Sunday, November 20, 2005
As if we never said goodbye - Barbra Streisand
Last Saturday, when I went to London to meet up wif some mates there, I decided to use the opportunity to catch a matinee show. I went to the official ticketing booth at Leicester Square - and was shocked to find how long the lines were!!!
The line just went around the square right up to Odeon cinema!!! And there was another line almost as long heading the other direction of the Square!!!
In the end, I just went straight to the Palace theatre and check at the box office. There was no one there. I went to the counter and asked for a ticket - there still were available!!!! Tickets in the stalls!!!!! And going for 50% off since I was a student!!!! But the tickets still cost 25 quid after the discount!!!! I struggled (for a full 10 seconds or so) before finally agreeing to buy it! :-) (Doris, dun tell parents, yah! But RM175 for a musical is not too bad, rite?)
I watched "The Woman in White" - Andrew Lloyd Webber's newest musical. I was almost late for the performance!!!! And it din help that there was this really unhelpful man who sat at the end of the row where I was. I asked politely to be allowed to go to my seat from the aisle. He refused. He told me to go round the other way. It made no sense for me to do that cuz me seat was right in the middle. But since it was oredi late and I din wanna hold up the play so I rush down to to the front - to find that there was no way I could get round to the other side. I rushed back up and asked if I be allowed to go thru cuz I cant go round from the front - they just needed to stand up. But he refused and told me to go round from the back!!!! (It was row F - 6th row from the front!).
I took a deep breath and rushed to the back of the hall, go round and came down back to the front on the other side. I was full of apologies - "Sorry", "I'm so sorry", "excuse me", "my apologies..." - as I tried to get to me seat but the people on the this side were all very nice. "That's alright", "No worries", "it's OK". I fell on my seat in relief and the lady next to me sympathetically told me that the people on the other side shud have allowed me in. It was alrite cuz I got really good seats! :-)
My verdict? Well, I must admit that I tried hard to stay awake during the first half!!!!! I was physically very tired and din have enuf sleep! It felt pretty slow going and very predicatable. Guy comes, falls in love wif girl, girl's sister falls in love wif him...
But in the second half it really picked up the pace! It was simply brilliant! (Perhaps the fact that the frenly lady next to me left during the intermission - she smiled sheepishly and told me before she left that she had actually seen the musical before and forgot all about it!!!!! She was really nice - but after she left, I had so much leg room!!!!). The songs were excellent and moved me to tears. Altho the storyline was still predictable to me in most parts, there were still some moments of excitement and suspense.
So based on the strength of the 2nd half performance, it was simply brilliant!!!!
The lead actress, Ruthie Henshall was wonderful! No, she's not the woman in white - but the moment she appeared on stage singing "I hope you like it here", I was enthralled by her presence. And her character was ... well, sumthing which I would like - the tragic self-sacrificing heroine!
And Simon Callow's performance of the comic relief Fosco was really good. He stole the show each time he got on the stage! the audience loved him.
They used the same revolving stage a'la Les Miserables. But the big difference was the backdrop - it was a computer generated background which was projected onto blank walls. It looked a little weird initially but after a while, not only did I get used to it but was quite impressed wif it! Trust me - there'll be one scene when it'll just blow you away!!!!
The songs - well, nowhere as good as the songs in Phantom or in Sunset. Still, some were pretty noteworthy like the aforementioned "I hope you like it here", "If I could only dream this world away", "You can get away with anything" and of course, my favourite, "Evermore without you". The lyrics of some songs pretty amusing too.
Overall? Not close to my all-time fav, Sunset Boulevard (but then, credit for Sunset must oso go to the fact that the best lines were taken from the movie which itself was simply brilliant!). Songs not as good nor memorable like "The music of the night" or "Think of me" or "As if we never said goodbye" or "With one look".
Still, it was well worth the 25 quid for me! And I left humming some tune wif a silly smile of satisfaction on me face as I rode the tube. :-)
The line just went around the square right up to Odeon cinema!!! And there was another line almost as long heading the other direction of the Square!!!
In the end, I just went straight to the Palace theatre and check at the box office. There was no one there. I went to the counter and asked for a ticket - there still were available!!!! Tickets in the stalls!!!!! And going for 50% off since I was a student!!!! But the tickets still cost 25 quid after the discount!!!! I struggled (for a full 10 seconds or so) before finally agreeing to buy it! :-) (Doris, dun tell parents, yah! But RM175 for a musical is not too bad, rite?)
I watched "The Woman in White" - Andrew Lloyd Webber's newest musical. I was almost late for the performance!!!! And it din help that there was this really unhelpful man who sat at the end of the row where I was. I asked politely to be allowed to go to my seat from the aisle. He refused. He told me to go round the other way. It made no sense for me to do that cuz me seat was right in the middle. But since it was oredi late and I din wanna hold up the play so I rush down to to the front - to find that there was no way I could get round to the other side. I rushed back up and asked if I be allowed to go thru cuz I cant go round from the front - they just needed to stand up. But he refused and told me to go round from the back!!!! (It was row F - 6th row from the front!).I took a deep breath and rushed to the back of the hall, go round and came down back to the front on the other side. I was full of apologies - "Sorry", "I'm so sorry", "excuse me", "my apologies..." - as I tried to get to me seat but the people on the this side were all very nice. "That's alright", "No worries", "it's OK". I fell on my seat in relief and the lady next to me sympathetically told me that the people on the other side shud have allowed me in. It was alrite cuz I got really good seats! :-)
My verdict? Well, I must admit that I tried hard to stay awake during the first half!!!!! I was physically very tired and din have enuf sleep! It felt pretty slow going and very predicatable. Guy comes, falls in love wif girl, girl's sister falls in love wif him...
But in the second half it really picked up the pace! It was simply brilliant! (Perhaps the fact that the frenly lady next to me left during the intermission - she smiled sheepishly and told me before she left that she had actually seen the musical before and forgot all about it!!!!! She was really nice - but after she left, I had so much leg room!!!!). The songs were excellent and moved me to tears. Altho the storyline was still predictable to me in most parts, there were still some moments of excitement and suspense.
So based on the strength of the 2nd half performance, it was simply brilliant!!!!
The lead actress, Ruthie Henshall was wonderful! No, she's not the woman in white - but the moment she appeared on stage singing "I hope you like it here", I was enthralled by her presence. And her character was ... well, sumthing which I would like - the tragic self-sacrificing heroine!
And Simon Callow's performance of the comic relief Fosco was really good. He stole the show each time he got on the stage! the audience loved him.
They used the same revolving stage a'la Les Miserables. But the big difference was the backdrop - it was a computer generated background which was projected onto blank walls. It looked a little weird initially but after a while, not only did I get used to it but was quite impressed wif it! Trust me - there'll be one scene when it'll just blow you away!!!!
The songs - well, nowhere as good as the songs in Phantom or in Sunset. Still, some were pretty noteworthy like the aforementioned "I hope you like it here", "If I could only dream this world away", "You can get away with anything" and of course, my favourite, "Evermore without you". The lyrics of some songs pretty amusing too.
Overall? Not close to my all-time fav, Sunset Boulevard (but then, credit for Sunset must oso go to the fact that the best lines were taken from the movie which itself was simply brilliant!). Songs not as good nor memorable like "The music of the night" or "Think of me" or "As if we never said goodbye" or "With one look".
Still, it was well worth the 25 quid for me! And I left humming some tune wif a silly smile of satisfaction on me face as I rode the tube. :-)
# posted by imissw : 8:25:00 pm
