BEST known for playing witty hairstylist Steven in sitcom Kopitiam two decades ago, comedian Douglas Lim has “graduated” from customer to coffee shop owner in his next big project, which premieres February.
The funnyman will be a show-stealer, playing original character Mr Wong in Enfiniti Productions’ Ola Bola The Musical at Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur, from Feb 8 to March 11.
“It’s a surprise homecoming to my beloved kopitiam, even if it’s an entirely different one, specially created for Ola Bola,” said Lim in an interview with the New Straits Times yesterday.
“And, being promoted to owner, rather than remaining a customer, is long overdue — just what I’ve been waiting for!”
Thanking Ola Bola director Puan Sri Tiara Jacquelina for roping him into the musical’s multi-racial cast, Lim immediately said “yes” to playing Mr Wong after they met late last month.
“It’s my second time in a musical about great footballers, and once again, I’m comic relief! Four years ago, I played Kenny, the live-wire football fan in Supermokh The Musical, for two seasons, and it’s great to be back,” said Lim.
He describes Mr Wong as a “naysayer” who doubts the ability of the Malaysian football team to qualify for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia.
“Mr Wong is the Harimau Malaya team’s detractor par excellence — he has nothing good to say about them, despite serving food and drinks to customers who love the team.
“As the story progresses, the team improves by leaps and bounds, and eventually bowls him over — he thus transforms from doubter to believer,” explained Lim.
Ola Bola is Lim’s second collaboration with Enfiniti. He played film mogul Tan Sri Run Run Shaw in P. Ramlee The Musical in 2007, 2008 and 2014.
“While Shaw was uptight, Mr Wong is loud and expressive. He speaks his mind and is Harimau Malaya’s ‘opponent’, whom they must win over by improving their game.
“He represents the man in the street driving the plot in his own, comical way.”
Tiara said the 30-odd cast members, whom Lim joined two weeks ago, had been rehearsing six days a week and 10 hours a day since early last month.
“I was inspired to create a
kopitiam owner for Ola Bola,
because these hardy businessmen facilitated meet-ups of
football fans throughout the 1970s and 1980s, long before the advent of modern cafes in
shopping malls,” she said.
“These coffee shops were regular hang-outs for multi-racial Malaysians to get together and forge friendships by viewing football matches and discussing their favourite teams.”
Tiara said the role of Mr Wong was tailor-made for Lim because the “loud and sarcastic” shop owner strongly resembled some of his stand-up comedy characters.
“Mr Wong gets the best lines. Douglas did a lot of improvisation, which made his character a lot funnier,” she said.
“It’s always good to have Douglas on board.
“He is very generous and shares a lot of ideas with the relatively new cast. It is a joy to work with him.”
Besides Lim, the cast of Ola Bola also includes Iedil Putra Alauddin, Luqman Hafidz, Lim Jian Wen, Brian Chan, Abimanyu Masilamani, Kai Chalmers, hip-hop singer Altimet and Puteri Gunung Ledang actor Stephen Rahman-Hughes as British coach Harry Mountain.
The script was written by Shamaine Othman.