Pinocchio: The Musical

The story of Pinocchio has been one of my more memorable childhood fairytales, especially with Disney's 1940 version of it. I'm sure many parents have actually made reference to it - don't lie or your nose will grow long like Pinocchio. The film had some really nice music like "When You Wish Upon A Star", which has since become the theme song of Disney.

So, how will our SRT musical stage version of Pinocchio be? Book by Jean Tay, Music & Lyrics by David Shrubsole and directed by Darren Yap, this was a family-friendly children's musical with magic, colours, and puppetry. Yes, puppetry. I've not watched a puppet production for really long, with the last probably being Avenue Q. I recall watching something by I Theatre really long ago, but which I've forgotten the story. I've always been fascinated by puppetry which really tests the storyteller/actors and skill at controlling the puppets. With Pinnochio being a puppet, what more apt than a puppet show? It wasn't exactly pure puppetry as there were characters played by humans, but it was nicely mixed.

I enjoyed myself watching the show, and I believe, so did the dozens of kids in the theatre. It's a refreshing break from the usual serious/adult stuff. Done with an Asian twist with costumes and even a segment with multi-ethnic puppets to add local flavour, the songs were not bad. One memorable song was "Round the Corner" since they reprised it a couple times. The programme didn't include the song titles, but I think I liked the song sung by Pinnochio while he was waiting for his money tree to grow. Something about being a real boy.
Joanna Ampil's (Blue Fairy) voice was beautiful. Except for Dwayne Tan (from Wild Rice's Snow White), who was the voice for Pinnochio, and her, the rest of the cast played many parts, as various characters including puppeteers. I think they all did pretty well. The cricket, strangely, had a resemblance to Yoda from Star Wars though. Enjoyed the sets and "magical effects" like flight and of course the puppets too.

It's heartwarming to still go back to these timeless and pure stories of filial piety and teachings of honesty, to be hardworking, and generally being good. It's hard to find such "innocence" in productions these days, or maybe I should catch more children productions.

The show runs till 12 December, at DBS Arts Centre.

The Water Coolers

We walked into the theatre not knowing what the plot was about, except that it had something to do with the office. And there wasn't really a plot, but rather, it was a musical revue of life in the office. It was broken up into many segments, mostly exposition of characters in the workplace. Props were quite simple - 3 chairs, 1 desk and a piano. Yes! it was live music from the piano. We saw a good crowd, almost full house, on the opening night.

It was hilarious, even though I probably missed some jokes due to my lack of understanding of some American slangs. I think most of us could relate to the various scenarios and personally, probably know of the characters depicted.
The show started off with the reminder to turn off the phone, which had 1 player on the phone in the front row as another (on stage) told him to turn it off. Soon, he was on stage and they started the musical revue, followed with the opening number called "The Opening Number". :) Going into the main programme, they started off with "Paranoia", singing "Paranoia! Paranoia!" to the chorus of Handel's "Hallelujah" from Messiah, where colleagues got paranoid when they face the insecurity of being "left out" or "dispensable".

There was also the woes of "The Hottie" in the office, "The Great Pretender" (those that pretend to be very busy but not actually doing much work...sung to the tune of the song of the same name), the irritating "devil's advocate" (i.e. the saboteur who refuses to accept others' ideas), etc.They even had a segment on the transformation of work life when "The Palm" was introduced in 1996 (i.e. love addiction to the gadget), which has now evolved to become more a "con" with blackberrys, where we're too connected (asks for immediate response to work stuff).

I think I liked the parts "P.C." (politically correct - with reference to dealing with relationships with colleagues of the opposite sex) and the "Helpline". I thought it was quite ingenious with the former, when they did the evolution-of-man pose when they sang the part on "Evolution of Man". In the latter, some people fear calling the helpline because they are afraid of appearing stupid. There was one part where the guy voiced his fears - "they laugh at you!" and a colleague responded with something like "you mean you heard them laughing?", and he replied "that's why they put you on hold!". The "IT cowboy" was quite amusing who becomes like the "saviour". He explains the problem with a load of technical jargon and the solution to the problem? Restart the computer. Ha!

There's also an interactive segment with (can you guess?) the cheesy team building exercise that we all learnt to hate in corporate life. 2 of the audience were picked to go on stage to play games and "forfeit"...just like any team building exercise. My friend and I were just talking about how crappy team building exercise can be earlier today! So I was extra amused. Ha! Good thing I wasn't sitting in front.

