COMPOUND SCARS

We recently had a rehearsal called for Scar & Simba and all the Scar/Simba covers so that all the various possible combinations of Scars & Simbas could have a chance to finesse the fight and flying choreography together. Since the rehearsal was in full costume, we were all seeing double.

And then, moments later, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of seeing triple !

Introducing, The Scarlettes...

Lyall, Me, James
I feel just like Diana Ross

And speaking of Diana Ross,....Anuar, our dresser, decided, in his quiet, Malay way, to contribute to the daily back-stage antics that keep us all entertained.

He prefers the early, small-hair version of Diana.

I already did a blog post about Tim & I sneaking in to the run-thru for 2nd covers so that I could watch Lyall's Scar. Here he is before that run-thru, looking remarkably like, well, ..... me.

And just for the sake of comparison...

And while we're having a Scar-fest,...

Loving myself



The company thinks it's HILARIOUS when I put my reading glasses on.


Back in the days of the rehearsal hall

Scar, Simba, Mufasa
Family portrait.
One of these things is not like the others.

And, still on a Scar-ish theme, here is an article from the most recent issue of Sands Style Magazine. The last time I mailed one of these thick, glossy volumes to Canada, the postage was only slightly less than the cost of Fifth Avenue face lift. Hence, my decision to simply scan and post the article here. You should be able to click on the images to enlarge them and read the article.

ALL ABOUT BOB

In a previous post, I introduced you to BOB, the unofficial back-stage mascot of The Lion King. Veronique, Bob's and handler, recently posted a gallery of Bob's various looks and moods, giving us a true impression of what a chameleon he really is. I thought it would be a good idea to share some of Bob's many faces before he becomes a celebrity in his own right.

Bird-Lady Bob


Dashiki Bob



Grasslands Bob


Rafiki Bob (complete with mini-baboon-butt)


Shenzi Bob


Simba Bob


Zazu Bob


And just for something different...
Stagetech Bob

We're not entirely sure how Veronique finds the time to build all of Bob's various guises, but one thing is clear, the girl is certainly creative ( and just a little eccentric) !

During a recent matinee, there was very little time for backstage creativity, particularly for Stage Management as they had their hands full. One of our SM team was calling the show and suddenly became ill and passed out early in Act 1. Fortunately, our show is called from an elevated booth on stage left, so the booth is easily accessible. The Senior Stage Manager immediately climbed the ladder and took over the show after calling for the assistance of our heroic phyiso-healer who was on the scene in moments to assist. Unfortunately, the ailing SM also, well, there's no nice way to say this,....up-chucked all over the booth. It was difficult not to enjoy the comedy in yet another SM barging into people's dressing rooms screaming, "I'm taking all your toilet paper !!!". Now, this in itself would have been enough to keep everyone busy, but we also had an unexpected addition to one of the early musical numbers in the show. During "Grasslands", a bat appeared on stage, weaving and skimming through the tall-grass headmounts worn by the ensemble. Many of the audience were extremely impressed, assuming that our mastery of the puppet arts was so complete that we could dazzle them with this stunning, life-like effect. The bat, ultimately, disappeared and the ailing SM is fine except for a bump on the head. I guarantee that people who work in offices don't have days like these.

I mentioned before that we had reached our 100th performance. For this milestone, a short media event was organized to celebrate and show off the production in the Marina Bay Sands shopping mall. A temporary stage was erected on the skating rink (yes, skating rink, though it isn't actual ice) where the cast performed a few numbers from the show. The balcony around the area was festooned with character banners from the show. I've never presided over a skating rink before.

Gugwana and I hanging out in the shopping mall

After Geo & Marylin visited Singapore, they headed off to see some of Australia. They must have had Lion King on the brain because they felt the need to snap this pic of questionable taxidermy.

Young Scar after a night on the town

I enjoyed dinner recently at one of my favourite spots in Singapore, Orgo.

Orgo with Singapore Flyer and MBS in the background

I was introduced to this spot by Louise Withers, my Australian friend who's company was instrumental in guiding our work-visa applications through the twists and turns of The Ministry of Manpower.

Orgo is one of those needle-in-a-haystack spots in Singapore. A peaceful, beautiful oasis of serenity in a desert of noisy, traffic-infused restaurants. It's hidden away on the roof of The Esplanade theatre complex, over-looking the lagoon and the financial district. On my first visit, Louise and I were introduced to Champagne Mojitos, and sat in the blissful silence, punctuated by the odd sigh as we gazed at the city skyline.

I love the martini glass of chilled grapes that automatically comes to your table

And speaking of restaurants...

There's a little place near my apartment, Zenso, that serves a Thai and Japanese menu. Simple, cheap, nearby and delicious. I stopped in for lunch yesterday and the waiter asked me if I wanted my "usual spot". I realized that, without meaning to, I'd become 'a regular'. Not surprising considering that I eat there at least once or twice a week. I go there mostly for the beautiful Thai curry, and on this day, the green curry with chicken was particularly yummy. Creamy with coconut milk, complex, fragrant and perfectly spicy.

My favourite lunch...
Green curry chicken with baby kai lan in oyster sauce and fried shallots
(Oh yes, ... comes with rice !)

