Saturday, May 19, 2007
phantom of the opera
my dear girls our blog has been dead for quite long...why!! because i haven't been blogging i guess :( have been quite busy of late, last week was lessons + another exam, which i'll talk about later. but for now, i'm going to rant a little about phantom of the opera!went to watch today with my family. matinee at 2pm. actually i would have preferred the 8pm show but you know, listen to mummy =) so anyway! about 1.5 weeks ago my friend told me that it was fantastic and all so my expectations were already raised, but today i was still floored. the opening set was already very impressive. it starts out quite the same as in the movie, with the auction of the things in the opera: the sword and skulls, the musical box with the monkey holding the cymbals, the chandelier. to bring the audience back to the past, the chandelier is all lit up, and hoisted from the stage to the ceiling very smoothly, gliding over the heads of the audience in the front few rows, and hangs there for the rest of the show.
one of the most impressive parts was where they had to depict the phantom and christine going across the lake to the phantom's lair. they had an actual boat (prob with wheels below), there was mist all over the stage, which flows down into where the pit orchestra is, so with a long pole to push them along it was all very beautifully created.
another part was where they had a piano onstage. it was really cute cos there was this bit where the piano plays by itself; all the keys actually depress correctly etc so that was very neatly done, and i really want to know their trick behind that!
and the set, oh my goodness that was one of the most impressive parts! the office furniture, the boats, all the lights in the phantom's lair, the organ, the piano, the structures containing the VIP boxes, all the paintings for backdrops, the mausoleum, christine's room, the huge staircase where they performed "masquerade"...you really wonder how they fit it all in the wings and backstage, move it in and out so quickly etc. all the important structures are really really grand..
the choreography was excellent...being a theatre in paris back in 19th century, they have actual ballet scenes, and some other dancing such as in the masquerade scene. but aside from the dance choreography, the arrangement of all the scenes was really really good. one of the scenes which made the strongest impression on me was the one towards the end where the phantom releases raoul and christine; as he sits all alone in his lair, raoul and christine row away across the lake away from him, with the gate between them spanning the stage. it's a very effective use of contrast; their relief at being freed from the hell that he promises, as well as their love towards each other, serve to bring out his devastation even more strongly. i also love how he remains an object of mystery and intrigue right to the very end.
of course, what's an opera without it's songs and singers, right? aside from the songs being really great as we all know, the theatrists were truly wonderful, with lots of special mention to the phantom! to start with, his voice is already fantastic. what's really amazing is how he changes the quality of his voice to convey the tenderness he feels towards christine, or the harshness you can tangibly feel when he curses her for removing his mask, the cruelty when he commands her to choose between him and raoul, the regret when he finds that christine has come to fear and hate him when she initially held him as a father, a tutor, or possibly even a lover, in her eyes.
there's such a magical feel to the entire opera...sigh. as in, happy sigh :) because of the setting and the circumstances, there's a rather ethereal feel to it too, which just accentuates the magic further. i want to watch again! have to wait till it comes round again though...which is hopefully less than in 10 years' time. right now, even as i type (actually, while i've been typing the entire post), all the songs are running through my head, with bits from different songs all jumbled up happily =)
there was a bit of an anticlimax though, walking out from the theatre with the lingering magic, out into the sunny corridor where it becomes diminished. so next time, watch all these at night! it really helps in sustaining the magic of the experience. music of the night indeed.
~~
rant over! for the time being...hopefully i don't start again :) about more realistic things...there was the pdcp course which i think i talked about last time. professional development and communication programme...is it familiar? the course was nothing really substantial i thought...lecture tutorial lecture tutorial. it's not a science thing; rather it had more of a philosophical character to it i thought. we're exposed to some concepts of self, how concept of self extends to how we communicate with and relate to others, the common barriers to communication eg culture gender....etc la. but it was mostly touch and go, no real deep discussion or exploration, merely exposing us to those ideas. and we don't discuss much during tutorial also, do a lot of personality tests that are so abridged as to be totally useless. the exam itself is open book, but since it's a conceptual thing you don't copy from there, but rather refer to remind yourself of some concepts. was quite happy doing it cos it reminds me of the days of literature lessons, and i like writing but all the writing we do in med is factual essays. not much room for creativity or writing personal things, so thank goodness for all the blogging or i probably wouldn't have been able to write for the exam. and since it's the first open book test i've taken (i think), when i took out my notes and put them on the table i felt like i was cheating! haha =)
now that that's over, can start holidays proper. no more worries about having to sit for sub-paper, or the pdcp course. though i found out after the paper that it's actually 5% of the ethics course in year 5, and regretted (very very slightly) not really studying for it. but i think the only people who fail are those who fail to turn up for the paper, and i think i was pretty coherent, so not worried there. now i can read storybooks!! :D that used to be a major part of my life, until all that i had energy to read was textbooks and notes. and seeing that this is the last long holiday of my life (the rest are at most 3 weeks long :( ) i'd better do all the things i really love :) including meeting up with people, so date me!
anyway the other day i was reading the papers and there was an article about some books. one of them portrays all the stamps that singapore post has ever issued, and there was a phrase i particularly liked. it says stamps are "little pieces of paper that would travel the world". nice and romantic...strikes a chord, doesn't it? =)
yueyen at 11:32 PM