Grease Singapore

I went to watch Grease at the Mastercard Theatres in Marina Bay Sands. It’s enjoyable to watch, funny and (in my sister’s words) easy to understand. She’s still a little chuffed at not understanding The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I thought it was pretty clear cut. -_-

My most vivid memory of Grease wasn’t John Travolta’s film version; It was a musical done by my Secondary school, also Grease but adapted and censored for school. I remembered that for quite a while, the dance seniors were doing the hand dance thingy and it was all the rage in school.

Now that I think of it, I can’t remember how my school’s version ended. I reckon it must be something lame like the guy changing for the good and study non-stop, became a scholar and they lived happily ever after. Goes to show that I actually know nuts about Grease.

Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed the show as like my sister aptly put it; It’s really easy to understand.

Even if I want to be mean on purpose, I can’t find anything negative to say about the musical. The voices of the entire cast are so lovely, I think even if somebody blind came to the show, they would still enjoy themselves just by listening to the songs. I am not exaggerating.

Again, my friend Chibi san asked me to watch the show and I’m so glad she did. It’s very entertaining and I would love to watch it again.

I’m ending this post with photos of the iconic “Grease is the word” guy head in shades. This time, they have such strict no photography policy, they didn’t even let me take a photo of the final bow. =_=

Before I go, here’s two instagram account of the actor/actress in the musical: @Eliwcooper who is also Eugene in the show, and @gretelscarlett who portrays Sandy in the show.

That’s all for today. Remember to catch Grease before it ends. The last show is on the 18th of May.

My Fair Lady

I watched the dressed rehearsal of My Fair Lady musical at the MasterCard Theatres in Marina Bay Sands yesterday and it is fantastic.

My Fair Lady is a love story but it is not just a love story. It has humour, good music and great choreography. Best of all, it ends happily ever after, better than the morose endings of most famous but tragic love stories.

I’ve not watched the play before yesterday, but I’ve watched the movie made in 1964 starring Audrey Hepburn and it is one of my favourite movies. If you haven’t watched that, imagine a better, non-prostitute version of Pretty Woman.

The musical is not a word-for-word version of the movie, some scenes are rearranged and, I daresay, I prefer the musical’s pace over the movie’s. I even prefer the musical’s interpretation of the characters. I just went back to watch the movie again (that’s 5 minutes ago) and realised that the characters in the movie seemed a little less expressive than they should. Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins are so much funnier in the musical even when they’re saying the same things.

However, one regrettable part was that the musical does not have the scene at the Embassy Ball, which I think, would be essential to show Eliza’s successful transformation. After all, showing that you’ve won is more satisfying than saying you’ve won.

All in all, a fantastic musical that’s for anyone who knows how to speak English. I do recommend reading the lyrics first though, to get an idea of what they are saying as their accent is so strong.

Here’s the lyrics to With A Little Bit ‘O’ Luck, one of my favourite song in the play.

I lifted them off Metro Lyrics and you can find all the lyrics to
My Fair Lady there. I especially like Why Can’t the English? and Just You Wait.

As usual, before I end this post, here’s the link to book the tickets.

It starts tonight till the 2nd of March.

I highly recommend My Fair Lady and I’m glad that I picked the first row because their facial expressions was so animated and it’ll be worth the extra money to sit closer to experience the play.

And if you’re a kaypo like me, you can follow Brianmdrummy on Instagram . He is a member of the cast and Instagram rather interesting pictures of the play and of Singapore.

And again, nobody paid me anything to write this to the very little number of people who visits this blog. It is written of my own accord and yes, my friend Chibi San invited me to watch this as well.

Notre Dame de Paris Singapore

My friend, Chibi san, had tickets to Notre Dame de Paris and invited us to watch it. Hence on Tuesday evening, I went with my sister and her boyfriend. It’s a very popular musical so I was pretty excited. However, even before we went into the theatre, I had to overcome a very personal hurdle. How exactly is “Notre dame de Paris” pronounced?!

According to Dictionary.com, it’s “noh-truh deym” or “noh-truh dahm“. And here I was reading it mentally as “Not reh dam”. =_=

Thankfully, I was spared the embarrassment when I saw Chibi san at the counter. (Doubly grateful to her for that. Haha.)

Pretty stars on the tickets.

Managed to take a photo of the stage before the show started.

To be completely honest, I’ve mixed feelings about the show. The costumes are great and the choreography is outstanding. The lyrics seemed a bit off, understandable considering that it was originally in French, and truly, I am grateful that I was invited to watch something so popular that it’s translated into so many different languages.

BUT (it’s a huge but) several issues kept bugging me so much that I couldn’t overlook them. First of all, some of the performers couldn’t reach some of the high notes. (Opening night jitters maybe?)

