Phantom of the Opera

Sian! I think I'm allergic to the school. All okay through the nice long weekend. Start to do work today morning and start sneezing. Ok. Fine. Take a short nap but still wake up sneezing.

Got all 'dressed up' and took the MRT to City Hall to meet up with Grace. Then met up with Wensi at Esplanade Ichiban for dinner. We were on our way for our 'Phantom Reunion'! *grin* Pity Xin'ai couldn't make it. It would be such a hoot to watch Phantom together after 13 years!

Anyway, it was my 4th time watching the musical - twice in London and now twice in Singapore. Wonder if I'd get a chance to watch it at Broadway? Such a fortune I've spent on the show.

The Singapore one this time is mainly made up of an American cast. Raoul was played by an Australian - boy, does he sound weird! The 2 male leads were also very TALL and almost gangly. Their body movements were so weird and not at all graceful. It didn't help that Christine was shorter than them by like almost 2 heads...

Christine's voice was ok, it got better as the night went on. Raoul was not too bad (if I can just ignore his accent). Phantom was a disappointment when he used his falsetto, but his bass and tenor parts were not too bad.

I think I want to get a copy of the Phantom movie DVD. Really loved the artistic presentation of the movie. While watching the musical, kept thinking of the Christine in the movie.

Phantom will always be special to me. I literally grew up with it.

Was first exposed to it in P6 when someone played it during a class gathering or something. The whole class fell in love with the music, especially the part when Phantom screamed "Damn it! Curse it!" after Christine unmasked him in his underground lair. I still remember, we kept playing the CASETTE TAPES of the musical back then, after our Prelims and PSLE.

Of course, what was even more extraordinary than a bunch of P6 students listening to Phantom was that we actually took it upon ourselves to STAGE it on the last day of school for our teachers and classmates. We had auditions and everything! *laugh*

I remember bringing a huge skirt to use as Xin'ai's Phantom cape. Diana (is she still at Her World) was Christine - she was the ONLY ONE able to reach the high 'ahhhhh-ahhhh-ahh-ahh-ahhh' notes in the first scene. I'm not sure how I managed to get the role of Raoul. It was between Dawn and me. And guess what, I still have the photos of our performance!

3 years down the road. I split from the GEP. Hey, Phantom comes to Singapore! I queued up overnight and was among the first 100 to get the tix! Got free CDs, posters, Phantom paper bags! It was played at Kallang Theatre, and being poor students (more me than the other 3) back then, we were way up high at the highest Circle seats.

Another 3 years down the road, everyone splits for different countries to pursue their studies. I got attached and goes trooping off to London on my own to backpack (and, yes, visit my ex). Was on a very, very, very tight budget but still splurged a chunk of money on the tix for Phantom in London (it's one of the most expensive musicals in London).

Wah, so long... A bit like my life story liao.

Okies. Shall stop now. Tata.