Wednesday, March 29, 2006

# Lion King Musical



17.50 pounds for front seat in stalls! I can't believe it!

I finally watched the musical of Lion King! I have wanted to watch this for so long, but the exorbitant ticket price is a huge barrier. Now, with nearly a 50% discount off the original price GBP32.50, we got our 17.50-pounds-last-minute-price (we went early in morning to get the last-minute-leftover seats). Yippee!!!

We bought the tickets at 10am, but the show will only start at 2pm. While waiting for the show, we decided to loiter around Covent Garden... and that accidentally started my shopping spree. (what have i done?!)

We went to a few shops which sell sportswear and travel accessories, and some bookstores. I am very sure I am NOT a shopping-type person (dignified voice), but I think I just went into a shopping-mode today. Results:
* Compact Tripod 340mm-1100mm for 10.95 pounds
* Polycarbonate bottle for 3.75 pounds
* Fleece Jacket for 29.75 pounds.
* Sandwich cool bag for 1 pound.
* 2nd hand book for 2.49 pounds

Holy cow! In less than 2 hours I spent more than what I normally spend on non-necessities in A MONTH! hmm.. perhaps if I treat the bottle, cool bag & jacket as necessities, it wouldn't look too bad... and if treating the tripod as a long-term investment, calculate its lifelength, depreciation and scrap value... sigh, i m just trying to justify my over-expenditure.

oops, enough digression.

Back to Lion King. The theatre itself is a wonder. Lyceum Theatre is opened in 1834, and has a three-tiers seating plan instead of the normal two-tiers one. As we were sitting in our seats, I couldn't help admiring the detailed architecture designs in every pillar, wall and ceiling. The interior of the theatre is as grand as its exterior!

Just beneath (I hope the proposition is correct) us is the orchestra stall. Before the show started, the musicians are already there tuning and readying. (reminds me of moody somehow) Kids sitting nearby were excited that they kept the conductor busy with their endless questions. They even asked for a demonstration, which the violinist graciously obliged. Even the cute old lady sitting beside me is as excited as the kids, she's read the book three times, and she believed this will be the best musical she would love. She kept me busy too, hehe, with her keeping losing her gloves and scarf. sweet. :-)



The beginning of the show is just spectacular! As the animals emerged from the BACK of the theatre, marched down the aisles and up onto the stage, the crowd went wild. Sitting in the front row sure has its perks, we observed not only the details of the ornaments, costumes and gadgets, but also the face expressions of the actors. And when they caught our eyes, some of them even winked. I have to say I felt so excited, it's like I am a child again.

The costume and the props are the best among all the musicals I have seen. Imagine designing all sorts of animal costumes, gadgets and scenes in jungles. The lush green jungle, the dry shadowland, the elephant grave, the stampede scene, the night, the dawn... Every scene was done with such painstaking detail. The stage itself is a fun thing to observe, many unexpected creatures would just pop up from the concealed trapdoor on the floor, and the stagefloor can be elevated for certain scenes.



I have to give credits to these 2 creatures specifically. The giraffes and the leopard. The giraffes are so good in controlling their balance, singing and dancing all at the same time. and the leopard-lady did a fabulous job in making her leopard look so real! the movements are just so smooth and real. These two non-leading creatures are my favourites in the show.

As I observed the music, dancing and special effects, I couldn't help noticing the blend of various cultures into the musical. While the African culture is the dominant one, there are a lot of elements of other cultures. Asian culture is appearing very often - bamboo poles for the birds props like the chinese do with their kites, japanese-like set up during the struggle of Sinba to find his destiny, and even our "wayang kulit" in some scenes! The music too potrayed various genres from traditional african music to electrifying rock and roll...

Another enjoyable experience is to observe the various expressions of the actors, CLOSE UP. We can see every single line on their faces, and noticed how deeply they put themselves in the story. Looking down, the orchestra team was doing their best too. Every thud and squeak was precise, and the music moves people to tears.

The props, the music, the dancing, the storyline... everything was just great! Given a chance, I would definitely watch this again. I will bring my dad next time when he comes for my graduation. :-)

Ok, just before I end this, here is a character I like. She's funny, she's expressive, she's bouncing up and down on the stage!


Guess who she is?


.... The Baboon! If not because of her walking stick, I wouldn't have recognized her, haha..


(NOTE: All pictures are taken from websites. We are not allowed to take photographs in the musical.)

