Musical - "Man of Letters"

Watched "Man of Letters" with SH last night. The show was great! Fabulous! Fantastic! If you can, catch it.

I thought all of them sang fabulously well, although sometimes the music seems to be a tad louder than the singing itself, which is a waste. The actor and actress playing the role of Ming and Roseanne sang so well, especially the duets, with the harmonies and all, that I got a bit high just listening to them. My heart kind of jumped a bit more and I believe I was grinning to myself in the dark. No, my expression should be somewhere between enjoyment and torture, if you understand what I mean. The only section of the singing I didn't like was when the cabaret ladies started singing. It was... I don't know. Perhaps a bit not together, perhaps a little too high with no bass. Anyway whenever they sang I just kind of sank back into my seat a little. However the songs were really marvellous. Gave me goosebumps and made me smile to myself, and it wasn't only because certain parts of it were funny. The poems Ming wrote, and then sung, were utterly beautiful. Made me (want to) cry. Think they were by Dick Lee. Those words would have touched any girl's heart!

The dancers were good too. It struck me that the coordination between the scenes and the music was very nicely done too. There are few too-long-pause when bridging between speaking and singing, action and singing, movement and singing. Loved it when they could just launch into a song which fits into the music straight after an action or word.

Somehow there's something in the musical that kinds of stir an almost patriotic feeling beside you. It's due to the fact that it's set in the year 1955 WWII when Singapore was returned to the powers of the British and the students are fighting for independence from them. During the musical itself I was starting to feel really touched about it all when halfway through, the words "patriotic" and "brainwashing" and "facts" just popped into my mind. Kind of tarnished the mood for me a little. Knew that these were facts and I probably should feel patriotic but can't help thinking that it's brainwashing because I'm used to thinking of stuff like that as brainwashing and feeling guilty about thinking it as brainwashing. Plus the musical is really about the love triangle, not Singapore's fight for independence.

I just realized something: There's a parallel between the setting and the storyline. Early Singapore is in trouble, Ming is in trouble, confused, trying to break out but things are not turning out the way they want it to be. Singapore gets independence, Ming finds himself =P Shan't divulge the story anymore. That's already a great hint.

Almost forgot to mention that there is a live orchestra playing in the pit. The orchestra's not perfect, but it's really good enough. Don't know if it's the music written or the player, but one section which had the flute play tumbling notes caught my attention. Was smiling and leaning over to watch the orchestra then. Some sections in the musical I just gave my attention to the music. Mostly in the beginning when I weren't so caught up in the story yet. Very interesting to see the conductor wearing headphones to hear what the actors and actresses were speaking and having to coordinate the music and the words. It must have been tiring for him. With those headphones and having to concentrate on the coordination, it must mean that most of the balance in the music is left to the players themselves to negotiate. I think.

We were seated in this section at the side of the hall so that our seats were one behind the other instead of side-by-side. I was really excited at the prospect of sitting there because I've always wanted to do so, but it wasn't long when I realized that it isn't the best seats. The advantages are that there is nobody beside you to disturb you, you have a lot of space to yourself and the person's head in front of you won't be blocking your view (supposedly). In my case nobody sat in front of me, SH's behind me, and nobody sat behind him. If there was a person in front of me, his/her head would probably be blocking me most of the time because we had to lean out over the railing to watch the action on the right side of the stage. If you'd read what SH said in his blog about me leaning out, yes I agree that I lean very far out, but no choice, if not can't see anything happening in that section. We're relatively lucky to have gotten the seats that we had because I saw the group of people in front of me standing up and leaning far out in the beginning of the show when the action was still pretty close to the centre of the stage (I think). I cannot imagine how much of the stage they can see from their seats.

Show ended at 10.40pm. 2hours 10 min long. By the time I reached home it was already 12+. Very late, but very happy. Nice musical.

And thanks for seeing me home. =P