The Cuci brothers are back!

"The best musical comedy"

“Laughter is the best medicine” - as clichéd as it sounds, the phrase actually contains a lot of truth. Cuci the Musical 2, is back in Istana Budaya from 27 July to 10 August 2010.

“Oh my god, I almost peed in my pants!” – said the loud guy sitting next to me in Istana Budaya last night for the preview of Cuci the Musical 2. As uncomfortable as I was, having to sit beside him for the whole 4 hours, nothing could deter my ‘mission’ to just laugh out loud and leave my worries behind.

I knew I was in for a fun night when the ‘voice’ deliberately miscounted the countdown before the start of the show. Though it was only a full dress rehearsal (which explains the 4 long hours), just a night before the opening, the stellar cast was at their best all the way through. With a whole lot of comedy, drama and songs (typical ingredients of Bollywood movies, which work the magic all the time), no wonder that last year’s Cuci the Musical received a whopping 14 nominations for the Cameronian Awards!

The show was full of ‘imperfections’ – from the failing props to the actors’ blunders – but all of these made it even more entertainingly hilarious. The constant bickering among the Cuci brothers - Fairil (Afdlin Shauki), Khai (Hans Isaac), Jojo (Awie) and C' Tan (Nabil) – was strangely endearing, and the chemistry between the actors was amazing.

The brothers are part of the 'Cuci-Cuci Services', a small window washing company and upon chance, they were given the opportunity to participate in the Window Washing Olympics (WWO) - a competition run by Citi Jasmin or CJ (Vanida Imran).

To add to the drama, the defending champions of the WWO are 'Wira Maju', a company owned by CJ's boyfriend, Wira (Harith Iskander). What’s a drama without ‘forbidden’ love, you ask? And soon enough, sparks fly as Khai and CJ develop an attraction to each other and CJ's personal assistant, Jessie (Jaclyn Victor) fell heavily for Jojo (or rather for his banana fritters).

Nabil, who replaced AC Mizal as the youngest brother was at his best comedic role, and carried his act well among the other heavyweights.  Jaclyn was another cast hired to replace Adibah Noor, and the vocal powerhouse that she is, Jac soared in the songs, but yours truly thought that her character was way too ‘giggly’ and dizzy for her own good.

Though the choreography was energetic and hip, some of the songs were just too sappy and there were parts in the musical which made me wish I could yell “CUT! On to the next scene!” – as they were dragging and lost their momentum, especially after the intermission. And while jokes were aplenty, some of the jibes poking fun at the ‘rojak’ races in Malaysia, I felt, were a bit over-the-top.

Perhaps the actors were into their characters to the maximum, but why the need to mention Jojo getting married to Jessie at Masjid INDIA?

I perked up every time Reefa went on stage to rap. The rapport that he had with the crowd was excellent, and there was something about the nonchalant yet so cool attitude that he possessed that made him so appealing.   

With all the blood, sweat and tears put into grueling dance practices, vocal lessons and rehearsals that the actors, dancers and those behind-the-scenes had to go through, Cuci the Musical 2 definitely hit the mark as “Teater muzikal komedi TERBAAAIIIKKK di Malaysia dan kawasan yang sewaktu dengannya”, so it said on the poster.

Now excuse me while I go and nurse my aching jaw – I did laugh way too much.

Show times are as follows: