We Will Rock You definitely rocked. Wowsers.
Similar to ABBA and Mamma Mia, the show features songs from the classic British rock band Queen, but so much better!
We Will Rock You was set in a time way in the future when the planet known only as Planet Mall is controlled by a mega corporation, GlobalSoft. Conformity is the norm in the society. Only computer generated pop music is allowed to be played, and others like rock music is prohibited.
During the show, I was surprised how much Queen songs that I actually knew. I recall the classic We Will Rock You, Bohemian Rhaposody, and Bicycle, but I totally had no idea that others like Another One Bites The Dust were also sung by Queen.
The singing in this production is phenomenal. In fact, I think the singing is better than Queen's. This is a must see for musical lovers.
We Will Rock You - [wewillrockyou.ca]
We Will Rock You (musical) - [wikipedia.org]
I finally had the chance to catch this show just before the curtain falls on later next week.
Originated from Chicago, Wicked takes a spin from the Wizard of Oz classic, and it's tagline reads: "So much happened before Dorothy dropped in." In a very colourful production, the play shows the infamous Wicked Witch of the West as the protagonist.
It's definitely a very entertaining show, and really takes a greatly loved timeless classic and puts on a very refreshing twist to it. According to some articles I've read, the show is based by a novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire.
David Copperfield was in town last weekend for what he creatively entitled, David Copperfield: An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion. Bowie and I decided to empty our wallets and hopped down to the Hummingbird to experience him live instead of the usual TLC.
The performance was purely what I expected, and he definitely made people wow and gasp. Some stunts were familiar to me, while some were not. He pretty much covered all his usual grounds from the usual, making things disappear and reappear (i.e. cars, himself), send people off to a place far away (i.e. Hawaii), mind-read people, (i.e. through cards), provided some comedy relief, and as always, charmed some ladies.
Watching it live was definitely more enlightening that watching it on TV (obviously), because I definitely found some flaws in the performance that you simply wouldn't catch on screen.
For the record, Copperfield didn't make any mistakes during his performance per se. However, it was definitely not as smooth sailing as I would have imagined--it just wasn't meticulously executed.
From my understanding, every successful performance by an illusionist/magician is mainly judged by their effort to convince the audience that his or her assistants are in fact chosen at random. I'm sure we've all heard the famous line prior to every magic performance "have you met or spoken before?"--just to loosely confirm to the audience about the random nature of selecting someone.
After the performance, though, I am not convinced that the people were "randomly" picked from the audience. Many of the tricks can easily be explained if in fact the assistants were not random. In attempt to persuade people about his random selection, Copperfield flew a frisbee into the audience and said that the first person to catch the frisbee was to come on stage to help him in his tricks.
However, after Copperfield spun the frisbee, I often saw the disc being passed from one person to the other. Surely, there may be some people who are too shy to participate, however, I still think that the random selection is really sketchy.
Here's another thing, I found him to be awfully narcissistic. During his brief break between performances, we had to watch a small montage that showed what people thought of about David Copperfield-- almost like retarded testimonials for ab machines. There was all this zooming text on screen about how great he is, and I was seriously turned off by it.
I already know he's great, that's why I bought a ticket to support him. I don't need to watch no tasteless Copperfield ego-booster.
I also get a vibe he's really a ladies' man-- a really raunchy ladies' man. Really. For one thing, there was a lot of ass-grabbing during the show.
I bet he gets a lot of sex. He is an illusionist right?
Do you remember that episode of Saved by the Bell when the "hotties" at Bayside went to this murder mystery dinner? I remember Whenever the storm hits, the lights would go out, and we then discover that someone dies-- one by one. For some weird reason, I recall there was a French maid there, who accused Zack as being a "murdurwurrr." (It's supposed to be a French accent.)
I also remember Married... With Children had a similar episode. It's funny how early 90's sitcoms all pretty much copied each other.
These sitcoms since then have sparked my interest to go to a murder mystery dinner (because deep down inside wanted to be Zack Morris). Anyways however, I didn't even know they existed until probably two summers ago, when we thought that it would be cool to walk on Yonge from Dundas to just north of Eglinton-- where we had dinner.
I know, you must think we're idiots, however, it was actually a really pleasant walk, especially since there's always shops to see, or things to look at. I believe this was still when Eugene worked at the Rosedale Starbucks.
I digress. On our long walk, we discovered Mysteriously Yours, a murder mystery dinner place, which is located on Yonge between Davisville and Eglinton stations. This weekend, we finally made an effort to check it out. The current showing is called "Last Will and Videotape." Just right after dinner, the characters emerge and begin to interact with the us-- just to give us an understanding about each of them, and how they're like. The detective then leads the case, and asks each suspect questions. From the clues, obviously, you pick up what you know, and solve the case.