And the sound system was all over the place. By that, I meant that the music just went out with a loud popping sound in the middle of one of the scenes (kudos to the performers for carrying on, especially the actor in the role of Phoebus. His mic went completely soundless and he carried on without missing a beat.)

Even when the sound was fixed, some of the higher pitches sounded too harsh on the ears. I’m no expert in this area but it was unpleasant during some of the chorus. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt though, that it was a technical glitch and they did the best that they could, considering that it was the opening night and there would be kinks to smoothen out.

As mentioned above, I love the choreography. However, to put it as nicely as possible, I wanna break the ankle of one of the performers.

In one of the most anticipated and visually stunning scene “The Bells”, the performers sit on huge bells and swing back and forth.

(Photo taken from official video, click here for the video from Base Entertainment Asia)

The performer on the right has a loose ankle. Her (could be a guy, I don’t know) ankle was just dangling there when it was supposed to be curled. If there were not two other bell ringers, she would not have stuck out like a sore thumb but there she was, with her loose ankle, when everybody else had theirs tightly curled. It was practically screaming at me, and I just wanted to climb onstage and slap her ankle.

It is such a pity, especially when she is a stronger dancer than the performer in the middle (subjective once you consider the loose ankle). The middle bell ringer is just one or two beats slower, no biggie, unless it’s a world famous musical and she is performing in the middle of the stage.

Oh my god, at that point, all I was thinking of was that they could’ve just rehearsed more and none of this could have happened.

It could be opening night jitters, or my expectations were too high. From what I saw on Twitter, many of the other audience seemed to love the show. (Just search #notredamedeparis or #notredamedeparissg on Twitter) As I said, I’ve mixed feelings.

The story is a classic and I love the inner torment portrayed by the characters. My favourite character is probably Father Frollo. He was torn by his forbidden desire for Esmeralda and who he thought he should be. Basically a creep and pedophile rolled into one.

Matt Laurent, actor playing the character of Quasimodo, has a lovely lovely voice, and I enjoyed his rendition of God you made the world all wrong and Dance my Esmeralda.

I managed to snuck a few photos during the curtain call. Again, I stress that I would never take photos during a performance unless it is allowed.

It is a live musical and I’m sure it is impossible to be pitch perfect and every movement synchronised for all the shows. Seeing a show on different days could be an entirely different experience because of the different ways the performers feel and perform on that day. That’s the beauty of watching it live rather than buying the cd.

For people who are interested in the show, go to Sistic to book your tickets. The show will be in Singapore till the 5th of January next year.

Screenshot of the ticket prices taken from Sistic. There are probably some card discounts.

I think it’d be great to gift someone with tickets for the holiday season, especially since the show will be carrying on even on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Spending quality time together, away from the kids and talk about thoughts of the musical afterwards. I know I had fun.

P.s. In no way did I obtain any benefits from this blog post. Nobody paid me to write this. (Though I wish someone would.) Haha. It’s an honest review based on what I’ve seen because I’ve the time to write here and I wanted to share.

A paid review would be all praises, don’t you think?

Le Noir Singapore (Part 2)

Since nothing new was written and I’m having too much fun posting photos on Instagram (so much so that I’m neglecting Twitter and this blog) I’ve dug out an old entry drafted ages ago, for your reading pleasure.

Actually, this post consisted mostly of photos..

A picture speaks a thousand words. Or if you are a lazy bastard, like me, then many photos make one blog entry.

This is Part 2. No photos were taken by me during the show. I’ve basic respect for the performers, unlike some in the audience.

End of photos. It was a fun and enjoyable experience for me. If you’re interested to know more, you can read Part 1 here.

Le Noir Singapore (Part 1)

Cast of Le Noir, photo taken from Base Entertainment website.

It was a great show and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was a pity though that no photography or videos are allowed inside the theatre. I’m not good with words so it does get pretty frustrating trying to describe something without pictorial illustration.

If I were to describe the show with my limited vocabulary, it’ll sound so bizarre, I doubt anyone would know what I’m writing about. I’ll try though, to the best of my ability, so bear with me.

There were many ass cheeks and flamboyant costumes with feathers. All the female performers wore heels and I also saw a male performer wearing heels during the finale. They started off with a guy on an aerial hoop. He put up a good show and his ability to contort his body in so many ways was impressive. However, I was somewhat distracted from his performance by his very prominent package, clearly visible when he balanced himself on the hoop hands-free.

I don’t have a photo of him, or his pouch, but here’s a photo of some random person dangling from a hoop which I found on the internet.

His were one of the many trapeze rigging performances in the show. There was an aerial silk performance and the performer was practically swinging himself out, inches away from the audiences sitting around the stage. I love aerial silks. For something that requires so much strength and muscles in places that you never knew existed, aerial silks look so effortless and ethereal. To put it in Chinese, it’ll be “力与美的结合”.

If you like Jolin, then you’ll remember that she performed aerial silks in her Agent J album.

