ACT ONE
Kensington High School is having an annual concert that is held for the graduating students who are leaving. It is going to be held on the 8th of November. This year, the Secondary One students are called to perform for this concert and each class has to present something related to music. Orchid’s class decides to stage an 881 inspired musical number and auditions for the lead role will take place next week.
Orchid, Cynthia, and a few other girls are chosen to audition for the lead role. Back at home, Ahma tells Orchid not to take part in the audition, as chances are that it might reveal her Getai identity.
However, wanting to be part of the 881 musical so much, Orchid still goes for the audition but pretends to sing horribly and is then allocated to be part of the backstage crew. She is put to be in-charge of the costumes and the designing of the set for the musical. Cynthia successfully auditions for the lead role in the 881 musical and is very contented with her own achievement.
Three weeks before the actual concert, the rehearsals start. While Cynthia and her backup singers are rehearsing for the concert, Orchid is instructing the other backstage crewmembers on how to design her dream Getai stage while she finds suitable costumes for the performers. Orchid is curious about what the cast is rehearsing so she goes to the stage.
ACT TWO
Orchid, dumbfounded, sees Cynthia pole-dancing away like a bargirl. Cynthia arrogantly remarks with an egotistical tone “Oh, I was just rehearsing my signature steps.” Due to her numerous experiences in theatre, she has decision on the plot and choreography. She thinks that traditional Getai is too outdated and wants something spectacular to present to the audience. She decides to perform two songs – ‘Toxic’ and ‘Opps I Did It Again’ by Britney Spears and adds pole dancing. Cynthia shows Orchid her own costume – Bright purple tank top and black sequined mini skirt, together with wire-mashed stockings and high boots.
Orchid becomes furious at how Cynthia cheapens the Getai image and asks Cynthia not to change the Getai image, but Cynthia turns down her plea.
Orchid goes home and sits at her doorstep, sulking while thinking of a solution. Khairul then comes back from school and asked her “Girl, why the black face? You need to chill.” He just came back from a discussion with his professor about his latest project, which is to design costumes for Chinese musicals and presenting them after they are made. After hearing about how Cynthia is trying to cheapen the Getai image, Khairul immediately comes up with a plan. He already designed a new set of Getai costumes and wants to present them in a unique way so he decides to lend the costumes to Orchid to help salvage the 881 musical. Also, he compiles a few of the famous Getai songs into a CD for her.
Meanwhile, Orchid thinks of how she can convince Cynthia to change the musical to traditional Getai but to no avail. In the end, she decides to carry on with the proposed set by Cynthia, hoping that a miracle will happen on the concert day so that Khairul’s costumes and CD can be put to good use.
ACT THREE
On the day of the graduation concert, Orchid meets with Khairul before the concert to get the costumes and CD from Khairul. Khairul then fetches his Professor to the Kensington High’s graduation concert. He is excited on how the presentation will turn out, as it will determine his grade for the costumes.
After heading back to Kensington High, he quickly finds Orchid because he is eager to see how his costumes look being displayed by real human models. Of course, Orchid does not want to disappoint Khairul, so she did not tell him that she failed to convince Cynthia to put on his costumes.
Khairul gets angry and upset with Cynthia and starts arguing about the costumes. Just then, Cynthia comes rushing to Orchid, panicking. She asks Orchid if she can help fix her costume as she accidentally ripped her skirt’s zip while getting ready. Taking the chance, Cynthia quickly stares at Khairul and demanded who he was. Khairul lies that he is a fashion designer and Cynthia desperately begs him if he has any spare costumes for the show. Delighted, Orchid produces Khairul’s project.
With the new costume, Cynthia cannot do pole dancing anymore, and she requires a different plan. Orchid then hands Cynthia Khairul’s CD and since the songs are famous Getai songs, Cynthia and her backup singers manage to memorize on the spot without any difficulty.
8pm comes and the graduation concert starts. Cynthia and her backup singers look gorgeous and stunning with the new costumes in their class’s 881 musical, especially Cynthia. Khairul’s professor is mesmerized by Cynthia – mainly because of the costume Khairul made. His presentation goes well and the concert becomes a success. In the end, not only did Orchid manage to change Cynthia’s perception of Getai, Cynthia also thought that Orchid’s idea is actually better than her original and apologizes to Orchid for her lousy attitude. Khairul’s decision to help Orchid ended up killing two birds with one stone!
This is a sample episode for a television drama series.
The title of Show is: Orchid Oh! (A light hearted Getai drama series)
Module: Conceptualizing Stories
Written By: Alicia Ho
