COPING

As I've mentioned before, we have the heinous 'double-show-weekend' schedule here in Singapore. That's Friday night, two on Saturday and two on Sunday...5 shows in 50 hours. This means that the end of your work week is also the toughest and most draining part of the week. It's easy to be jealous of the Broadway and London casts who do a double-show Wednesday, a double-show Saturday, and then ONLY a matinee on Sundays, which means that their day off starts by 6 p.m. on a Sunday night. Luxury !

Because of this hard-labour sentence, my body usually starts to complain by the last day of the week. Following is a transcript of the conversation that takes place every Sunday morning...

ME: Time to get up.
BODY: Fuck you.
ME: Come on. Last day of the work week.
BODY: I hate you.
ME: No you don't you're just tired.
BODY: Damn right I'm tired. And I am NOT interested in doing two shows today.
ME: Do we have to go through this EVERY Sunday morning?
BODY: I can't get up. I think something is broken
ME: What's broken?
BODY: I don't know. Something. I'll think of something. Hell, I'll break something.
ME: Come on. After that first cup of coffee you'll feel better.... Hello? Are you listening to me?
BODY: Make me.
ME: *sigh* You know it's inevitable. The longer we argue, the less time there is to start moving and warming up the voice.
BODY: Hmpf !
ME: Ok, how about this, tomorrow it will be all about you. A massage, some time relaxing by the pool....? Come on, we can do this.
BODY: All right all ready ! But I won't like it.
ME: I know. Let's just get the coffee started, ok?
BODY: Fine ! ..... i still hate you.

Fortunately, when working with talented, creative people, there is always something entertaining to be found at the theatre that can lift the spirits and help get BODY and I through the day...

Someone found this picture of the real-life Timon & Pumbaa. It too is now posted on the dressing room door.



And this is Bob The Penguin. (I think his name is Bob?) He gets dressed as various characters from the show and passed around backstage for everyone's enjoyment. On the weekend,Veronique created a Scar costume for him and brought him to my dressing room.

His little leather chaps are a bit too long since he doesn't have any legs

But his mask goes up and down just like mine

And finally, more questionable translation ...

And on an unrelated note, I was watching an episode of Glee while lying in bed one night. It was the episode where Kurt & Blaine have their first (gay) kiss. The actual kiss, however, was unceremoniously chopped out by the Singaporean censors so, as far as I could tell, Blaine leaned in to Kurt and whispered something in his ear that left them both smiling. Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore and the Wicked Witch is in charge.

VISITORS OUT...VISITORS IN...

Almost as soon as one set of guests flew off across the ocean, another set arrived, though not quite as planned. Geo and Marylin had a little trouble getting here thanks to a delayed departure and an unplanned over-night stay in Hong Kong. So they arrived, one day late, having found their lost luggage. In a way, it worked out well as it gave them a head start on recovering from the jet-lag.

Since they arrived on a Thursday, I had only a little time to tour them around before completely disappearing into the bowels of the theatre for our intense double-show-day-weekends. They did, however, manage to make it to our regular post-show Thirsty Thursday.

...with Veronique at T'irsty T'ursday

While I did my back-to-back shows on Saturday and Sunday, they took it upon themselves to do as many touristy things as humanly possible (Orchid Garden, Hop-on-hop-off bus, Orchard Road ...), biding their time until seeing the show on Sunday night. Monday was my day to drag them around to some of the places they might not otherwise see...

Beer break in Chinatown

Ganesha supervises photo ops in Little India


Chihuly glass at The Ritz Carlton

Full moon over Marina Bay

On Tuesday, they headed off to Australia where they'd have to make another adjustment to temperature since it's 'winter' there. I heard it was only +13 in Melbourne, a significant drop from the +38 or so they experienced here. By now, they should be lost somewhere in The Outback before heading off to Sydney for a few days.


And in other news...

More unfortunate translation



Have Lyall and I started to think alike ....?

MAKING OF...

The more appropriate title for this entry would be, "The Making Of A Tour Guide" since one set of visitors just left and another set are arriving tonight. Not that I'm complaining. You know that you're loved when people fly to the other side of the world to see you.

The broads enjoying Singapore at night
with my Kiwi friend, Tim


The view of Marina Bay Sands from
Altitude, the worlds highest outdoor bar.

Linda and Esther went off to Bintan (see previous post TECH SITZPROBE BINTAN TECH) for three days of flake 'n' bake. They loved it as much as I did, (Note to self: Get back there soon) and came back to Singapore suitably relaxed. Just as well since this whole city/country is one giant shopping marathon and they were EXHAUSTED ! They planned their Bintan getaway at the end of the trip so that they could fly home with Indonesian beach sand still clinging to their toes.

The shows continue to go well. Everyday is the same old/new mountain to climb. The only thing that really changes drastically are the backstage antics which keep us laughing and alive.

For instance, Andrew, or Johnathan, or Drew, or Johnathan Andrew, or Mr. Hume (depending on who is speaking of him) who plays Simba, is our resident i-guy. As in i-phone, i-pad, i-life. Claudia, in the make up room, said that she really wanted an ipad. So Andrew got her one.

(See previous post JELL-0 SUPREEZE to understand
why this entertains me so much)

And then there are the random, day-to-day things that don't happen in a 9 to 5 life that are so worth documenting...

Resting between shows

And finally, some brave soul has uploaded the offical "Making of..." video that the local TV station filmed throughout the rehearsal process. Don't know how long this will last on YouTube because I'm certain there's a copyright issue looming, so watch these links before they disappear.