"Witches of Oz" is the title of this year’s Cempaka Schools’ annual offering. Held at the Cempaka campus in Cheras, it ran over two weekends.

I have a particularly strong dislike for the phrase “For a Malaysian production…”, as if saying these words before explaining how a show excuses it from mediocrity. In this case, I won’t bother to demean this particular show by uttering the words “For a school play, it was really good ...” The reason for this being, it has definitely outclassed the school plays I’ve grown up with.

Based on the Broadway hit “Wicked” (itself based on Gregory Maguire's "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West", a revisionist look at L Frank Baum's classic), the performance revolves around two protagonists: the first, a piece of shallow blond fluff, well played by 11-year old Claudillea Alexis Juliette Holloway; and the other, an outcast olive-skinned witch, played by fellow schoolmate Julie Chan Nuo En.

It was indeed an impressive performance. No school hall I’ve ever graced actually had a 42 member strong orchestra, 26 member strong choir off-stage, and what amounts to more people actually being involved in the production as opposed to those who attended it.

The story goes that the two main characters meet in a hate-at-first-sight encounter. As all good stories go, this one had conflict, a love triangle. There’s a flighty leading man who somehow falls in love with a freakish outcast, gets bewitched into a freak himself and escapes, leaving behind the third party of the love triangle now a triumphant new owner of an emerald city. Of course, flighty leading man and freakish outcast run away and live happily ever after in a field of corn ...

Okay, no. I made that last one up, but the rest is true.

It was a well put-together show. There was the excellent choreography by none other than Judimar Hernandez, faithfully transcribed orchestration by Isaac Chia, creative vision of Vincent Kang and the genius of the people who transformed the small hall at Cempaka Cheras into a miniaturized version of something worth staging at Istana Budaya itself! The play was truly a wonder to behold.

I was impressed to see such names like Terrence Chong at the sound console and Tan Eng Heng on lights. Terrence and Eng Heng are names not unfamiliar in the local arts scene. But then again, this school can afford it.

According to the voice coach Ann Salina Peter -- a member of award-winning music ensemble Rhythm in Bronze -- the kids (who range from age six to Fifth Formers) are a combined team of Cempaka Schools’ two campuses in Damansara  Heights and Cheras. The kids were put through an audition process just like any professionally staged play and allowed to skip lessons for two months during school term put the production together. They were also given a three-day camp facilitated by local dance and theatre celebrity-maker Michael Xavier Voon who taught the lucky kids more aspects of musical theatre and presence.

Ann was quick to add, however, that the cast had to forfeit their school holidays to catch up on the lessons the missed during term time. All I can say to this is that the teachers themselves must be amazing individuals to work year round to put this together, forfeiting their holidays as well to catch up with the kids.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and Tun Dr Siti Hasmah were among the guests, which was a real treat and an honor in itself to any production, much less a school one.

From my perch on the second storey, I couldn’t tell if they were suitably impressed by the extremely high standard of performance, but I know I was.

There was the sweet voice of Claudillea (as the “good witch” Glinda) with her pure high notes. She had rather uninspired mid-range tones and somewhat haphazard musical phrasings but these were brilliantly offset by her acting. This young lady totally captured the spirit and essence of her character even though she didn’t meet my top mark on the singing end.

Her fellow lead Julie Chan (as the “wicked” but really misunderstood witch Elphaba) was the direct opposite. Julie’s slightly husky singing was nothing short of hair-raising, especially at a scene where she was casting a spell to save her beloved’s life. The song and the character came to life when she sang, and it was wonderful to behold.

Together, the two girls complemented each other beautifully with the handsome and flighty hero played rather well by Khairulddin Roy Ramzi (as Fiyero, the prince-turned-scarecrow). He sang well and played the too-cool yet endearing character convincingly.

The supporting cast were good, and the costumes were beautifully done. The show came complete with acrobatics, larger-than-life props, and every bit of it looked professional. Even more amazing is the fact that parents and staff put the costumes together, and that it was an almost totally in-house affair.

In a production with so many characters, it is nigh impossible to name everyone who did a good job, but one in particular stood out for me. While short and undoubtedly young, Teoh Jun Vinh (the Wizard of Oz) was the most impressive. His acting and singing reflected a depth of maturity surprising in one so diminuitive. While the other characters were polished, this one was real and stood out all the more for it.

The music video epilogue was a riot.

To the kids at Cempaka, it was a brilliant effort. It is good to see such a high level of talent in its raw stages, and that hard work and perseverance can yield such beautiful results.

 ~~~

Zalina Lee is a jazz singer with a riot of a laugh not unlike that of a witch.

The musical “Witches of Oz” was staged at Cempaka Schools Cheras from July 20th to 22nd, and 27th to 29th, 2007. It was the third musical staged as close as possible to professional standards by the private school.