I do feel that Jolin’s arms were too bony to look good on aerial silks though.

Among all the trapeze rigging, I like the performance of the two girls on a trapeze best. They were moving in sync, matching action for action in mirror image. It eludes me why but I always find it fascinating to see the mirror effect.

And there was a guy that balanced himself on a plank that rested on a cylinder that only vaguely resembles the photo below in form, except that the cylinders were a lot bigger and the plank a lot smaller.

Did I mention that there was rollerblading stunts, juggling, and a whole lot of other performances that I cannot give a name to because I have no idea what they are called?

Oh, and the ring master was hilarious. I laughed until I was gasping for breath. Though now, if I were to relate to you in words what he did, it wouldn’t even be half as funny as seeing the performance for yourself. Except that Le Noir is no longer here. It was in Singapore from 12th March to 7th April.

I would have written this in March if I could. Typing this entry now took me more than three hours, probably due to the fact that I had to rack my brain to find words to describe the show.

All I’m saying is that if Le Noir comes back to Singapore, I’ll be sure to go again.

Burn The Floor

On Tuesday, I’d got tickets to Burn The Floor and I was really excited as back in my secondary to JC schooling days, I was in the school dance club. A good dance show is always appreciated.

ｖ（＾＿＾ｖ）♪

Photo of the tickets because they have pretty golden stars on them!!

Before watching the show, I only knew that it’s about ballroom dancing, from Broadway and London’s West End so I did a little research online. (Okay, I just googled, it wasn’t hard to find.)

This is lifted from their website:

Since 1999 Burn the Floor has thrilled audiences around the world. Years before Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance turned ballroom dancing into must-see TV, this sizzling Ballroom and Latin dance spectacular was setting stages ablaze. Burn the Floor features international championship dancers, many of whom have appeared on those television shows, which have also featured Burn the Floor Creative Director Jason Gilkison as guest choreographer and judge. A ticket to Burn the Floor is a ticket to a night of elegance and excitement as the cast perform a dazzling array of dances including the Waltz, Cha Cha, Samba, Salsa, Rumba, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Mambo, Tango, Swing, Jive, Lindy Hop, Viennese Waltz, Pasa Doble and more!

The entire show lasted 2 hours which means extra extra stamina from the dancers. After watching the show, I realised that there were only 22 dancers on stage. Can you imagine how hard it would be to remain upbeat and keep your breath after dancing for two hours?!

Σ(￣。￣ﾉ)ﾉ

If it was me, I would have died of exhaustion.

All the dancers, both male and female, are ripped. They’re so hot, I’m freaking jealous and am now very motivated to lose some weight. (⌒-⌒; )

No photography is allowed so I can’t show you how hot they are, but you can check out their official website here and view their photos to give you an idea on what to expect during the show.

Camwhore shot with Harmony!!

They also have two singers singing live on stage so it’s like a concert and the singers and dancers share the spotlight.

Details on how to purchase a ticket to the show can be found here. It ends on the 14th October this Sunday so be sure to catch it before it’s gone.

P.s. Burn The Floor is introduced in TimeOut Magazine too.

Slava’s Snow Show

Harmony and I went to the Slava’s Snow Show last Friday.

Initially, I had my apprehensions. Honest to God, some clowns freak me out with their creepy silent laughter.

However, this show made me laugh so hard, and the clowns were so expressive, I swear, sitting in the first few row is worth the extra cost.

We were super obedient and didn’t take any photos during the show, until intermission.

Heh heh.

I was just fooling around with the phone camera when Harmony suddenly whispered, “Is that Bong Qiu Qiu?”

And I’m like, “OMG, WHERE?!”

I went forward and asked for a photo with her. She’s so skinny, I look extra fat beside her so I had to edit myself 200% thinner. FML.

Harmony did help me edit but I was like I’m still fat so I added the snowman and tweaked around some more. (｡-_-｡)

Then, the show started again and Harmony snuck in some more photos, very furtively. I didn’t even noticed as I was so engrossed in the show.

The kids in the theatre had a blast. I have a feeling that it’s because the clowns interacted with everyone, no matter where you seat.

Clowns walking to the back of the theatre.

Or it could be the confetti everywhere!!

Kids love confetti. Ehem. Actually I also love confetti. σ(^_^;) Throughout the show, kids and adults alike were scattering the confetti around, at each other and basically having a lot of fun.

And at the end of the show, everyone had huge smiles on their faces, throwing balls around & taking photos with the clowns.

I didn’t manage to take a photo with the clown in yellow suit though. ( ；´Д｀)

I suspect he is Slava himself.

It was a great night out and honestly, it’s a show that the whole family will enjoy.

To find out more about the show, their website is here. The last show is on the 9th of September, this Sunday, so you might want to catch it before they leave Singapore. ^_^