Chestnuts Does Christmas – Like A Hard Candy Virgin

December 31st, 2009 theatre

The first time I saw Johnathan Lim was in 42 Waterloo Street Emerald Hole and after that brilliant performance, I attended almost everything he was in. Most times, I’ve come away thinking he was so underused in the shows  – he could do much more. At the end of tonight’s Chestnuts, I finally figured out why. In those shows, he was just doing one person. His talent is his ability to rapidly change from one person to another. That’s why Chestnuts is brilliant for him. There could be a thousand other people onstage and he still owns Chestnuts. Nobody could do what he does onstage.

Most of the references were brilliantly put in. I’m quite happy that this year’s show is not only laughing theatre and movies. Including theatre/movie references makes it feel exclusive especially when there isn’t time to explain – I don’t like comedy to be full of in-jokes, even when I get it. That said,  I very much enjoyed and admired Scrooge (excellently done by Tan Shou Chen – how come I’ve never seen him in anything?) being warned by Pineapple Tart King Wee Bak Chuan in his yellow pajamas (how on earth did they get the golden pineapple?). The language jokes were well delivered and the comedy never stops to let the audience catch their breaths. (It must be one joke per line in the script!)

The musical numbers were extremely well done. I was worried about Pondon News Asia – I never liked the two characters very much – but I absolutely loved Judy Ngo as the civil servant and later as the chinese waitress who could only say ‘Yes’ ‘No’ ‘Merry Christmas’. The lines in the civil servant bit were not as funny but Judy Ngo delivered superbly. It’s an awful pity the next thing she’s in is a Goh Boon Teck show – I would love to watch her act. Judee Tan as Ris Low brought the house down when she sang her version of 12 days of Christmas. The audience was roaring with laughter. She deserve a prize for this bit and Jonathan Lim a prize for writing it!

I love the musical parts that came later. Although the sketch portion of the Chinese waitresses was overlong, it more than made up for it by having the two break into song (龍的傳人) to counter the influence of Western caroling (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen). The last sketch featured Madonna heavily in the Nativity play (heh). While I love recognising Madonna’s songs, I thought the intermingling of 龍的傳人 and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen much more enjoyable.

Chestnuts, when it is good, is brilliantly funny (yes, there were some average years). When it was mainly a two man format, I didn’t mind at all if there was not a lot of acting. It wasn’t that kind of show. This year, a whole lot of actors were involved, that’s when I thought that the comedy made it very hard to appreciate the acting. I like to watch good acting so I’m quite happy that there were tickets for me to watch it again. I am looking forward to watching Judy Ngo, Tan Shou Chen and Judee Tan in other shows.

~*~

Ris Low’s version of 12 days of Christmas:

12 months probation
11 day Safari*
10 ad sponsorers
9 English Lessons
8 khaki jins
7 credit cards from 6 different people
5 leopard preens
4-giveness
3 piece bigini
2 polar disorder
and a [thinking pause] diploma in hospitality.

*thanks to commenter ‘ris low’

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?

RASHOMON (Theatre Practice)

September 13th, 2009 theatre

Rashomon is my favourite movie of all times. I was incredibly excited to learn Theatre Practice was going to put it up. When the weekend came around, the excitement had gone away and I was hoping for something light hearted. It had been a solemn week, brought about by watching District 9, which was very very good but disturbing, and finishing Diamond Age (the book made me pensive).

The play kept to the way it was presented in the movie but reduced dialogue to the barest minimum, using light, sound, and the actors’ bodies to express emotions. In that regard, it was extremely interesting theatre, extremely well executed. There were a lot of looks exchanged between the actors and I’m not sure if the body language would be too subtle for a person really far from the stage but I, three rows from the stage smack center – the best seats IMO – caught most of the glances and liked it.

As a performance it didn’t quite entertain. It is too slow paced and and the restrained dialogue made it difficult to show the different versions of the events. That gave it a pretentious arty flavour because it assumes everyone knows the story well enough to seek an alternate presentation of the story.

