Actor in Exile

NOT SMEAR, SCHMEAR

2012-01-25T00:07:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I forget how Jewish I can be. I've had many Jewish friends over the years and have picked up a few "isms". They're very descriptive words.

So Pam and I are walking the streets of New York and she says she's hungry.
I agree that I am too.
She asks what I might like to eat.
"Just a toasted bagel with a schmear cream cheese", I reply.
She stops walking. "Schmear ?!?!", she yodels across the Upper East Side. "Isn't that word reserved for PAP tests?"
"SCH-MEAR", she forces me to reply. "Not SMEAR".
The slight arch of her left eyebrow indicates that she's not quite ready to believe that it's a real word.

We continue our journey, making our way down to The Flatiron district looking for an Indian grocery I've read about, and a stop for lunch at Eataly. Halfway down the block from the subway station we have just exited, it happens. She stops dead, mouth agape in shock and awe. And there it is, in big bold letters, proving, without a doubt , that I know what I'm talking about.

**********************

My first week on Broadway ended in more of a whimper than a roar. On Friday, I started to feel a little throat tickle. By Saturday I was hacking up a lung like an asthmatic, coal-mining sea lion. By Sunday morning, my head somehow weighed twenty pounds more than usual, causing something known in medical circles as "falls down a lot". After an hour of drinking coffee and water and vainly trying to convince myself that my body just needed a little extra time to wake up, I had to face the facts. The fact that I'd coughed so long and so hard that I'd shredded my vocal cords. The fact that my energy was so low I could barely make it to the bathroom, let alone up and down Pride Rock a dozen times. The fact that regardless of my good intentions and well-ingrained old-country work ethic, there was no way I could give eighteen hundred people their $150 worth....twice, being a Sunday. So, after a further thirty minutes of arguing with myself, I made the call to Stage Management and pulled myself from the shows. They, having witnessed my physical state on Saturday, were not surprised.

On my return to the show tonight, everyone was very welcoming and genuinely happy to see me back, and I was more than a little relieved to learn that I had inadvertently joined a secret club. Several people told me their story of have to take a show or two off during their first week on Broadway. Just another indication of the sneaky nature of stress.....you can never really be sure what it's doing to you, especially when your body is producing adrenaline in volumes that would kill a normal 9 to 5 desk worker.

****************

The subway stop that I use to go to work spits me out into the world on 42nd Street, right in the heart of Times Square. The particular stairs that I most often use are where the big, fuzzy mascots frequently hang out. Mickey and Minnie are usually there. Sometimes Spongebob Squarepants, occasionally Hello Kitty, and always, for some reason, Elmo. I overheard this on my way to work tonight:
"Gurl, them things is weird. One time I'm down here some dirtyass Elmo aksed me fo' a dollah !"

I'M JUST A BROADWAY BABY

2012-01-17T09:45:00.000-05:00

I have improvised my way through murder mysteries in every venue you could possibly imagine.

I have had paychecks bounce and watched, many times, as jobs evaporated because theatres closed their bankrupted doors.

I have been wined and dined by aristocracy.

I have dragged my tired ass out of bed at 6 a.m. to unload a van and entertain a gymnasium full of children. Children !

I have lived through shows with non-existent air conditioning, suicide attempts and on-stage death.

I have performed the dramatic, the comedic, the tuneful, the tragic, the banal and the forgettable.

I have performed WITH the dramatic, the comedic, the tuneful, the tragic, the banal and the forgettable.

I have woken up not knowing the name of the place I'm in, not knowing the day of the week, knowing only that there is a show to be performed.

I have been dissed, pissed and missed.

I have laughed, cried, fought, mourned, celebrated, discovered and bonded with thousands of people in cast after cast after cast.

I've fought with myself, for myself, sung my own praises, doubted every instinct I ever had, almost given up on myself, drank away my failures and been revived and reborn in the addictive drug that is applause.

And now, as of yesterday, I've had my Broadway debut. I have lived that moment that teenagers around the planet are dreaming of right now as they sing musical scores into a hairbrush in their bedrooms.

Opening cards & flowers

Faux Playbill constructed by Tim

The text, in red, says, "Life's not fair is it, bitch"

It was an amazing and wonderful experience to receive opening day best wishes from around the world. My inbox was crammed with messages from Singapore, Australia, France, Dubai, South Africa, New Zealand, Thailand, England, Canada and The U.S.

