A night of Magical Musical at KL Pac, Sentul

This weekend, the KLPac Orchestra, directed by resident Director and Music Director, Lee Kok Leong, presented a marvelous 100- minute program of broadway music from My Fair Lady, Evita, Wicked, Chicago, Phantom of the Opera and even Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King among other significant musicals. 

The night began with the upbeat "There's No Business Like Show Business" and ended with the shoe-tapping music from Lord of the Dance. Given the wide range of pieces suited for both adults and children and the remarkable performance delivered by the orchestra and singers Joel Wong, Tria Aziz and Kay Wong Sze Yen, it was no surprise that the show was sold out for all the three days they performed.

Kok Leong began his foray into the local orchestra scene as a violist. He has been involved in several orchestras including Friends of Strings Chamber, National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), Galaxy Chamber Orchestra, klpac Orchestra, Penang Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), Kuala Lumpur City Hall Orchestra and RTM Orchestra. He is also actively involved in sacred classical concerts organised by Yin Qi.

All pieces were entwined together harmoniously with a mostly vibrant outcome and the more dramatic pieces being in Phantom of the Opera, Evita and Victory at Sea. 

Joel Wong and Tria Aziz deserved a hats off for their emotional duet performance of Last Night of the World from Miss Saigon which managed to pull at the heartstrings of the audience. The solo saxophonist performance complemented this piece.

Multi‐award winner, Tria has been performing on the musical stage for 12 years.

She has been in more than 20 productions, performing mostly English Musicals. Some of her memorable performances include “DanSing Thru Broadway”, “Kurang Manis (Instant Cafe Theatre)”, “Adam the Musical”, “Shout The Mod Musical”, “1Sex 1Money 1Scandal (ICT)”, “The Edge (of which she won Boh Cameronian's Best Musical Performer in 2014), and “Aladdin A Musical Comedy”. She has sung a soundtrack for a local Malay movie “Waris Jari Hantu” in 2007 while lending her voice in various Malay dubbing jobs for Cartoons on Astro.

Joel Wong is a tenor‐baritone who grew up on musical cartoons, musical theatre, and children's

choirs. After surviving formal education he joined The Young KL Singers in 2004 and performed with them regularly. Other pursuits include being part of The Caipifruta Vocal Quartet. Musical theatre productions include Kaki Blue (2009), Songs For A New World (2012 & 2013), Marrying Me (2013), Merrily We Roll Along (2014), Larger Than Life (2014), Cabaret (2015), The Best Of Sondheim “Abridged” (2015) and "Into the Woods" (2016). Currently a graphic designer for The Actors Studio

Malaysia, klpac and penangpac, he continues to moonlight as a performer whenever possible.

I enjoyed the 1920s pieces from Chicago the most and the orchestra was visibly enjoying themselves as well. I definitely felt the love tonight at Magical Musicals and look forward to seeing more musicals from KLPac.

 For updates on future events at KLPac, visit HERE.