In Last Will and Videotape, the billionaire is dead, and he recently revised his will. The murder happened during his 106th birthday and was caught on tape. This production is similar to the sitcoms, because it's pretty much a comedy murder mystery, but with music! There was quite a bit of interactions with the audience, many of which played minor roles-- but I think even more interaction would've been nice.
Overall, it was a good experience, and I totally recommend to at least check it out just once. It's is, however, a little pricey-- at 50 bucks a pop (tax included). It could be one of those things you can say you've done, and scatch it off the "to-do" list.
Just don't expect it to be as cool as when Zack did it in Saved by the Bell.
Mysteriously Yours... Mystery Dinner Theatre in Toronto - [mysteriouslyyours.com]
I was never a fan of the books nor the movies, but the latest Mirvish original production of the Lord of the Rings is definitely a great eye-catching spectacle of great stage art, but nothing more.
Perhaps it is again that condition where, because the play stirred so much buzz and hype, I found myself having very high expectations, and then falling in disappointment after.
The theatre stage and props were definitely the highlight of the production. The set was decorated with twisted tree branchesthat extend beyond the stage and into the the audience seating areas.
LOTR was the longest theatre production I've seen, which ran nearly three-and-a-half hours and two intermissions, and it left left me a bit restless near the end of the play. I suppose this is an ideal time, given it originated from three 300-page novels.
What I never understood was the miniature seats in the theatre's balcony. I doubt that people back in the day were that much smaller. I'm not a big or tall guy, but I was seriously bumping knees with the seat in front of me. Maybe because I'm used to slightly slouching, I found myself having massive back pain at the end of the show from sitting straight for so long. I pity the guys bigger than me.
I am now a rebel of Mr. Anton, my high school bootcamp music teacher, who pushed us to sit straight and far away (not leaning) from the back of the chair. He says that we should breathe with our anal muscle.
This topic deserves an entry on its own.
Those who are expecting the smooth sounds of Les Miserables or even the Lion King will be very disappointed with Lord of the Rings. I would definitely not call this production a musical, but perhaps a theatrical drama. Not much singing, and lots of talking. Not much fighting, not much dancing, but lots of lights, and creative theatrical effects.
Gollum was definitely the highlight of the show, as was the case in the motion picture. He is always interesting to watch, especially when he's torn between his "precioussssss" and honouring his promise to Frodo.
Overall, I was, and still am, cautiously optimistic about the success of LOTR. It just seems like a weird story to be adapted as a musical/play. And considering that the regular theatre-goers are retired or soon-to-be-retired patrons, I'm not sure if a tale like LOTR would be appropriate to them. But at the same time, perhaps this might draw in a different younger demographic, which might help to mould them to a lifetime of theatre-goers, who knows.
We'll just have to wait and see.
Musical 'Lord of the Rings' delays previews - [cbc.ca]
Lord of the Rings: they really like it - [theglobeandmail.com]
Lord of the Rings - [mirvish.com]
Bow and I made quick adventure from Waterloo to Toronto and back to Waterloo in less than 7 hours for the final rehearsal of Billy Crystal's solo play, 700 Sundays.
Our generation may not be too familiar with Billy Crystal, but I'm many of you are still either recognize his name and/or his face. You may remember him from older movies such as When Harry Met Sally, or a more recent one, Analyse This and Analyse That-- of which he produced and starred. You may also recognize him as the host of the Grammys and the Academy Awards several years back.
He's a funny man.
This one-man play predominately revolves around the "good old days" of Billy and his times he had with his father up to his death. Billy spent most of time with his busy father on the weekends, and "700 Sundays" signifies the many weeks he had with him before his heart attack. He talks about the wacky detailed accounts of his birth, the joys of the 50s jazz, his "awkardness" in his teens, and up to the events of September 11th. He pretty much bared his life-- at 58-- in just shy of three hours.
You will sense a great deal of nostalgia seeing this play. He makes stark contrasts, in a comical sense, between the good old days in America during the 60s and 70s -- when life was simple and people are free-- to the present time -- where life is more based on fear.
It's quite sad actually, but ironically he puts it in a way that just makes people hysterical. I totally would love to be an American during the time after the war. It seemed like there was so much hope, happiness, opportunity, and freedom in the country at that time.
If you have a love for jazz, you should definitely check it out. He talks about his encounters with great jazz legends like Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald.
In a nutshell, the production was satisfying pleasant, no more, no less. Like many standups shows, I had trouble to relating to him-- there were too many instances where I just couldn't connect with his jokes. It just seemed that there were too many references to American history that the average Canadian of this generation simply wouldn't know. In addition, I couldn't relate to him on many levels related to his Jewish upbringing, and just simply the life and times of the booming 50s and 60s.
Also, I question the amount of truth in some of his accounts related to his life, because I felt that ther were some moments that seemed "perfectly dramatic," especially as it relates to his father's death.
