Drunk Before Dawn

"You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you." John 12:35

I've always had a penchant for attending good musicals...selected ones that is...remember Rodger & Hammerstein's "Sound Of Music" and " Flower Drum Song"?...my all time favourites...albeit, I've only watched the local productions, not at West End Theatre unfortunately...

Drunk Before Dawn (click here to go to the site)
I watched the premere at the opening night at SIB KL. Was really good. Excellent. I had been looking forward to this performance for the last 3 weeks... Been too long since I've been to any theatre....




A story of the Lun Bawang village in Borneo in the 1930s... shrouded in darkness...it's inhabitants constantly drunk on rice beer and falling into moral decadence, illness and affliction....l men, women and children alike...for years... 78 years ago.... a story of a man who was called by God to deliver the Lun Bawang people out of the darkness they were in... a story of salvation through God...


Raut Mugang, the village head (Penghulu) 's son, (played by Jaydon Chong) was the lead male vocal, flanked by his love interest, Lea Tebangan ( played by Tabitha K. Lam) who happens to be a composer responsible for the repertoires. Raut and Lea's character building started with a secret rendezvous outside the perimeter of the village in Act 1 of the musical.


Lea has a younger sister, Mina Tembangan (played by Annabel Chong), who misses her father after succumbing to his illness. The sisters are cared for by Agnus Tembangan (played by Evelyn Kew), who is sick herself, fuelling Dayung's propoganda to the villagers that the spirits are angry to those who believe in the 'White God'. The two sisters are caught between believing in the real God and the beliefs of the tribe.

The missionary, Frank Davidson (played by Ryan Matthew Davis) was adamantly opposed by the village's witch doctor, Dayung, played by See Mee Gee, whose only goal was to keep the village in ignorance... giving notions that the spirits would be angry and death to those who dared worship the 'White God'...our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amongst my other favourite characters were Mr. Lee Ham Sap (played by Justin Chan), a chinese merchant with his 2 wives, (played by Joice Foo and Chang Mei Wei), who duped the villagers into spending copious amounts of money on useless, sham chinese medication which exarcebated their diseases and illness...also, not forgetting Bangau (played by Marcus Lee), Raut's faithful sidekick...

Certainly a moment to cherish...interesting script, based on a true story, complete ensemble of orchestral talents and most importantly, the message of God's promise to mankind, that "...whoseover that believe in him shall not perish but have receive everlasting life" John 3:16