Did you hear about Genting’s 40th anniversary bash? They were giving away rooms at RM1 a night. Did you hear about the guy who decided to start queueing at 3am when the counters opened at 10? Not because he was kiasu – he told the press – but because he had nothing better to do. Well, maybe not in those exact words.
Anyway, Yuchun and I made a little roadie up to Genting that morning. He’d gotten complimentary tickets to Oliver! the musical, plus we’d been asked to purchase a couple of RM1 rooms for a friend. By the time we got there at 12pm, the queue was thousands strong. And we were so not going to make it in time for the 1.30pm matinee. That is, if we followed the rules.
I love a man who isn’t afraid to break the rules.
We got ourselves a couple of forms (only 1 booking per person allowed), and walked right past the security guard posted at a side entrance into this massive ballroom lined on one side with over a dozen counters. He didn’t stop us, and we obviously weren’t going to ask him why. No one stopped us in fact, not even the dozen or so Genting staff who were organising the crowd into elaborate queues – first you step through the arch, weave your way through the line, enter the ballroom, work your way through the sea of chairs, and finally pick a counter where you queue for your turn.
We walked right up to the counter. Past the weaving queue, past the people seated and waiting on rows upon rows of chairs. I still can’t believe nobody stopped us.
We were done in 20 minutes.
Oliver! was great. I loved the choreography, the big dance numbers, and the fact that the seriously unattractive boy who played the title role had such amazing stage charisma. Well, he is launching his career in theatre come September, and he’s only 11. He makes you fall in love with him despite all his superficial shortcomings, and believe me these were serious shortcomings.
There were some boring bits, and the complex storyline of Oliver meant they had to squeeze everything into slightly over 2 hours, but it was wonderful, even if you felt a bit breathless at times from the rushed plot. Oh well.