Friday, March 17, 2006

# St. Patrick's Day

The green, the gold, the Black stuff... It's St. Patrick's Day!


As I walked along the streets of Covent Garden, it is interesting to see that all the pubs have gone all out to celebrate this festival. Green flags, images of shamrocks, and great discounts for the Black stuff (Guinness)... I am dazzled by the elaborate decor and the atmosphere.

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A little bit of background first...

St. Patrick's Day is a celebration for the patron saint of Ireland (well, you guessed it right, his name is Saint Patrick, haha), who has brought christianity to Ireland. He "drove away the snakes" from Ireland. This phrase is a metaphor to describe that St Patrick ended the pagan practice in Ireland. As in many old pagan religions, nature and animals, including serpent were common and often worshipped.

Why green? Why the shamrocks and why Guinness? Well, Saint Patrick's Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. The tradition of celebration include "wearing of the green", Irish musics, food and drink (of course), and some people even dye the rivers green.

More importantly, to those who celebrate its intended meaning, St. Patrick's Day is a traditional day for spiritual renewal and offering prayers for missionaries worldwide.

Why on 17 March? You might have guessed it. Yup, it is the day that he died.

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Despite the freezing strong wind today, I decided to take a walk to have a feel of the festival. I was strolling in Covent Garden, where pubs are in abundance. All I see is green, green, and more green. Of course, that comes with a lot of advertisement for the 1/2 price Guinness for the day. hehe...


I passed by a group of girl choir singing at one of the squares in Covent Garden. With their sweet voices singing some irish songs, they have attracted quite a crowd. Then I was distracted by another music which started playing nearby. A string quartet, playing Canon in D! Just a nice gift for this nice afternoon...

I was feeling quite happy today (God knows why) that I decided to give myself a little treat today. I bought something that we don't buy usually (cuz it is too expensive), and after some preparation and cooking, here is it!

清蒸白鲳鱼


It has been QUITE a while since we last ate fish, due to the exorbitant price. Such 'chinese' dish really reminded me of home a lot... To cure my homesickness, I decided to add in another typical chinese dish - beansprouts! Ahhh.... A nice hot dinner in a cold cold night...


After the dinner, my housemate dragged me along to a small pub nearby. "You must drink a pint of Guinness on St.Patrick's Day! It's tradition!" So, now we suddenly 'transformed' into Irish and celebrated along with them. Um... just another excuse to drink, maybe?

I like this little traditional English pub... Most of the furniture are wooden, there are barrels and beer tuns above the bar, and there are many decorations on the ceiling, on the wall, on the pillars! Old records, old photos, old posters, etc... decorated the place. There are even an old cigarette vending machine and a jukebox. With a country song playing in the background, the atmosphere is just perfect.

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First Chinese, then Irish, now it's time for Turkish Delights! I think we must have been feeling quite elated tonight that we decided to have some desserts. So we 'adjourned' to a turkish shop for some sweet stuffs. There are so many choices to choose from! Nuts, sweets, marshmallows, candy floss (oooh i love this!), biscuits, cakes... We stood in front of the shelves for quite long before making decisions. It is hard to choose!


Another look at the varieties of cheese and yogurt...


All right, that's a nice end of the day - Chinese+Irish+English+Turkish.
I'm loving it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Saturday, March 11, 2006

# Tuscan Sun

"Life offers you a thousand chances ... all you have to do is take one."

The movie "Under the Tuscan Sun" is generally viewed as a yet another glossy chick flick with beautiful sceneries in Italy, and beautiful actors and actress. But amidst all the over-idealistic setup, it sets me thinking about many things...

What is love? What do you do when love comes to you? And more importantly, what do you do when it leaves you? The story shows a few individuals learning to stand up again when they are hurt. At that moment of being hurt, we always think that we might not be able to recover again, the world seems to collapse, the hope seems to have vanished. The pain is so deep that we feel we would rather just end everything...

Yet, time heals. As we painfully bring ourselves to stand up again, we might still feel a gaping hole in our heart, but there are new things happening, new people coming into our life, and who knows, new hope?

Despite being a light romantic movie which idealizes lots of things, the movie struck a chord among many people, with many of its little reminders of learning to hope again. After all the ups and downs, do we have that passion of life, to hope again, to love again? The movie says a big YES. What do you say?

To some extent, I am grateful for watching it. Never lose hope, and stand up again when you are hurt. Some small reminders about life, rite?