just as its english name "shanghai blues" suggests, this show really gives you the blues, literally.
never really wanted to watch this show initially, due to the sheer disappointment of the 2 previous toy factory productions (剃头刀 and 李大傻) which i had watched in 2007. but the name of playwright, raymond to, makes me decide to give toy's production another shot. and what a big mistake it was. not to say about the money wasted on the tickets, but also the time which could have been spent doing something else on the 3rd day of chinese new year!
when one first step into the theatre, the set on stage give much sense of anticipation, with the orchestra right in the middle of the stage! however once the ensemble enters to start off the show with the remix of several retro songs, including 《夜上海》, the tone for a bad evening of show had been set. singing was weak, so was the choreography of the movement, the whole settings simply doesn't bland into one. luckily, the powerful voices of celine tan and emma yong, managed to keep me in this, else it would have been a even longer night. (first time i started counting the time in a performance, since the disastrous lao jiu by SMU in 2007!)
perhaps the only thing which i really had a good impression about this show, was the part where the sets is raised above ground, hovering over the heads of william so and mindee, to create the settings of them meeting under the bridge. very interesting idea, together with the lights that had seeped through from the top, the ambiance beneath was rightly set, at least my opinion.
what makes me most disappointed most was the script, with the story jumping from here to there, let alone the cheesy lines, with the ending of the story being so fast-paced that one would suspect that you are watching a fast-forwarded show. though i really suspect if this is really a script by raymond to, after some of my favorites like 《南海十三郎》、《我和春天有个约会》、《天冷就回来》. with no disrespect to raymond to, this was one which seems that he has lost the grasp of the whole plot.
perhaps, guozheng comment of this being a 3in1 of "beauty world", "lust, caution" and 《天冷》，rightly show the failure of the whole production, having bits parts and shadows of several good shows, but never really put them into one, to create something out of it.
i think i'll be thinking twice about watching toy factory's production in future, not to mention the high pricing which they usually set.
Showing posts with label theatre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theatre. Show all posts
Monday, February 11, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Beauty World Cha Cha Cha!
nearly 1 month gone in 2008, 3 shows watched, nothing written yet, probably time to start putting the thoughts into words, else everything should soon be forgotten...
nothing better to start off the reviews of 2008 with the first musical of the year, "beauty world".
this 20-year-old musical, written by micheal chiang, with music from dick lee, is about a girl, ivy chan poh choo from batu pahat who came to beauty world in search of her long lost father. though being "20year-old", this musical does not bring on any feel of staleness or out-datedness of any form, instead, with the direction from ivan heng, who have never failed to bring in surprises (at least not in the ones which i have watched), i feel very much the mixture of modernness and the nostalgia of the 60s.
john c. dinning's set bring about the "woah" factor the first minute it was brought to the audience. a 2-tier stage of beauty world brought onto the stage proper of the esplanade, together the colourful decoration of the "stage" which really gives a "oldies, nightclub" feeling, and throw in a "live" orchestra on the upper tier of the "stage" as part of the show, i would say it's nothing short of magnificent! (poor grasp of english, thus the poor choice of vocabulary used here). perhaps, what i'm really grateful to dinning is that the choice of having the whole set relatively downstage, instead of using the whole depth of the esplanade stage. this has allowed audience sitting in circle 3 (which includes me) to have a clear sight of the whole "beauty world stage".
what's a good show without good lighting? as usual, mac's lighting is always soothing to the eyes and never failed to add elements of surprises to the show. personal favorite is the scene where he flooded the whole stage with pink and red, bringing everything to a still, highlighting the whole set, yet the set does not take over the stage, which still have show going on downstage. (shan't elaborate too much here, in case i show my lack of knowledge for lighting yet again.)
probably because i watched the second last show of the long run, one can sense the casts' energy is running out, or rather, they didn't hit as high the energy level which i think they could have. especially disappointing was the male lead, daren tan, despite being the winner of channel u's project superstar, his singing is at best, wobbly. however, the ever funny and lovable neo swee lin and irene ang, always captivate the audience with their strong acting and the pin point accuracy of the funny point in the show, were simply a class above the rest, despite being only part of the supporting casts. overall, it's was great effort from the casts, especially the ensembles, who seems to have endless number of quick changes, from scene to scene. perhaps it's due to tiredness or drain physique (due to the long run), there are some points which the actions, steps of the ensembles do not synchronize with each other, but still a job well done.
