Oct 14 2008
Pesta Tanglung UKM 2008 Stage Performance, Well Done!
It’s about the life of a man, from first seeing his lover at the age of 16 in the 1940s, to being forced out of love years later, then remained single for his whole life, until his death at an old age in 2008, just moments after he met his lover again.
It all started out in a small village in war-torn Malaya. A young man lost contact with his father and survived with his mother selling cakes. He had a crush on a girl, only to lose her until 10 years later. Unfortunately, when they met again and really fell in love this time, the girl was forced out of the village, after being found out she had been used by her father to cheat guys for money.
The man had since stayed single for the whole life. He kept on writing letter to the girl, but has been keeping the letters since he didn’t know where to post. At a very old age, he managed to see his lover, now an old woman, for the first time after decades, but also for the last time. He finally dropped dead in front of her, but not without the satisfaction that his wish finally came true.
This is a two-hour stage show called 落地生根 (“came to this country and be rooted here” in my own translation) in the Pesta Tanglung 2008 (Mid-Autumn Festival) in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). From a love story in the foreground, we can see in the background a history of our forefathers who came from China and took root here in Malaya.
It is not the “thereafter they lived together happily forever” kind of love story. The story line is very original and quite unexpected. The love story was so touching that we could hear the audience crying as they watched 
It is also a drama filled with singing and dancing, including many “old songs” decades ago. But it didn’t bore us at all. Very good use of the right music and the right dance at the right time to express the kind of emotion and circumstances as the storyline develops.
I was an actor and drama director on stage before. But I’ve never seen such a masterpiece so perfectly done. There are so many excellent actors and actresses there that we could hardly pinpoint who was the best, not to mention their costumes, the stage props and so on.
The official web site says it just right:
此舞台表演绝非一般舞台剧，其剧情感人非常，是晚演出定必让你赞不绝口。请万勿错过。
(This stage show is absolutely not a normal show. The plot is so moving, that the performance in that night will be worth many praises. Don’t ever miss it!)
This is a night well spent, for just RM8! I wish they could perform more than once, and perhaps in other places too. I will definitely recommend my friends to watch it. The UKM team, whether on stage or off stage, are really worthy of all our thumbs up for them. Amazing! Well done!
国大各位台前幕后的朋友们，你们的舞台演出令人激赏，你们的幕后工夫令人感动。我从未见过如你们那么棒的表演。我不是国大生，我以前是来自马大的。但我为你们感到骄傲，明年还要再来支持！
不好意思，很久没写中文，见笑了 