There were just too many segments that I can't recount them all. However, it ended quite sweetly and appropriately (even though abruptly...where's a good place to end in a revue?), reminding us that despite all the work dilemmas and frustrations, the bottomline of why we work is providing for our loved ones.

My breakdown probably doesn't make it appear funny, but you can't describe humour. You need to catch it for yourself.

The Social Network

Finally caught this after hearing so many good reviews from my friends. An account of the founders of Facebook, it was surprisingly, rather engaging and moved along quite fast, despite the technical jargon at points. I guess one could kind of relate to the context, being a FB user, not to mention the humour found in some of the scenarios.

The way it was played out was interesting. It actually told the controversial story of the founding of Facebook through the series of lawsuits Mark Zuckerberg (the founder/developer) faced. But it was more than that. It also tackled the relationship turmoils, whether friendship or otherwise. It was amazing how his brain works, but unfortunately, Mark was so caught up in his thought processes that he bungles his relationships with people.

The movie is based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires". But the question is, how much of it is "real"? But nonetheless, it got me curious enough to want to search for the characters on FB.

I think I will give it a 4 out of 5.

Cat & Dog Theology

Read something funny on Been Thinking About. Quote:

"A friend gave me a smile the other day by reminding me that a dog says,
You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, You must be God.
But,
A cat says: You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, I must be God."

But it is also a reminder of how all of the provisions of God are not meant to turn us into little gods, but into grateful worshipers.

Kam Ning in concert

As support for local artistes and composers, I readily agreed to go along with 2 friends to catch Kam Ning with the SSO (the company helps too). Also, she has gained a standing for herself. She was playing her father, Kam Kee Yong's compositions.

It wasn't the full-force SSO, but nonetheless, it made a different experience and I could more easily see some less familiar faces up front (who were probably hidden previously). The conductor for the evening was Darrell Ang, the Young Associate Conductor for SSO.

I won't say I am an expert in classical music, but I was a little disappointed in the performance for the night. Maybe I expected too much...I was hoping to be inspired/impressed like I was when Hilary Hahn came, the ice princess she may be. Maybe the pieces were too contemporary for me to grasp, so I might not be a good judge, i.e. she could be interpreting it rightly, but I couldn't tell. Let's go piece by piece.
The first piece she played Fantasia of Insects, was from what I saw, possibly a more challenging piece with the busyness of the arpeggios & trills. Her playing was rather soft, probably because the mike was a little too high (which the technician came to adjust subsequently). If I didn't hear wrongly, I think she missed a short high note.
In The Surpassing Beauty, I felt that somehow, the sorrow & resignation of the protagonist of the piece didn't come through very strongly. But technically, I think she did fine.
In A Tranquil Night, it was building up well until the part when there seemed to be some discordance in the solo violin and the cello, as if she was playing off-beat to the cello and orchestra. Maybe it was intentional as the programme notes said "...The melody is recaptured and echoed by the solo cello..." It was a bit jarring in its way, but maybe that's how the piece is meant to be.
I kind of liked the last piece that she played, Lao Jiang Xing (I liked the "swagger" from the brass at parts), until there was yet another discordance in between the orchestra and her. I wasn't sure if it was intended as when the section was repeated, it didn't sound as "off" as the 1st round.

Actually, a friend and I were wondering if it was because of the conductor, as the opening piece The River had sounded a little messy to us. But the 2nd part of the concert, with the orchestra playing Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy and Daphnis et Chloe: Suite No. 2 by Ravel was fine. The difference was that he wasn't using a score (and thus no specs) in this segment of the concert. And I liked this part of the concert better. The flutist, Jin Ta (I hope I got it right), was excellent in his solo.

Next up, I hope to catch Midori in April next year...saw the ad in the programme booklet. Upon checking, it happens to be a pure Russian programme, which I'm sure I will like. Hope I won't be away then. And maybe also Renaud Capuçon in Feb. Need to go do some reading up on SSO's concert listings to see what's in store. Haven't been keeping up with them.

A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim

No, it was not Mozart, but honestly, I went to this musical not really knowing the story (seem to be doing this often these days). But it's music by Stephen Sondheim, so one should go, even though the company refused to reveal who were in the cast till really late (we believed it was done on purpose). The story can be found here.

What did I make of the musical? Let's start with the good points first. The dialogue was humorous drawing laughs from the audience with its wittiness. Some song highlights included the well-known Send in the Clowns and It Would Have Been Wonderful (I liked the lyrics). A Weekend in the Country was pretty catchy too. The lyrics of the songs were good, quite a few pretty humorous. witty & wry. But I must say the music was rather "complex" (as my friend puts it), with many layers, and can be difficult to sing.