as always, the regret of watching shows in singapore is that most of the time, we pay exorbitant prices only to sit in locations which we can hardly make out who is who on stage. but at least, this is one which is worth it's ticket price, though i'm only sitting in circle 3.
nothing better to start off the reviews of 2008 with the first musical of the year, "beauty world".
this 20-year-old musical, written by micheal chiang, with music from dick lee, is about a girl, ivy chan poh choo from batu pahat who came to beauty world in search of her long lost father. though being "20year-old", this musical does not bring on any feel of staleness or out-datedness of any form, instead, with the direction from ivan heng, who have never failed to bring in surprises (at least not in the ones which i have watched), i feel very much the mixture of modernness and the nostalgia of the 60s.
john c. dinning's set bring about the "woah" factor the first minute it was brought to the audience. a 2-tier stage of beauty world brought onto the stage proper of the esplanade, together the colourful decoration of the "stage" which really gives a "oldies, nightclub" feeling, and throw in a "live" orchestra on the upper tier of the "stage" as part of the show, i would say it's nothing short of magnificent! (poor grasp of english, thus the poor choice of vocabulary used here). perhaps, what i'm really grateful to dinning is that the choice of having the whole set relatively downstage, instead of using the whole depth of the esplanade stage. this has allowed audience sitting in circle 3 (which includes me) to have a clear sight of the whole "beauty world stage".
what's a good show without good lighting? as usual, mac's lighting is always soothing to the eyes and never failed to add elements of surprises to the show. personal favorite is the scene where he flooded the whole stage with pink and red, bringing everything to a still, highlighting the whole set, yet the set does not take over the stage, which still have show going on downstage. (shan't elaborate too much here, in case i show my lack of knowledge for lighting yet again.)
probably because i watched the second last show of the long run, one can sense the casts' energy is running out, or rather, they didn't hit as high the energy level which i think they could have. especially disappointing was the male lead, daren tan, despite being the winner of channel u's project superstar, his singing is at best, wobbly. however, the ever funny and lovable neo swee lin and irene ang, always captivate the audience with their strong acting and the pin point accuracy of the funny point in the show, were simply a class above the rest, despite being only part of the supporting casts. overall, it's was great effort from the casts, especially the ensembles, who seems to have endless number of quick changes, from scene to scene. perhaps it's due to tiredness or drain physique (due to the long run), there are some points which the actions, steps of the ensembles do not synchronize with each other, but still a job well done.
as always, the regret of watching shows in singapore is that most of the time, we pay exorbitant prices only to sit in locations which we can hardly make out who is who on stage. but at least, this is one which is worth it's ticket price, though i'm only sitting in circle 3.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
fastest strike ever: 45min
i supposed i have recorded the fastest strike/bump-out ever in my entire theatre life, only 45min to complete the strike! (even though i try to slow it down by working at only 70% of my normal rate!) even traveling from NTU to arts house took longer! this record should stay on for quite some times. hahaha~
a fast strike is always good, as the saying always go, "faster do, faster finish, faster go back". to make things even better, pay cheque is given out as well! good example of a company with good reputation, pay up immediately after the job is done. thank you TNS! (unlike some theatre company, which also begins with "t", owe me my pay for 1.5months already, still not paying up! bloody hell!)
(theatre people, take note, try to avoid this company.)
(another clue: it does english shows most of the time, whose space is based somewhere bustling with clubs and bars and pubs)
a fast strike is always good, as the saying always go, "faster do, faster finish, faster go back". to make things even better, pay cheque is given out as well! good example of a company with good reputation, pay up immediately after the job is done. thank you TNS! (unlike some theatre company, which also begins with "t", owe me my pay for 1.5months already, still not paying up! bloody hell!)
(theatre people, take note, try to avoid this company.)
