Midnight: 2017 A Year at theTheater

2017 has been a great year at the theater for me. I found colleagues who enjoyed plays and dramas as much as I do, and its so nice to go in a group. It is October now, and I have already attended a total of 3 plays, with one more lined up in December! Most of those we attended was from Wi!drice production, a company started by Ivan Heng. I have been a fan of Ivan since I saw him as Emily of Emerald Hill almost 20 years ago. It was my first time at the theater, and it was such a ripped off cause through out the show, there was only one man/woman acting! But I fell in love with the stage after that. Even before that, I love musical and broadway. And staying in Singapore gave me the opportunity to watch many of my favourite musical live, like Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, West Side Story, Hunchback of Norte Dame, and even Broadway Beng etc.

Well this year, I was so lucky as I saw some of the shows for free. The first one being La Cage aux Folles. My ex-colleague gave me her ticket as she had to work, and although I've seen this show before, I really love it and decided to go. I was not disappointed. Even though it was my 2nd time watching it, I still teared up when George sang "Look Over There". Will leave some of the nicer songs at the ref below in case you are interested :)

Here's me first time in Victoria Concern Hall. What a lovely place. I just cut off most of my hair after my trip to Taipei. A drastic change to some, but I always cut my hair really short after a leaving it long. It's call saving money from going to the hair saloon!

My 2nd free show was The Great Wall, a treat from one of my girl friend whose friend also couldn't make it. Thank you all you wonderful people who think of me when you have extra tickets to give away. You really made my day. I love going to plays cause it's always something new, a new song, a new story, a new experience. This play has a beautiful set of the Great Wall which I thought was rather artistically done. The song was nothing too memorable in particular, but some of the dance was rather creative. It was also the first time I actually saw Nathan Hartono sang, and he was rather good although the lead actress was way professional. It was just an ok show for me.

The most recent show I watched was Grandmother Tongue by Wi!drice. I didn't know what it was about, and it was in Teochew, a dialect which I don't speak. Luckily it sounded quite similar to Hokkien so I was able to understand it. There were subtitles given, and I did panicked a little when they turned the subtitle off at one part of the play on purpose. This was only a 1.5 hour play, and it starred 3 person. To me it was already value for money since Emily of Emerald Hill only starred one! Hahaha. But I really love this play. The set was simple, and they used lightings a lot to show a change of location. The costume was simple, and many things were reused. The playful way they toyed with the subtitle was also very creative. But most of all, the story was really sweet and touching. It was about a the relationship of a boy growing up with his grandmother who only spoke in Teochew dialect. Go watch it next time it's playing. It's worth every SGD37 I paid for it. I love it so much I actually commented on Wi!drice's Facebook page, and to my surprise, they quoted me as part of their audience review. I felt so happy about that! Thank you Wi!drice for making me now an official critics of the arts! Hahaha.

In December, we girls are going to watch another Wi!drice play title Mama White Snake. Ivan is also starring in it, and this would be my first time seeing Glen Goei in action. Two diva on stage at the same time! Woohoo! Can't wait!

Leaving you now with a photo of me acting out the show Cats! Haha. Joking! I just love this photo my colleague snap of me during La Cage. I look so cute and different from the real me that when I use it as my Facebook profile photo, so many people commented that they can't believe it was me, or that it was so unlike me. I took it down after a day or so cause it's just so not me. Yeah, on a normal day, I'm just a gothic girl with a bag of sarcasm spitting at people. But here, omg, I'm just ~Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens~

Oh yeah, apart from in Singapore, I also watched two operas in Verona Opera Festival 2017 Italy. Yes, you read right. I travelled to Verona Italy just to watch a proper Opera. It was my 2nd and 3rd Opera, and I watched Nabucco, and Aida. My first Opera was actually a private show in Venice, yes Venice Italy. Apparently I only watch Opera in Italy. You must think I am damn atas, but I'm not. The opera ticket in Italy is actually quite cheap. For a 4 hour opera, I paid only SGD40! For the private show in Venice, I paid SGD80, and it was staged in a house and the audience move to different rooms for difference scent. It was a unique experience! The play was Rigoletto. Will write more about it when I finally reach my Italy blog one day!