Mamamia! and Drama Musical Audition

Two days ago, I just went and watched Mamamia!. The movie itself was kind of choppy at times, and the script can be kind of contrived. But one thing is for sure, Meryl Streep SHINES. I think watching this movie has assured me that Meryl Streep is the BEST artist there is on this planet. She’s versatile. I always think that Meryl Streep is more of a serious actress who handles serious roles. Most of her roles that I’ve watched are kind of serious, like in Sophie’s Choice, The Hour and Devil Wears Prada.

But in Mamamia!, she completely transforms herself into this upbeat and well-spirited woman. She jumps around freely, dances with exaggerated movements and sings like a rock star. She’s just so wild and carefree. A woman who never really grows up and is always a child at heart. I love her in this movie. And actually she handles all the musical part well too. Everything comes together. I love the fact that Meryl Streep, although she acts seriously, she never seems serious at all in this movie. It seems so natural and effortless. She just be, never seems to try being.

The other thing is Amanda Seyfried. She’s actually quite good with her role. This is the most wholesome and different role she’s ever got. Whilst, Pierce Brosnan’s singing is just weird. Julie Walters and Christine Baranski are good too.

I just love the whole feel about the movie. It’s loads of sunshine, beach, paradise, ABBA music, fun, singing and dancing. It’s just so sweepingly energetic, positive and cheerful.

The other two movies that I am anticipating besides Mamamia! are Milk and Changeling. I can already smell the Oscars. Sean Penn and Angelina Jolie, love both of them. Both are based on true stories. Here are the trailers. But dissapointingly, the cinemas in Singapore usually screen these movies after the Oscar nominations are announced. It’s a shame that Angelina Jolie wasn’t nominated for A Mighty Heart. Here is the trailer for Changeling.

Btw, I’ve just auditioned for a musical in my school. So here the story goes. The NUS Indonesian Society is gonna have a musical play about a very famous traditional story. It’s gonna be an ambitious production, so I’ve heard.

I’ve actually heard about the audition, but I didn’t intend to go bcoz there’s a clash of schedule. But they actually extend the audition, coz loads of people couldn’t make it for the first audition. So my friend called me and asked me if I wanted to go. And I said yes, why not, maybe I would just try. Initially I thought I would just be singing, and the audition committee told me that “Yes, you can just audition for singing”. Well, singing is definitely something that I’m pretty confident about.

When I arrived there, I found out that it’s singing plus acting. The thought of acting scared the hell out of me. Honestly, I cannot act. It’s like the hardest thing to do in the entire world.

I wonder how the hell can someone cry like in a snap of a finger. I never understand how some people can do that.

I actualy prepared a song only one hour before the audition, bcoz I didn’t want to “over-prepare” myself. I even wrote down the lyrics on a paper, bcoz I have not relly memorized the lyrics. So the song that I chose was Dream A Little Dream by Louis Armstrong. It’s one of the jazz classic. And actually when I did not ove-prepare, I sounded better. So I sang and the review was good, people were impressed. They were like all toe-tapping and swinging along when I sang. I guess I saw where I got it wrong now, I need to keep stuff simple when I sing Jazz stuff, shouldn’t put too much soul. When I sang it simply, it sounded really good. I tried to make it simple, but not completely straight forward. I tried to have some of that Fitzgerald vocal twist.

So then, they asked me to act. I was like OK. Then I told them straight away that I’m not really an actor, I don’t think i can act. But I gave it a shot, they asked me to be angry and to be sad. I acted sad but not in a cry-out-loud kind of sad, but more like feeling sad but tried hard not to cry kind of sad. I don’t know how, but the emotion just flooded my mind, and at that moment I felt a little angsty somehow. And they also asked me to committ suicide, acting only of course, and I did. But overall they said my acting was ok, not too bad. I’m like “really?“.

Honestly, I felt really weird doing all those stuff they asked me to.

Then, I went back to my room and started doing all my assignments. And at nite when I was sleeping, suddenly Silv called me and told me I am in for one of the main roles. I’m like “GET OUT OF HERE! You can’t be serious!”. And as I thought this was not a joke at all, suddenly I felt this huge responsibility that I have to carry. I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into.

But at the same time, after I hung up the phone, I thought. I’m not really confident with all this acting thing, but I do believe I can sing. Accepting the challenge might bring me outside of my comfort zone and it’s a huge opportunity for me to perform. Things like this don’t come everyday. I should at least try and see how it goes. I need to read the script first and see how it’s like. But if I ever accept it, I think I’m gonna take it seriously. People have put their trust in me and I need to work extra hard to prove myself to them.

The story is about Siti Nurbaya. It’s a very famous Indonesian literature. I think after I read the script and understand my role, I think I’m gonna start watching a lot of movies to help me get into the acting part.