Archive for November, 2009
Victor/Victoria
November 29th, 2009 theatre
Once the theatre darkened and Toddy came out and I was all smiles from start to end beaming up at the stage like a satellite to mother ship. I have not been this thrilled at a musical since Tick Tick Boom/Lao Jiu. I love the original broadway show (which I saw on DVD – Julie Andrews/Tony Roberts/Michael Nouri/Rachel York) and I was prepared to be disappointed because the original was fairly entertaining. Seriously, it’s Julie Andrews and Rachel York – it’s not going to be easy to top.
My oh my. I love love love this production of Victor/Victoria. Lots of greats: this is the first time I have ever seen a dancing chorus. The dancing and choreography was fabulous and out to impress – lots of high kicks, jumps and frightfully difficult moves. There was a little untidiness about the dancing but I don’t think anyone noticed because they were so bloody fantastic. The sets looked v expensive. Nicely done!
Laura Fygi completely bowled me over with her singing. Her voice gave Victoria Grant/Count Victor Grezhinski a touch of sultry sadness which I thought was great idea and made the Count seem even more mysterious. Matt Grey (as Carol Todd) sang very well and so did Jake Macapagal (as King Marchand), playing opposite Laura Fygi. I had thought they might be relegated to mere supporting roles but they held their own well. Nicole Stilton got the juicy Norma Cassidy part and got a nice applause at the end. Her singing and dancing was extremely well done but I thought she could have milked the part a bit more. She seemed quite preoccupied with getting the process through especially during Paris Makes Me Horny. She seemed slightly boyish for the role, as if she’s doing Norma in drag(?!) I would prefer it if she were to let flow the lowly educated, bitchy gangster girlfriend stereotype.
The actors did a very good job in bringing out the lines that I missed watching the DVD: the in your face conversation about sexual preferences. For example. Norma says to Toddy that the right woman could change him; Victoria says that King thinks that he could never be in love with a man because he thinks he’s that sort of man; and Sal saying it’s disgusting). I had forgotten about it and was surprised that a show could air such impolite conversation.
The interpretation of the characters was a tad not to my liking. I found Matt Grey’s Toddy too butch and although I knew the story, I kept thinking Toddy will try to make a pass at her during ‘If I Were A Man’. I also had some trouble believing that the extraordinarily good looking Jake Macapagal was a business man who did business with thugs/gangsters.
Rehearsal videos
The Broadway show, 1995
Link to Karin’s review – ooh she likes theatre, follows bbc comedy and is currently listening to the recent album from Muse. Never seen that combination before, or have I?
Writing Longhand
November 23rd, 2009 elsewhereTags: Pens
Found a link to “How to Write a Great Novel” on FPN (in which the article talks about a writer’s habits and not how a great novel is written.)
- Amitav Ghosh (”He insists black ink Pelikan pens are the best, and buys white, lined paper from a French manufacturer.”)
- Kazuo Ishiguro does a first draft by hand
- Michael Ondaatje’s writes in a 8½-by-11-inch Muji brand lined notebooks.
From Mike Shea’s site
- Stephen King (”Stephen King wrote Dreamcatcher all in longhand using a Waterman pen: “This book was written with the world’s finest word processor, a Waterman cartridge fountain pen.”)
- Neal Stephenson does it (”The manuscript of The Baroque Cycle was written by hand on 100% cotton paper using three different fountain pens: a Waterman Gentleman, a Rotring, and a Jorg Hysek.”)
- Neil Gaiman does it (”I’m writing my novel with two different fountain pens (a Lamy 2000, and a regular Lamy) filled with two different coloured inks (a greenish one and a reddish one), and I’m alternating pens each day, which means I can see at a glance how much writing I’ve actually done that day, or that week.)
I started googling the names on my best-love shelf and “longhand”:
- Graham Greene (”My two fingers on a typewriter have never connected with my brain. My hand on a pen does. A fountain pen, of course. Ball-point pens are only good for filling out forms on a plane.”)
- John Irving, (”I write all my first drafts in long hand because you can only write so fast in longhand.”)
- Kurt Vonnegut (”Kurt Vonnegut, who always used a yellow legal pad to write his manuscripts longhand, and turned it in that way.”)
Margaret Atwood does her first draft in longhand.
RK Narayan (”Sometimes he wrote with a typewriter, sometimes with paper and pen, cooking his own food on a hot plate in the hotel room every day.”)
Umberto Eco does in pen and computer
Peter Carey is the only person on my list who writes on a Mac.
On the MSN:
November 23rd, 2009 Uncategorized
My little cousin, when asking me if I would like to watch her dance performance, was anxious to let me know it is quite childish. She meant it had a lot of pre-schoolers.
Aunt: N. said it would be cold at the hall. Bring a jacket.
Me: Okay. Shall I be wearing my ball gown?”
Aunt: N says, please don’t. You will outshine her.
Me: LMAO!
~
Same cousin:
N: What are you doing?
Me: Writing.
N: Why are you always writing for nothing?
Me: ….
Me: It’s like you playing games on FaceBook.
N: Lame.
Nanowrimo 2009
November 9th, 2009 Uncategorized
This year, I spend about 2 hours (or more) writing and am struggling to meet the daily target. I’m trying to get into the groove of exercising and writing and it’s not working out. I do notice that the couple of days when it hurts too much to do my routine, 2000 words is easily done. Thing is, I don’t really want to drop my AM routine. How do I do better?
Nanowrimo Playlist
November 2nd, 2009 Uncategorized
The few tracks I have of the Muse’s The Resistance album (Uprising, United States of Eurasia and MK Ultra) is The Soundtrack for my story.
All I hear of my 50+ min playlist, however, is Nathan Lane announcing to Xanthias in The Frogs that it is time to start their journey (just before they break into I Love To Travel) and 张学友 singing the final act in 如果爱 before he leaps to his fake death. (I love the drama of the red blood on blinding white ice.) .