(another clue: it does english shows most of the time, whose space is based somewhere bustling with clubs and bars and pubs)
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Shows to watch in 2008 (part i)
2008 has just arrived, and i got this bloody feeling that it's going to be a damn bloody poor year yet again. so many shows to watch, and each of them is getting more and more expensive. but there are ones which is must watch (or at least i have got the tickets le, can't pull out now. )
january: i) eclipse (the necessary stage and 7.84 theatre, scotland)
ii) beauty world (cha cha cha?) (wild rice)
iii) chesty nutty: the hairspray of the phoenix (stages)
february: i) shanghai blues (toy factory)
ii) like shadows (stan lai)
march: i) house of sins (dramabox)
april: i) the soldier and his virtuous wife (the theatre practice)
又要很穷的过这一年了。嗨！穷啊！
january: i) eclipse (the necessary stage and 7.84 theatre, scotland)
ii) beauty world (cha cha cha?) (wild rice)
iii) chesty nutty: the hairspray of the phoenix (stages)
february: i) shanghai blues (toy factory)
ii) like shadows (stan lai)
march: i) house of sins (dramabox)
april: i) the soldier and his virtuous wife (the theatre practice)
又要很穷的过这一年了。嗨！穷啊！
Friday, December 21, 2007
《第一次亲密的接触》
本来并不打算去看崇庆的这出独角戏，但刚好与友人进餐，就临时决定到光华剧院（Jubilee Hall）去碰碰运气，看看是否还有票。毕竟，崇庆也算是名人，他的戏满座也不稀奇，但必须先说明，满座与否，与戏的好坏并无直接的关联，主要只是因为人气而已。
一进去，算是有点惊讶吧，竟然有人在JH搞花样，又有大布景，又是投影，应该是能有所期待的。但戏未开始，就让人有所失望了，竟然延迟了整整15分钟才开场，也没想到场的观众解释。气愤！
很DJ式的开场，算是有点新意，但是随着戏的持续发展，崇庆似乎无法抽离DJ的身份，整出戏根本就像是在空中主持节目。相信若是一出广播剧的话，又或者是 类似933的音乐日记的形式的话，崇庆加上佩芬的Voice Over将会使很精彩的，但可惜这并不是。毕竟这是舞台剧，视觉上的感官与听觉上必须是一致 的，才能将观众带入其中吧。
当然，冗长的换场也使整出戏缺少了连贯性。再加上，换场时基本上是在有灯的情况下进行的（因为后台严重的漏光，同时加上projector的lightsource，舞台上根本不是黑暗的），所有的theatre magic也随之消失了。
技术上与演技上都令人有所失望，不过以只有短短一天半的bump-in time来说，能做到这个程度相信已经是极限了。所以，若要有所惊喜，这绝对不是一出有所期待的戏，但若闲来无事，就去看看吧。（但决不推荐）
Monday, October 29, 2007
i'm back...
after 1 month of break, finally back into theatre again (to be precise, TNS black box). woohoo~ feels great to be breathing the air inside a theatre again, though as always, it's stale, but it's the special feeling inside it that makes coming back into theatre great!
though this show (TNS's Good People) wasn't having a generic setup, more of installation works, rather than the standard rigging. (must be a joyah problem, haven't done a show with her this year that doesn't require additional installation works!) but hack, long as it's fun, doesn't matter what kind of setup is to be done. anyway i have always prefer more installation works, more challenging, that is if proper planning can be done before hand. haha~
however, i must admit, this isn't the way to spend the weekend, especially when there are assignment datelines coming up and the first paper is less than 3 weeks away! at least it takes away most of the lethargic that was within for the past month, maybe will just kick start the momentum to start studying! just maybe... (what ever the case, at least i can add some figures to bank dipping bank account. )
though this show (TNS's Good People) wasn't having a generic setup, more of installation works, rather than the standard rigging. (must be a joyah problem, haven't done a show with her this year that doesn't require additional installation works!) but hack, long as it's fun, doesn't matter what kind of setup is to be done. anyway i have always prefer more installation works, more challenging, that is if proper planning can be done before hand. haha~
however, i must admit, this isn't the way to spend the weekend, especially when there are assignment datelines coming up and the first paper is less than 3 weeks away! at least it takes away most of the lethargic that was within for the past month, maybe will just kick start the momentum to start studying! just maybe... (what ever the case, at least i can add some figures to bank dipping bank account. )
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