However, the story to me was rather frivolous and as one friend puts it, like a soap opera. The 1st Act was a little too "draggy" to lead to the point of conflict. I was a little amused by the ending when Desiree and Frederik finally came together and embraced each other. Somehow, the way that scene was played out seemed a tad "cheesy". And the way her mother died was pretty abrupt.

My friend was asking me during the show what the role of Desiree's mother was. I couldn't think of it then, except that Desiree probably took after the mother and she provided the venue for the weekend fiasco which was the climax of the show. But now, as it suddenly came to mind, I began to wonder if it was similar to the role of Puck in "A Midsummer's Night Dream" by Shakespeare. And come to think of it, there can be similarities drawn from both stories.

On the side, we saw Sebastian Tan at the show, along with Chua Enlai and some other people.

recent spate of gangs slash

It's really scary hearing about the slashing incidents that's been happening. What's worse was that it happened in broad daylight, at community places like resorts (for families) and housing estates, and the culprits were all quite young, mainly teens, and the Bukit Panjang one was like more for fun.

I've probably mentioned this before to some friends, that I was very nearly collateral damage during a gang fight. Nope, of course I was not in any gangs, but was at the wrong place and wrong time (as were those around me).

It was about 10 years ago, when I was still in university. My friends and I (if I recall correctly) had just finished watching a movie and were just walking along Orchard Road when there was a commotion behind us. We turned around and saw a mob running towards us, with parangs! In the middle of Orchard Road! We were in the pavement just in front of Mandarin Hotel.
I don't know why, but somehow, I ended up being the only one left standing right in the middle of the pavement. Maybe I was a bit slow in reacting, or maybe something held me back because everything happened so fast. It was a gang fight between 2 gangs and 1 group ran past me (on both sides). It turned out to be a wise thing not to move for the time being then or I might have gotten in the way and maybe I won't be here telling you this already. Fortunately, there came a break in between the chase and I finally got a chance to move to the side, and watched the going ons. There was one particular guy who leaped over the fencing of the hotel (there used to be one before the renovations) but was chased after by 2 others who had parangs. I believed he was slashed, but he did run back again and as fate would have it, hopped onto a taxi and just nice, the traffic light turned green and the taxi went off. Think the taxi driver would have been freaked out too if he didn't drive off immediately. Soon, the coast was clear and things returned to normal.

Strangely, I didn't feel scared at all, during or even after the incident, so I won't attribute my inaction to shock coz I was totally aware. One of my friends with me actually had the cheek to joke after the incident that as I was wearing a white top, it would have been ugly if I really got chopped, you know, blood and stuff.

Anyway, it was yet another close shave. Thank GOD for sending angels to protect me.

Natalie Cole In Concert

ok, this happened about 2 weeks ago, so my memory's already fading. Nonetheless, I shall note down what I can remember.

As part of the 4th annual Singapore Sun Festival, Natalie Cole had a solo concert on Sunday, 31 Oct. I managed to get tickets via Keppel Nights which offered tickets at $29, but they were the cheapest seats, last row, last circle. I have never really listened to Natalie Cole's songs, but I'm a fan of her father's (Nat King Cole), so with a girlfriend (who really wanted to go), we attended the concert together.

Opening the show, Natalie Cole came out donning a mask, as it was Halloween. The performance was split into 3 parts - more classic oldies, ballads and the encore. Natalie wowed audiences with her superb voice and displayed her versatility. However, naturally, being a fan of Nat King Cole, my faves were the songs which she sang "with" him (namely Unforgettable and When I Fall in Love), as images/footage of him was projected onto the backdrop. Somehow, it was kind of moving and you can see her being moved too. We were in for a treat too when she invited The Canadian Tenors (3 out of the actual 4) to sing a couple of songs as guest artistes, with of course her singing one with them. Both my friend and I agreed that out of the trio present, Victor Micallef sounded the best to us.

Ok, I can't really describe much now as I've forgotten the details, but she did start to sound like she was "panting" a little towards the end of the 2-hour (plus) show, but she was still game to sing a number of encore songs (which didn't reveal her tiredness, except maybe between pauses). She rounded up the show with a rock song (didn't know she sang rock too!) that left the audience on a high.

