Simply Wicked!

Great stage design. Great acting. Great singing. It's simply WICKED!! (^_^)

They turned the pomelo into Emerald City too! WICKED!!

Only not so wicked is that it is being played at MBS.. which is so out of the way and nothing to eat..

罗志祥 舞法舞天之Encore World Tour 1万零1夜

Been ages since i've attended a concert at the Indoor Stadium. Thought we were early to arrive but whoa!! the crowd that greeted us when we stepped out of the Stadium station. The queue to enter the stadium was endless! Imagine we had to walk from the North entrance where we were supposed to enter from, all the way to the South entrance where the end of the queue apparently is. That's like walking half of the perimeter of the stadium! Then when we finally joined the queue, we had to wait patiently in line for the walk back to the North entrance. Tonight is supposedly the record-breaking number of people packed in the Indoor Stadium for a concert. Very good ticket sales i gathered. They had to add seats in the extreme sides of the stage with very limited views i heard. Me? i've got pretty good seats. Central with no heads blocking me. No, i'm not at first row. That's almost impossible in a idol concert where the front seats would most probably be mass booked by the fan club.

Well, despite the long queues to enter the stadium, plus the long queues in the ladies room, the concert started fashionably only about 10minutes late.

It was a great show. The concert seems to have gone on a 感性 theme cos there were a few quiet moments where Show Luo recap some of the dramas he had acted in and some of the negative news that he was in. He was obviously very funny and entertaining but i do wish there were more of the faster tracks and that he didn't sing 精武门 and my favourite duets so early in the night.

Overall i think it's a dazzling visually captivating performance. The stage effects were fantastic. Though he may not be known for his singing prowess, i think he did very well tonight with the slow numbers, performing them with great emotion.

After today's concert, i'm all geared up for another pop concert! but i can't get anyone to go to Kylie's with me. :( i do wanna go hers so bad. i think it would be another brilliant performance.

881 Musical

Would have enjoyed it a lot more if i wasn't looking at the subtitles the whole time.

The theatrical version has a new element of the Fu Lu Shou characters. i like! :)

Closer

When i knew that Pangdemonium's next production after The Full Monty was Closer, i went out to rent the dvd. That was more than half a year ago. Even though the film boasts a gorgeous-looking stellar cast of Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Natalie Portman, i didn't quite get it. i know it's meant to be different from your usual love stories and it's meant to be provocative. But the excessive use of the f-word doesn't get to me.

It's one thing to hear them screaming vulgarities in the movie but it's another to be hearing them dishing out in the flesh at you. Ok that's not the point here. Anyway, despite my reservations about the film, i went ahead to watch Closer anyway as i'm a fan of Pangdemonium. The play is indeed thought provoking. But i still like The Full Monty better.

It's a pity Emma Yong had to pull out due to health reasons. i would love to see how she plays Anna.

Siow Lee-Chin and The Oberlin Orchestra's New Year Concert

Haven't been to an orchestra for ages! And boy was this good! It's such a crowd pleaser. Siow Lee-Chin played in the first half before intermission. Although she played well, i like the second half after the intermission better. For no other reason but cos it was more cheerful. She was too good in her opening piece - The Lark Ascending - it was too sombre and sad for my liking.

Other than the two "encores", my favourite piece was Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Op. 214 by Johann Strauss.

You bet i'll be going to more orchestra in the New Year! Especially if there's the Keppel discount! :p

Cinderel-LAH!

This is my first Christmas musical pantomine. i enjoyed it VERY MUCH!! It's so funny, the evil stepsisters are so bad they are so good! My first performance where it's so interactive and participative. The audience helps warn Cindy when the stepmother and stepsisters appear on stage by going, "CHANG CHANG CHANG"!!! hehe...

i think all the cast put in a splendid performance. Darius Tan and Chua Enlai are pretty good as the stepsisters in drag. Gurmit Singh, Neo Swee Lin, and of course Emma Yong (who is appearing everywhere in the theatres) and Sebastian Tan. And i find it so funny and apt that Cindy goes to the Fish Ball on the train that goes, "The train is coming" sang in part by Emma Yong as the Dim Sum sisters.

Cinderl-LAH! runs till 11 Dec. Die die must watch lah! :p

Voyage de la Vie

2nd visit to RWS and both times I only spent 2hours or less there. Well, this time, LF's friend got free tickets to Voyage de la Vie and LF was very nice to ask me along. :)

The theatre was right at the entrance where the bus stopped. Lucky we didn't try to take the monorail in as we were running late. Our seats were quite near the front, though they were more to the side. The acrobatic performance was quite good, even though you could anticipate all the moves. The plot was very weak, together with the singing. We couldn't hear what that guy was singing at all. As for the storyline... well... lets just say I would treat this as a colourful acrobatic performance.

Boeing Boeing

It's hard not to like this highly entertaining and hilarious comedy. It's harder to sit still and try not to fall off the seat laughing at the antics of Adrian Pang who has to juggle 3 fiancees. There were only 6 characters in this play and all of them were really good in their roles. Adrian Pang was really expressive but i think the ladies stole the limelight here.Wendy Kweh was convincing in her Hong Kong accent while Emma Yong perfected her Japanese accent and mannerisms. Chermaine Ang as the materialistic SQ girl features slightly lesser but still great performance. Not forgetting the domestic helper Roza played by Siti Khalijah who is just so cute. It's not easy helping her boss manage the timetable. Hehe. There's also the long-lost friend Robert played by Daniel York. You could see that he's really put alot of energy in the play cos i can see his perspiration from my first class seat. Either that or he is really hot under the spotlight.

