Theatre Disaster

Mar 16, we went to the opening night of They're Playing Our Song and looked forward to be amused to our heart's content by the musical. It was held at a small theatre at the HK Arts Centre, which we appreciated (at first) - better delivery and speaking out to the audience right? We jumped into the front, centre seats and were so close to the actors at some point that James got kicked by the lead guy while he was attempting to look like he's revving up the motorcycle.

Anyways the play was horrific from the start. The characters were both wearing these hideous wigs that didn't even look like part of their heads. (Ann: "The pianist was wearing a wig, even Leon in the picture was wearing a wig!") the set /props was very minimal which to me was fine - but the biggest flop was.. oh my phantom of the opera! the female lead was not only amateur, she was sooo bad and so not endearing..she was annoying. She was speaking English - not her native Thai - and yet we could barely understand her lines, her voice was too alto and was not melodic at all. It was strenous to watch with weirded-out faces and brains working to decipher the english, or in my friends' cases, suppressing the strong urges to burst out into laughter/tears amidst that rather unique theatre experience. Not long after the play started, J & J resolved to reading the booklet to keep their composure and sanity. The booklet had descriptions of the cast - the lead by the way is an Aussie who first came to hk to be a Cantopop singer... go figure.

At some point Jiki turned to the very last page, she stopped and stared, not knowing what else could she resolve to. James helpfully offered.."Honey, if you need more reading materials I could get some from my bag." So there, at intermission we did ourselves and the actors (especially the actors) a favor- we left. I felt sorry for having invited my friends to see this, but they did have a good laugh about the experience (after overcoming their dismay) to compensate hehee. Argh I should have watched this in Manila before when Lea Salonga played the role. I did not expect world-class performance for 190 bucks but seriously, all of the small college plays I've seen were far better!

A Frictionless Life means nothing sticks?

I think people who are constantly moving around the globe for work/study will understand what this is on about...

"Every day you are confronted with new smells and tastes. Did you know what it tastes like to drink hot green tea in milk in February in Nara? Had you smelled the Namibian desert after a rainstorm? The high-velocity life not only rewards optimism, it demands it. If you get on each new flight thinking wherever you are going is worse than where you're coming from, then this life will empty you. And this is where a secret emerges: that the essential demand for a high-speed life is a kind of portable stillness. It's like that Taipei 101 skyscraper, which balances out too-frequent Asian earthquakes not by means of a deep foundation but through an internal damper that transmutes big shocks into small tremors. Stability comes from the inside.
Frictionless life really means that: nothing sticks. Of course, there's a certain peace in holding onto your life with a kind of relaxed, disengaged grip. But the fact is that the constant movement strips away the best kinds of emotional connections. You can find moments of shocking intimacy as you move at this speed, but shock and intimacy aren't supposed to belong together. The first few times the sensation might be refreshing but after a while you worry that one of those words is slowly eating away the other, and it's not the word you would want to be winning."

Read rest of article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12667628/site/newsweek/