Hong Kong 2010

After Shanghai, we did a short 3-night stayover at Hong Kong before flying back to Singapore. It's been many years since I visited Hong Kong (more than 15 years) and in my hazy memory, it was rainy, which kind of dampened the spirits then. But it's different now as I've grown up since then and can appreciate the Hong Kong lifestyle more. I must say I enjoyed myself better here than in Shanghai, especially after the "stressfulness" in Shanghai, it was quite a change...it felt slightly more like home.

Well, I can't say what's so different. The streets are old too and busy, but maybe minus all that spitting, and people are less "pushy" or loud maybe. Maybe it was like Singapore a little. And of course, the shopping made me felt more at home. Ha! And the food! (Eating again!)

In Hong Kong, it was really 买东西、吃东西. It just so happened that the departmental store 永安 directly opposite my hotel was having weekend sales, and stopping there turned out to be a "fruitful" experience for all of us. I bought 2 pairs of shoes for myself and a bag for my friend. My mum & dad bought things for themselves and for my brother's family as well. Did some other shopping elsewhere like Sogo (where I bought my Le SportSac at 30% off ), H&M and G2000 as well. Too bad it's the winter collection, so didn't really buy many clothes due to our Singapore climate.

Besides shopping, we did some sightseeing at Victoria Peak and the bay area.

Due to the short time, we couldn't eat everything we wanted to eat like wanton mee, boluo pao...and I didn't get to drink my yuan yang! But here are some of the main highlights.

Hope to go again soon to catch up on all those food I missed. :D Hopefully I get to win the lucky draw by Sogo. :P

Suzhou 2010

While in Shanghai, we took a day tour to Suzhou. The train ride was only half an hour! I've not been to Suzhou before, only Hangzhou. The last time we tried to go by tour via a mini van (on our last trip to Shanghai), it was too foggy and we had to turn back.

Honestly, I was expecting something more tranquil (to get away from the Shanghai madness), especially since it's supposed to be Venice of the East (not that Venice is very tranquil), but Suzhou is also developing very fast, so lots of construction going on. But there are still some nice spots (though more touristy now). However, the people here seem more cultured. Anytime, even the boatman/guide, can start to quote idioms and poetry as they related the stories of this old city. And they ,speak more gently than what I've experienced in Shanghai. Did you know that Suzhou was actual 吴国 territory during the 春秋 period more than 2,500 years ago? The capital, in fact. Suzhou was planned and built by 伍子胥 (Wu Zixu), a great and loyal general who was eventually killed by the king 吴王. Part of the city wall still stands. Places I visited include the houses along the Suzhou River, 盘门 (Pan Gate), the silk factory, 留园 (Lingering Garden) and 虎丘 (Tiger Hill), which had a leaning pagoda (ha! just like the leaning tower of Pisa).

And of course, there's always food. We only had time to have lunch there.

Shanghai 2010

It's been at least 5 years since I last visited Shanghai, and with my parents, I went there last month as we had some timeshare offer stay for 5 days at this service apartment called La Residence, which was rather cheap (S$100 plus for 5 days) . However, as we decided to go earlier, we put up at another hotel first, Citadines, by Ascott. It also meant that we could go visit the World Expo since it was ending soon.

Impressions
As someone who doesn't like crowds, going to Shanghai during the World Expo was a bad choice. I only went because I haven't travelled with my parents for quite a few years already. I was pretty stressed by the crowds and congested human traffic whether at the Expo or along the streets, especially Nanjing Road. What made it worse were the spits around and hearing people preparing to deposit their saliva on the streets. And they do that anywhere! Even in shopping malls! I must say they have improved a little bit since I last went, but it was still disturbing as I have to constantly watch where I'm walking. The situation wasn't so bad at the more upscale areas though. The traffic was horrendous too as the drivers horn at the slightest, and they will never give pedestrians right of way at turnings, even when it's green man, and they make their turnings at pretty high speeds. The only time they would actually stop was when there's a traffic guard at that corner. Fortunately, I learnt to be immune to their horning and just continued crossing. Again, I must say that it was even worse before. At least they are also less "pushy" in the trains too now. I still recalled in the past when they even pushed a pregnant lady!
Another thing was that it had become even more commercialised since I last went. There used to be some old city flavour previously, but now, it just feels like any city as the place was covered with so many new buildings.
So yah, it was a rather stressful holiday for me while I was there, and it was with much relief when I left for Hong Kong. Haha...it is usually after this kind of trips that I appreciate Singapore more.

Ok, ok, no more grouses, but more about what we saw and ate.

