I was at the opening night of the Saturday Night Fever The Musical in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday night. This is not the original or Revival version, the song list is similar to the 2014 UK Tour Production that premiered in Bath, England with different casting. The main character Tony Manero is played by Brandon Rubendall, who pulled it off perfectly.
I got to meet him and Carla Guevara-Laforteza at the end of the musical during the backstage tour.
Yeah, I was lucky enough to get a media and backstage pass, courtesy of Nuffnang (thanks Jack and Samantha!) and it was an awesome performance by the cast overall. A lot of the cast came from Broadway backgrounds in New York.
This is the second time I’ve seen Saturday Night Fever and during the first, I never heard the word “spic” and was quite surprised to hear it here.
That word is considered a racial slur nowadays, along with the n-word (though the latter did not make an appearance due to its offensiveness to every single culture). My theory is that not many Malaysians are familiar with the term – interestingly, the term is missing from Strictly Ballroom The Musical, but IIRC appears in the movie version.
I managed to get an official Saturday Night Fever The Musical fridge magnet for my dear.
The opening night of Saturday Night Fever The Musical was slightly marred by bad weather – it was flooding in some places and visibility was down to almost zero but it started more or less on time. There were constant interruptions in terms of people who came in but I thought the ushers did a pretty good job in waiting until musical numbers were done before getting the late-comers seated.
I actually didn’t know that we could take photos or I would have brought my dSLR. We were allowed to take photos and videos not exceeding 2 minutes during the first four (4) numbers. I managed to use my better half’s iPhone to do it, my apologies for the quality.
The seating was perfect too – the tickets we were allocated were VIP tickets so it was right in the middle of the action. Istana Budaya has pretty good acoustics too and I thought the cast did a really good job.
I was impressed by the special effects too – there was a sequence which simulated a train going by right after the death of a character (don’t consider this a spoiler since everyone knows the plot by now) and it did so very realistically with the video screens, strobe effects and the metal scaffolding of the bridge, which we later got to see close up.
There is no rape scene in this production though so I thought it was a bit confusing to new viewers for continuity and the end scene isn’t as impactful because of that.
We got to go for a backstage tour after the musical too – it was led by one of the cast members and we got the see the props and set up close.
Here’s a video of the backstage, cast and interesting facts about the production.
I loved the backstage tour, I thought I’ll give everyone a glimpse of the magic that goes into a production so here’s your backstage pass!
I got a photo with the lead character of Saturday Night Fever The Musical – Brandon Rubendall (Tony Manero)!
He was nice and kind enough to do the signature pose with me, which prompted another guy to ask me to re-take a photo with him doing that as well. 
Saturday Night Fever The Musical runs from 4th – 13th September 2015 in Istana Budaya, KL. You can get your tickets from Milestone Productions by calling 03-9222 8811. Tickets starts from RM 138. I highly recommend it if you like musicals and if you loved the original movie featuring John Travolta.
Ahhh, Saturday Night Fever. =) I remember watching it once in Istana Budaya, but it has a different cast. That one starred Adam Garcia as the main, if I remember that right, and involved a character jumping off a block of wall after singing ‘Tragedy’.
Hope you enjoyed the musical! ^^
Yeah, that had that scene too! 🙂
I did enjoy the musical, I enjoyed the backstage tour even more. It was a rare glimpse into the live of theatre and I’m actually a huge fan. I was involved in my high school production in NZ too.
It was Peer Gynt and I played the supporting cast Aslak (the blacksmith) and I *still* have my t-shirt – one was made for every cast and our drama teacher, it says Riccarton High School (Christchurch, New Zealand) Cast of Peer Gynt 1996.
That must have been a fun time, participating in your high school’s drama production! =)
Love the couple pix..jz lagen-wait for it-dary…
Thanks mate! 🙂
It was a lot of fun! I actually was introduced to theatre at the age of 15 during a rebellious time in my life. I didn’t go to class but I did go for the drama rehearsals (was the only Asian on drama class). I loved it coz it was so fun and our teacher was a nice guy who smoked weed and turned a blind eye when we smoked up at a stay over in school overnight for teambuilding.
We also stole beer from the teacher’s fridge (we were camped inside the teacher’s room) and he was sooo pissed off at that coz he got into trouble for it but he stood up for all of us. He probably knew it was the four of us who did it but no one said anything and he made it go away. Awesome guy.
You got me googling what Spic meant! HAHA! 🙂
Thanks for the review!
Oh, it’s not common here but it’s a racial slur. 🙂
I was just surprised to hear it coz it didn’t appear in other productions in English speaking countries due to the offensiveness of the term. I guess it’s different cultural values, I was involved in theatre in high school, best days of my life.
Your Saturday Night Fever pose is perfect!
Thanks Mun! 🙂
Yeah, it was a lot of fun to wear something 70’s and go do the pose with Brandon Rubendall.
Lol..the weather does wreck havoc that evening.
Hmm…VIP side is better. Cat B side, the door kept opening despite it’s in the middle of the song.
Your pose look more authentic than Brandon lah.
Actually i watched Saturday Night Fever in Istana Budaya more than 10 years ago. Different casts I think. Still good to watch again this year, thanks to NN.
Oh, I told my dear we should have given you our tickets! 🙂
My 2 pax guests arrived late (10 minutes before intermission) so the Nuffnang booth was already unmanned but managed to get in with good seats anyway from one of the ushers when they told them their situation – they were caught up in the jam too, they drove out early and Whatsapped me quite early too but was stuck for 2 hours!
I didn’t know yours were Category B ones or we could have given you our extra 2 VIP tickets when the original couple couldn’t come.
Thanks Kathy! Yup, it was a great show.
I love musicals but can’t attend this as there is no one to look after the kids so I guess I have to put on hold any musicals until my kids are off to college >_<
You can bring your kids too! 🙂
Kathy brought her boy. I don’t think there’s an explicit “No children” policy for most musicals in Malaysia (although there are some restricted ones in West End, mostly due to adult content). It was a great show!
Love the backstage tour!! I would like to go to one too.
Yeah, thanks to Samantha and Jack from Nuffnang for the backstage pass! 🙂
I didn’t know it came with that or that we could take photos or I would have bought my better half’s dSLR which would have resulted in better photos. You should come over to KL next time there is one.