue that there are many approaches to musicals. But even so, it feels like those songs were forced into the scenes, it does not blend well, it still feels separated, it appears to be ornamental. A theatre can use music and still not be a musical. So when a production is branded as teater muzikal, we must deliver more than what theater with music usually gives. Else, brand it as conventional theater je, kalau you selitkan 20 lagu pun orang takkan argue. Ada la kot orang akan argue, you nak buat musical ke, but at least in that case, dia mcm you suntik elemen tambahan kepada teater you, instead of you nak buat musical tapi kurang menjadi.

Malaysia decide to go through writing this entry sebab Malaysia nak ini boleh dijadikan feedback and insights not just for pengarahnya atau production, tapi juga kepada penggiat2 luar especially students who aspire to write and/or direct musicals. Musical is not easy, but takde la maksudnya kau jangan buat. Cuma bila nak buat tu kena consider lots of things. Bila buat muzikal kena tahu yang audiences akan ada different expectations berbanding kalau mereka pergi teater bukan muzikal. Juga perlu diambil kira, kesediaan karya dengan venue dan harga yang dikenakan. Malaysia kadang2 lepas show, akan buat mcm random survey tanya orang yang tengok, based on apa yang ditonton, berapa yang you sanggup bayar, kena tak harganya. Jawapan kepada soalan ni biasanya lebih jujur berbanding kalau Malaysia tanya “Ok tak show tadi?” atau “Berapa rating from 1 to 10?” So, bila berproduksi, make sure masa penonton keluar, they are okay with the price.

So there on Teater Muzikal Hati Emas. To the pengarah, keep working. You ada idea, you berani, but that’s that. To excel, you need to work more on the skill to execute your vision. It’s okay, you must start somewhere. Gather all the feedbacks you can, improve. You masih di level student yang Malaysia ok lagi untuk beri feedback mcm ni. Jalan you masih panjang untuk improve sebelum masuk ke dunia produksi yang maaf cakap, very harsh. Unlike the tragedi 1 Februari tu yang level pengarahnya mmg bagi no excuse to deliver such a musical, pastu Malaysia kena block pulak dengan si fulan, you masih boleh Malaysia excuse for what have been delivered. And you have your resources around you, dunia teater kat Malaysia ni sumpah tak besar. Roger-roger la your seniors, director2 muzikal yang you kenal (other than the 1 February tu), take more samples of good musicals. Kemudian keep moving forward. The next musical you stage, I will definitely try my best to attend, to see how much you have improved. And ingat, every inch of movement is a progress. Take your time. Unless kau block aku juga, then nasib la masing2eh. Hidup diteruskan. Aderrr.