Hotels
The first hotel we stayed at, Citadines was pretty nice. We booked an executive suite to fit all 3 of us, which had a bedroom, living room (which had a sofa bed) and kitchenette. Being a Singapore-run hotel, it was not surprising (but still amusing) to find a Singapore restaurant (but selling Thai shark's fin) just downstairs. It was convenient too, situated just behind 新世界 near Nanjing Road, but away from the crowd.

The 2nd place we stayed, La Residence wasn't as well-maintained though, but it was pretty cheap for such a big space. It was clean nonetheless, but a little rundown. They gave us a room on the top floor, which had not too bad a view. It was double-storey with a spiral staircase. That's not so good for my parents though. They didn't have any other rooms available, so we continued our stay there. There were 2 bedrooms upstairs and 1 bedroom a living room, plus a kitchenette downstairs. There was one toilet downstairs, but the bathing facilities (1 shower room plus 1 bathroom with toilet and bath) were on the upper floor, so we ended up staying upstairs. I had intended to stay on the lower floor since the bed looked more comfortable, but think the aircon wasn't running too well, and there was a strange smell coming out when that happened (probably the coolant). The drawers and cupboards need to be changed though as the doors weren't fitting properly.

Hmm...my photos made it look better than it actually was though. But since it was at a very good rate, there was no cause for complaint.

World Expo 2010
One of the main highlights of the trip was supposed to be the World Expo 2010, which was hosted at Shanghai this year. We had thought whether to visit it over 2 days, but after experiencing the crowds and queues for 1 day, it was enough. There were so many people and the queues were terrible, some even up to 7 hours or more for the more popular ones! Good thing I didn't go on the day there were over a million people there. And you can't go into the China pavilion without the advance ticket, which we didn't manage to get. We figured it was no point wasting time queuing for long hours and miss out on other pavilions, so we picked those less crowded ones (which still required at least 30 minutes) and of course, as Singaporeans, we should go visit our own pavilion (which was actually our 1st stop).
Well, the easy way in was to flash our Singapore passport at the back door and we were granted immediate admission. Believe it or not, there was a queue at the main entrance (not that long though).

The Singapore pavilion was actually quite interesting on the outside, but we were disappointed with what turned out inside. The concept was good, based on movements in a symphony to bring you through the times of Singapore as you walk up, but the display was too "business-like" and a little boring. The theatre was actually not bad, intending to give an almost life-sized, Omnimax feel, but the music video was just like any music video, and didn't really show much, or bring out Singapore. The rooftop garden was probably the nicest part.
Another pavilion I wanted to visit was Denmark, which had The Little Mermaid statue brought all the way here. Wanted to see it in case I never get to visit Denmark. The Little Mermaid is one of my favourite H. C. Andersen's stories. Some other pavilions we managed to enter were Lithuania, South Africa, and some others.

Personally, I felt that the pavilions were ok in general. Maybe I didn't go to the more popular ones, but I believe it wouldn't be super different for the rest (haha...trying to console myself). Or maybe I see the possibility of myself visiting these places, or have already visited similar places. But it was probably an eye-opener for most of the locals. What was nice were how the pavilions looked on the outside. What with bicycle rides, ski lifts, slides, mirrors, colours, etc. Actually, I kind of liked Netherlands' pavilion, which was like a giant playground with a big "Happy Street" sign.
It was interesting to note that the most popular pavilions were actually not the country pavilions, but were those industrial/business ones, like the Oil Pavilion. Some of these were stopping people from joining the queues at mid-day as they were too long! These were probably more interesting and people can actually learn things from them. Coca Cola's Happiness Factory was also a popular pavilion, but I've been to the actual one in Atlanta, so no point going (anyway, they stopped adding people to queue in the late afternoon). I noticed also that the people of each pavilion (at least for some I've seen, e.g. Israel) who were from the said country were speaking fluent Mandarin! Of course it was probably expected, but it was still "amusing" in a way.
Well, seeing all these in the day wasn't enough, because there were beautiful lights! The Oil Pavilion's lights were amazing. From a simple blue building, it transformed into a dynamic animated screenbox.

 

Food
Another highlight of the trip would of course, be food. Eating well on a trip has always been a highlight. Haha...hopefully I didn't put on too much weight. What more can I say but just show you some highlights.

I will probably talk more about them separately in my food blog foodsie.two, but that will take quite a while.

Misc
Oh, on our last night there, we chanced upon an event at the Lamborghini showroom in Shanghai, unveiling a series of sculptures created by Simon Ma, a collaboration with Lamborghini. It was probably one of the more exciting moments of the trip. They brought out a whole range of Lambos. Cool!