ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday June 08, 2008
Vol. 42 - No 54
Plus  

Musila returns with another musical

By Tahnee Hopman

A rich blend of classical and contemporary music, although quite different from the era it is placed in, lends itself to the musical feud between the legendary Guttila and Musila.

This vibrant musical- Revenge will be staged at the Lionel Wendt Theatre from June 19-24. A sequel to the Guttila and Musila story, the concept is the brainchild of Uddaka Tennakoon, who has also composed the lyrics for the musical.Twenty three talented cast members ranging from 13-26 years have, for the past three months, been practising, giving their all for a solid performance.

“There are so many different genres of music within this one musical that the cast have had to master different styles of singing and dancing,” said Diliup Gabadamudalige who composed the music for Guttila (performed in 2004) and for Revenge its sequel. “As part of a special exchange programme, we have here with us Puck Van Dijk- a Dutch choreographer who has worked extensively with the cast over the past few weeks.

She has been able to bring out the best in the cast, helping them to perfect their moves,” he said.

A venture by Guttila Productions, Revenge is directed by Jerome De Silva. The plot takes off from the point where the defeated Musila returns to his home town-Ujjeni and begins to earn a reputation as a brilliant musician. Despite his success, he is not content until he is able to take revenge on his former teacher. So Musila hatches a plan with the evil Dushta, to abduct Guttila’s wife Anoopama. “The rest, of course is up to the audience to find out!” says Diliup.

Guttila Productions was established in 2003. “Our intention was to help rejuvenate the theatre industry in Sri Lanka,” recalled Diliup, adding that the Colombo audience is starved of good theatre. “In fact,” he explained, “when we staged Guttila, most people on the first two days assumed it was a heavy classical Sinhala musical. So we made an announcement that it was an all English musical, and the next day we had a larger audience.”

While giving the audience an interesting perspective of a much celebrated literary work, Revenge also illustrates values which appear to be disappearing from society. The producers promise an entertaining evening for the whole family.

 
Top to the page  |  E-mail  |  views[1]


Reproduction of articles permitted when used without any alterations to contents and a link to the source page.
© Copyright 2008 | Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.Colombo. Sri Lanka. All Rights Reserved.