But at the same time, Billy Crystal's great because he can just do it all. He seem to have such a dynamic presence on stage, and it's really captivating to witness. There is no one set of adjectives that you can describe him-- perhaps that just his great ability to perform: he is silly, vulgar, crude, witty, loud, but he's also sensitive, dramatic, compassionate.
It's a bit late so, I'm going to cut it short. I'm not going to "grammaritize," so please forgive me.
I will say: 2.5 stars (out of 4).
The Blue Man Group was astounding, and it was just an amazing production. Thanks Bowie for a fantastic birthday treat.
The Blue Man Group is a clan of three individuals perceived as extraterrestrial beings that landed on our planet to manipulate everyday things we possess, and perform captivatingly bizarre things with them. Although each Blue Man depicts its distinctive personalities, they each come together in harmony to perform mesmerizing acts with utmost synchronicity-- acts that fully intrigue your sight, your hearing, and your touch.
Just like how wearing frosh T-shirts eliminate the distinctiveness of each individual, and unites everyone as a cohesive group, the Blue Man Group encouraged each audience member to tie a strip of streamers around your head upon entering the theatre-- similar to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles headband get-up-- and fuse together with the other audience members; this process is almost parallel to the common unified "Blue" look of the trio.
What made this theatre production remarkable is its acknowledgement of the audience, there were countless moments of audience members getting on stage and performing with the trio in blue. What's more, they managed to get the entire audience involved in part of their act with hilarious chants and easy-to-do coordinated group movements. I've yet to see such an interactive theatre production.
What also made it special was that the play was executed almost like an anti-Broadway production. There was no verbal dialogue between the three men, there was no loud singing voices, there was no graceful dancing; just lots of easy listening pop-rock, heart pumping percussion tempos, captivating splash of art, and just pure laughter.
I cannot articulate enough how effective the show managed to bring together the crowd and united us as one group.
If you're the type to fall asleep in musicals, I definitely suggest you to tag a friend or a date and see this show. It is by far the most entertaining production I've seen, and it is without a doubt a great spectacle of abstract art, sensational sounds, and humourous communicative expressions. It presented an added sense of touch that you don't normally experience in a traditional theatrical production.
Seeing this show has definitely shed new light on me about Twinkies, Captain Crunch, plumbing tubes, streamers, rock-n-roll, and edible paint.
PS: Just remember to bring your glasses to the performance, because sadly I have to inform you that there some reading involved in the show.
Hey! The sun just came out, much more awake now. It's been so gloomy for the past few days. Where's that Mr. Sun? and of course, now it's blizzardy. What the heck is this?
First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENN AND LIZZIE! These two chicks are both 21-- so many March Birthdays-- which brings me to the conclusion that adults like to do it in June / July. I've yet to do some extensive research on why that's a prime time to do the funky-monkey-dance. If anyone has any input on this topic, please feel free to contribute below. Nevertheless, have a great 2-1, ladies. LIZ: Have fun in our sponsored NY Hotel Room. JENN: Rememebr to take some nude photos of me-- it's free with camera purchase ;) ;)
Also, I managed to see John-- it was a lot of fun! He's from North York so I played "Markham tour guide" and showed him around Main Streets Unionville and Markham. He seemed to enjoy it, and then walked a bit at Toogood Pond. He took a plenty of pics to his photography collection. Went to the Pickle Barrel-- they had pretty good food! Wow, the interiors is soo nice! Superdelicious and enjoyable!
I had a pretty darn good weekend. Went to see Mamma Mia! Wow, what a happy-cool production. Was on that little snoozey dramatic-plays-streak for the past months so it was definitely a change. Pretty voices, pretty people, pretty stage setup--just magnificent! We got excellent first row balcony seats which was fantabulous! Spanx Bowie for an superb evening.
I don't know why, but lately, I've had trouble sleeping. And in the middle of the night, I'd suddenly get up 2 to 3 times a night. It has really been made me not- so-ready-to-work in the morning. I don't know why. I feel like I'm thinking a lot more again. I've talked to my co-worker, Angie, who is the big lifestyle, health and well-being guru. She says it's two things: Anxiety, and eating meals late in the evening. Then I thought to myself, 'You konw what, she's right'
I've been a bit worried about some of the things at work. I wanna be rest assured that my boss is impressed with my work. Back at Chapters, it seems so easy to impress bosses: just shelve, condition and sell sell sell! But now, with the "high" quantity of work that I do, and my current issues with the Grad Office and issues of misunderstanding--it seems so much harder to impress.
I've also been worried about my parents. I donno, I've not been spending enough time with them-- I feel like I'm obliged to do more but not achieving it. Weekends are so precious to me now because I don't have a lot of "Toronto time" and I wanna do as much as I can during those times and it has sorta sacrificed valuable family hang out times. I sometimes feel caught between family life and social life. Grr, it's just so hard tossing these two around.
I'm goona end the entry now, cuz i'm off work now! YAY! Be back soon!