And speaking of food...
I'm sure that many of you know the movie "Under The Tuscan Sun". You may not know that the woman who wrote the book on which the movie is based, Frances Mayes, has written several other books, a few of which focus on her true-life story of living in Tuscany. Our Supper At Summerfield group in Niagara is passionately devoted to her books and have devoured them like we have devoured her recipes.

Before I left Canada, we had a Frances Mayes Tribute dinner, using recipes or inspirations from her books. I, of course, blogged about it and sent a link for the blog entry to Frances via her blog. To my surprise, she responded. To my greater surprise, she asked for my mailing address and said that she would send some olive oil pressed from the olives grown on Bramasole, her Tuscany estate. I sent her the address, and several months later...

...three cans of this precious, delicious stuff arrived at the house in Niagara. I insisted that Michael send one to me in Singapore. I'm certain that the rest of it will be savoured by anyone lucky enough to be there to share it.

LION KING SG TURNS 100 !

On Saturday night, June 4th, we gave our 100th performance. We have also now broken an unofficial record in terms of Singapore entertainment because no show has ever played here for longer than 3 months.
June 4th also meant that I have been in Singapore for 6 months already. Hard to believe ! Time flies when you're trapped in lion-shaped leather chaps.

Perhaps in celebration of our impending 100th, or perhaps because she was so jealous of Claudia's ipad, Rowena had to get herself ipad 2.

Though I haven't had the chance to have a "sit out" (where my cover goes on and I watch the show) I did watch the full-tech run-thru for the 2nd covers the other day. I was forced to sit in the very back row of the balcony because Lyall is my 2nd cover and he told me that he didn't want me to be there because it would make him too nervous to know that I was watching.

Tim accompanied me to the run-thru and, in order to not be seen by anyone, I bribed the security guards to let us in through the loading dock and take us directly to the balcony level in the elevator. Once there, we had to lie on the floor until the show started because the house lights were on. We also had to hide behind the seats for the opening number of Act II because there are cast members singing from all over the theatre. We spent a lot of time giggling at our espionage tactics.

Because I know which of Scar's scenes allow me to clearly see the balcony, I spent those scenes lying on the floor watching between the seat backs so that Lyall wouldn't catch a glimpse of me.
We nearly blew our cover after the run-thru because they didn't do a curtain call ! The house lights came up and the cast was still on stage so we dove for cover, listened to our resident director say a few words to the cast, and then made a dash for the fire escape once the cast dispersed to the dressing rooms. The added thrill of discovery made the whole thing pretty entertaining and even though it wasn't a "real" show, it was fantastic for me to be able to see it. All the covers did an admirable job. You could say we're "well covered".


Can I just say that I'm sick of rice. If I never see another plate of steamed, white rice again...
Order Chinese food, get rice, order Thai food, get rice, order Indian food, get rice, order Malay food, get rice. I can hear many of you saying, right now, "Oh, I quite like rice". Well, I used to as well. There was a time when I cooked rice fairly often at home but I think I'm over that particular phase.

We've had lots of covers going on in the show lately. People out sick, or away. Some nights, the half-hour call and nightly cast change announcement is 5 minutes long because of all the replacements caused by the domino effect. Here's a picture of Gwen (who covers Banzai) with his nasty-hyena cohorts.

Gwenael, Lavina & Michael
(Banzai, Shenzi & Ed)

To add to the nightly list of replacements, we have a cast member who will be out of the show for at least several weeks because she was in a car accident. When the polite, but firm, automated voice in the taxi says, "Please fasten your seat belt", DO IT. Our sister-lion wasn't wearing hers and now has a fractured clavicle.

I decided that it was time for a little R 'n' R and returned to the Indonesian island of Bintan for a one night stay. It's so cheap and a mere 50 minute ferry ride away, it seems stupid not to take advantage. Tim, my Kiwi friend accompanied me, as did a half dozen other Lion Kingers who, apparently, also decided it was time to get away.

At the ferry terminal, we ran into Charlie (stage management) who was taking her mother, visiting from France, on a short getaway.
Unfortunately, we happened to be travelling during Singapore school break and there was a large, noisy group of children waiting to board the ferry as well....at 8:30 in the morning !!!
Fortunately, I had booked our ferry tickets for Empress Class and the adorable little kiddies were below, in steerage with the rest of lesser mortals.

A quick stop in the snack shop on arrival in Indonesia revealed this bit of appetizing marketing...Do you think thats 'on purpose', or is it more bad translation?

And, it's important to remember that things might not always work in the way that you're used to...


The great thing about having Monday's off is that the 'normals' all check out of the resort by noon and the place is virtually deserted.

Relaxing can be exhausting...

There is a popular seafood restaurant at the resort that sits out over the water on stilts. Though the food was good, it was a bit too big, crowded and noisy for me, especially when one is only spending one night and looking for tranquility. I did enjoy the chili crab though...
I ran into Charlie as I was reluctantly dragging myself out of the ocean on Tuesday morning, and she said to me, "You know, I don't know why I don't take this trip for myself once every month." I laughed out loud because, not 10 minutes earlier, I thought exactly the same thing as I was bobbing in the crystal-clear water emitting near X-rated sighs of relaxation.