Everything Random

Every time I come to London, I always make time to watch plays and musicals. From where I live, the theater is only an occassional luxury, with tickets really costing a fortune sometimes. I stayed for for four more days during my business trip in January this year, just to enjoy the following.

First Stop: Puccini’s Turandot

After watching Verdi’s Aida some eight years ago, I long for the day when I will get to see another opera again. The performance at the Royal Opera House in London was a blast – for the first time I saw Puccini’s Turandot, the musician’s final and unfinished opera.

Arsen Soghomonhyan’s Nessun Dorma rendition was a joy to watch. Powerful and restrained at the same time. While I do not like the way Alfano finished the opera after Puccini’s death, you can really hear it from how the closing duet between Princess Turandot and Prince Calaf sounds like, it was still a lovely finale with a powerful chorus.

Second Stop: Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro

I watched the stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away two years ago, so I wanted to watch this time My Neighbor Totoro. I did not have a ticket, so I just showed up at the Box Office at 130 pm for the show that starts at 2. And as luck would have it, I managed to get a front row seat for a bargain, and it was the best gift for the new year! Thanks, You.

The show was just beautiful. Stage design, music, choreography, overall production was just superb. I was misty-eyed the whole time for Act2. It pulled all the right strings in my heart.

The lessons for that day (especially because the control freak me did not get a ticket beforehand, unlike Turandot):

• Lesson 1: Know what you want.
• Lesson 2: show up.
• Lesson 3: ask.
• Lesson 4: Believe in magic.

Third Stop: Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

I always want to watch a Shakespeare play at Shakespeare’s Globe. When we were in London some 6 years ago with my kids, we stood up for two hours at the yard to watch The Twelfth Night and until now, my daughter Fi considers it a core memory. She can not forget that all the cast were wearing Doc Martens.

So this time, I watched a re-imagining of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This time, it was held at the indoor theater (outside it is still very cold), at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, where the whole play was only lit by candles. Sam Wanamaker is an American actor and director who was responsible for the reconstruction of the Elizabethan playhouse that is now Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

The production was provocative, and while the play was supposedly written for summer, hence the title, the whole production was set in winter, with the whole stage in white to indicate the cold winter snow. And Puck, of all things, was in a ballerina costume with face smeared with lipstick, looking like a clown.

Fourth and Final Stop: Hadestown

Hadestown is the imaginative retelling of the Greek classic tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, juxtaposed with the story of Hades and Persephone. The music was eclectic, the dialogue dark and sad, and the New Orleans setting made the whole production sombre.

I was excited because Desmonda Cathabel (second from right above), an Indonesian, takes the lead role of Eurydice, while another Asian, Sebastien Lim Seet (Malaysian/Scottish) takes the role of Orpheus (beside Desmonda in the picture). The dou was a joy to watch on set, and when Sebastien sings Epic 1, it was very moving.

So what’s the best one I had?

Not one. All of them are a class of their own.

Do I recommend each of them?

Definitely.