Great performance though i would have preferred a more exciting ending. And of course nothing beats having first class seats i.e. front row, centre seats! :p

Not Exactly Paradise

The sound was very soft in the theatre tonight. The set was quite colourful and make full use of technology for a 70s background musical. But alot of the performers really mumbled their songs through. And having sat at the first row for the last few performances, my 7th row seat was so far i was straining my eyes the whole time. :(

December Rains 雨季

Maybe cos of the good productions that i've seen previously, so i had relatively high expectations for this musical. Especially with Kit Chan and George Chan in the main cast. i think "If there're seasons" is better... December Rains turned out slightly below expectations... Or maybe it was cos of the really quiet audience today. This is the first time that no one clapped when a character sang well. Still, there were some scenes that were wow-ing. i especially like the scene in which Jeffrey Low was singing solo about his internal struggle.

[Sidenote] Was quite some time since i last watched a musical at Esplanade Theatre. Was really pleasantly surprised when i realised that my row F seat turned out to be the first row!! :p It was really a very good seat. No heads blocking my view. :)

December Rains closes on 15 Aug.

The Full Monty

What a great production by Pangdemonium! Great sets, great acting, great singing and of course, great seats! Can you imagine sitting in the first row in The Full Monty! Cool! The only minus point was probably that most of the time, the actors would be looking at the horizon and not down at us. But they get really close and that's awesome! :p

The opening "dance" by George Chan (who was just a supporting cast here) was really an opener. But the finale really tops it all. hehe. i didn't think you could do this kind of stuff in theatre. i'm amazed at how "open" it is. It really stretches the limits of the classification i guess! 挑战尺度极限！i wonder is there a rating classification for theatre??

In the finale, during the full monty performance, i would have expected them to throw their clothes at the audience. But they didn't. hee... But i ducked when "Malcom" almost threw his boxers at me. So i didn't take "Horse" boxers when he offered it to me. Aww... i should have grabbed it. That's the privilege of sitting in the first row! x_x

Oh! Adrian Pang's sons alternate playing his son in the show. i think we got Xander on our show. He's really cute. :p
The Full Monty closes 4 Jul. But tickets are all sold-out.

《天冷就回来》 2009

可能是最近太热了， 所以《天冷》没回来。。。

《天冷就回来》 is back after 2 years. i had loved it very very much in 2007 so i simply had to watch it this time. There's a soundtrack this time, new cast and additional scenes but i think i enjoyed the 2007 version much more. i'm still impressed by Ah Le's and Rose's singing but somehow the magic seemed to have diminished.

《天冷就回来》2009

It's coming back!! If you still remember, i had LOVED it so much then. i'm definitely going to watch it again! :p From 16 Apr - 3 May 2009. Waiting for ticket sales to start!! According to sistic, the original main cast would be back and 石欣卉 is going to debut in this theatrical musical.

《秋心赋》

My fav song from the musical... very 诗情话意 .

《秋心赋》 词曲：梁文福

海无边　天无际　无边无际无尽期
风凄迷　雨丝密　残泪滴
人遥远　心思念　思思念念只一个你
不回忆　又回忆　空回忆

心上秋　何年何月渐渐染上眉头
眉上秋　早已积成心上忧
心上秋　何时再与那年的你聚首
等是爱　盼是爱　望是爱
问年月　何年月　恨年月

“Anyone Lived In A Pretty How Town” - E E Cummings

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn’t he danced his did

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone’s any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then) they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

(the poem that 小静 and Rose recited)

天冷再回来

重温《天冷就回来》。。。棒！
依旧被那曲幕感动。。。 依然被George与Joanna的歌声所吸引。。。
但我觉得大家都累了。。。唱得没比第一场好。。。
加油！

Crazy in Love

bought
tickets
to
《天冷就回来》
again

yes!
we
are
crazy!
(**,)

《天冷就回来》 If There're Seasons...

赞。非看不可！

我的第一部本地音乐剧。真的让我大跌眼镜, 喜出望外。故事的每一首歌都丝丝入扣，拉住我的心旋，让我跟着音乐旋律，演员的生动表情一起起伏不定，紧紧地扣住了我的心窝！《天冷就回来》是一部值得捧场的新加坡舞台剧。值回票价！

故事的灵感来自于梁文福的一首《天冷就回来》。音乐剧的每一首歌都是由梁文福写的。每首歌都钩起了许许多多的回忆！如果你生长在80，90年代，你一定不会对这些耳熟能详的歌感到寞生。

A musical feast that captures your heart, a lyrical journey beyond imagination! I didn't expect the show to be so good! MUST WATCH! I love all the songs in this musical. Superb acting by the cast! The main characters are very good! I was very impressed by George Chan (perhaps better recognised for being one of the judges on the Dance Floor competition). Excellent diction, great singing. But the best performance has to go to Joanna Dong as Cat and Water! Really impressed by her expressive body language! Hurry go grab your tickets now! The musical runs till 2 Sep 07. Don't miss it!

Oh ya. Feeling nostalgic and having thoroughly enjoyed myself, I bought a collection of songs by 梁文福 autographed by the man himself! :)


Excerpt from Sistic

"实践剧场曾为您打造过本地的舞台经典音乐剧《老九》，也成功地重新诠释不朽的曹禺名著《雷雨》。这一次，我们带来了本地音乐巨匠梁文福的数十首经典歌曲，以及香港剧作大师杜国威（近年的作品包括了张学友主演的卖座电影《如果.爱》等等）缠绵悱恻的细腻文笔，共同为你讲述一个感人至深而又激动人心的励志爱情故事。《天冷就回来》今年八月戏剧中心首演――田伟鸿、陈瑞彪、董姿彦、施慧玲、郑展伦、林燮毅、黄家强、吴悦娟等，携手带给您――今年最能打动你内心深处的一部好戏！"

Official website: If There're Seasons...

[afternote: YZ and I loved it so much that we decided to watch it again! (^^,)]