Although suspense died quite early on from the slowness, the light and sound were used to good effect to retain interest in the scenes. In particular, I thought the first telling of the killing of the samurai presented as a series of stills captured in light ingenious. The actors are a joy to watch – they are just bloody good at their job. I hope they win some theatre prize money to do more work. It is quite a pity it wasn’t played to a full house.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

August 16th, 2009 theatre

I had been looking forward to the show after reading it during my musical-mad phase. It was a sweet little piece – no fancy footwork, a small music team and limited acting. The show has a goodish amount of humour and the characters were all heatbreakingly cute.

All the singers in the show did very well in their roles. I thought Johann de la Fuente made Coneybear adorable (and not sick-making). He lost focus a little when he had to switch roles to be one of Marcy Park’s gay Dad. Noel Rayos controlled his role switches better. Cathy Azanza-Dy (as Ms Peretti) sounded weak in the high notes.

Memorable songs: Pandemonium / I Speak Six Languages / I Love You Song

The Crucible

August 16th, 2009 theatre

Watching the actors /actresses on stage, I think this play is suitably chosen for The Young Company’s graduation show. The script is fantastic – a lot of drama, a lot of conflict and, I think, fairly accommodating towards bad acting. I was expecting some arm-flinging types and I found a lot of them at the start of Act 1. Most onstage were uncomfortable with the language of the play did nothing more than deliver their lines. I’m not sure more rehearsals would help – they need to spend time working out the characters on their own a bit more. Three actors stood out from the crowd onstage: Andrew Robert Ng, Rishi Parkash Budhrani and Olivia Rummel. While they didn’t express the depth of their characters, they did hold my attention and did not arm-fling. It would nice to see them again in another production.

The entire cast deserve praise for seeing the show through in the face of the simply awful audience. The audience chattered incessantly during the show, laughed inappropriately and at certain moments during the show, I was afraid for the cast that they would heckle. They are probably students and despite being yelled at during Act 1 (by Mrs Daniel Jenkins?), did not settle down. Michael Corbidge came in during the intermission, told them off and they quietened down during the second half of the show. I hope the cast did not have to suffer the same kind of audience on another night.

*Celeb sightings: Daniel Jenkins at the aisle seat of my row and Michael Corbidge. I miss watching local actors onstage.

Shows

July 15th, 2009 theatre

• The Complete Works of Shakespeare
• The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
• The Crucible ?
• RASHOMON 《罗生门》
• Film – Faust ?
• Victor/Victoria

Paul Morocco & Ole

May 30th, 2009 theatre

The absolute BESTEST show of the arts festie!

Watch video

Much Ado About Nothing

May 30th, 2009 theatre

The only few who seem to know what they are up to are Adrian Pang (surprise, surprise), Andy Hockley (in a tiny role as Dogberry), and the set (designer Francis O’Connor). I particularly enjoyed Andy Hockley – who is he? He must do more things here! Adrian Pang did liven up the heaviness but I thought he relied excessively on physical comedy, as if worried that the audience wouldn’t get the joke. Too much, too cute. The set is great and should take a bow at the end of each night. On the whole, the effort shows and makes the show a tad unenjoyable.

An Indulgent weekend

May 24th, 2009 books, screen, theatre

Dancing On Your Grave by The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs was a tad depressing. It has its funny moments but some rhymes/ ideas were predictable therefore, not as funny as I would like it (eg, working fingers to the bone + skeleton). I did find one part funny, when someone sang that when he was alive, every seven seconds, he thought about [pause] current affairs. Their idea of afterlife was at first Christian  (Pearly Gates), then, Buddhist (reincarnation) finally completely atheist (Worm food). It wasn’t hilarious but not horrible.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink feels like an essay masquerading as fiction.

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Nick Mitchell AKA Norman Gentle

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Arts Festie 2009

May 10th, 2009 theatre

• Dancing On Your Grave by The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs
• Les Précieuses Ridicules (The Pretentious Young Ladies) by Theatre Du Kronope
• Olé! The Latin Music Comedy Explosion By Paul Morocco & Olé