Gareth, the departing Scar, on his last day

Me, on my first day

PLAYBILL .COM

THEATERMANIA.COM

My new Young Simbas

Through strange rehearsal schedule, getting to learn the new stage space, getting to learn the new people and trying to put the details back into my performance, I had a small revelation. Really, at the heart of it, and without diminishing what this place is, at the end of the day, it's another show.
Yes, it's exciting. Yes, it's gratifying to be here. Yes, I'm proud. But being here, you realize that , though the venue is different, the people are the same. Different pond, same fish. This is Oz, and everyone wants to meet the Wizard.These people are no different than any that I've worked with over and over again, except that they are working in The Emerald City. How they got here, whether by dogged determination or simply by being in the right place at the right time is unimportant. They are the same gypsy story-tellers that inhabit every theatre on the planet. The people who knew, at some point in their lives, that they were different. The people who, night after night, leave their own lives behind and inhabit the lives of someone else in order to tell a story to everyone sitting out there in the dark. My people.

ARRIVING IN NEW YORK

2012-01-06T17:43:00.001-05:00

In order to avoid flying on New Year's Day and starting work the next day (and also to give myself some time to see some shows) I arrived in New York City on Nov. 29th. This was actually "Plan B". Originally, I was going to fly on the 28th, but my visa approval only arrived in the Disney offices on the 27th, so it had to be FedEx'd to me on the 28th. Oddly enough, the 28th was also the day I finally secured myself an apartment, even though I'd been looking for one since October. Talk about things working out at the last minute. Though, from the beginning, I refused to be stressed by apartment hunting, adopting the attitude that everything would work out. And so it did.

I knew that which ever apartment I ended up getting probably wouldn't be available to me until Jan. 1, so I booked myself a room at the YMCA as a back-up plan. Knowing that I had a place to sleep and that I could cancel at any time provided a bit of security.

Now, at some point in history, I'm sure it probably was "...fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A....", but I think that train has left the station.....and derailed. At one point, it was probably also cheap to stay. That train is still running, barely, struggling to pull the weight of New York's prices. The YMCA is now co-ed, though bathrooms on each floor remain segregated. It is populated, particularly as New Year's Eve approaches, with young Asian and European couples, 'doing' a Times Square holiday on a budget. My single (that means NON-SHARE room) cost $105/nt, and it was the size of most modern apartment bathrooms.

This is what $105 buys you in NYC

(Bathroom down the hall)

Thankfully, it was only for 3 nights as I moved into my Upper East Side apartment on New Year's Day. Perhaps The Y was a good place to stay for a few days because it made my very small apartment look and feel like a well appointed palace by comparison.

And, no, in case you're wondering, I did NOT go to Times Square on New Year's Eve. The weather in New York was ridiculously warm which meant to me that there would be even more people than usual. Standing in a crowd of millions, on the pavement, for hours, waiting for them all to count together and then sing a song that they don't really understand is not my idea of a good time. No, I spent my evening in a tiny little bar in Greenwich Village called "Marie's Crisis" where the piano player offers nothing but show tunes and the whole bar sings along with every single song. Hilarious!

My rehearsal schedule has been pretty light so far, which isn't too surprising since it's not like the show is unfamiliar to me. My biggest challenge will be learning to work on a bigger stage with a bigger set.

(Riding Pride Rock as it rises out of the stage floor, telescoping itself up,

is quite a trip since Singapore's rock tracked on from the wings.)

Over the week, I've gradually met more and more people, all of whom have been very open and welcoming.

First day of rehearsal

My new office

The performance schedule is a bit wonky because of the holidays, so my first performance is actually on a Monday, (the 16th) which is Martin Luther King Day, so it's a matinee!! Then, I will have the next day off. Odd.

I've gone out of my way to see as many shows as possible since it will be virtually impossible to see any once I start performing.
So far,the list looks like this:
FOLLIES (Sublime)
LION KING (3 times, but that's work)
SEMINAR (Brilliant writing. The whole cast was as good as Alan Rickman)
BILLY ELLIOT (Such heart. Loved it!)
SPIDERMAN (I saw the first preview a year ago. It's soul is gone now. Empty)
OTHER DESERT CITIES (Phenomenal acting. Judith Light and Stockard Channing WOW!)
LYSISTRATA JONES (Like an after-school special with a PG-13 rating. Yawn. Great music though)

I will probably have a little time next week to see some shows as well, though I may have to start selling blood, or other things, to pay for them.

HOME

2011-11-30T21:29:00.001-05:00

Almost 11 months, and several 12-hour flights later.

Things change when one is absent...but some things are constant...

And now, along with a mountain of 'life administration', it's time to get ready for Christmas.
'

NUKU'ALOFA, TONGATAPU, TONGA

2011-11-27T05:56:00.001-05:00

Tonga is exactly the kind of place you've seen in every South Seas Island vacation brochure.

(Correctly pronounced with a soft 'g', as in schlonga or chaise longa) It is the kind of unspoiled, undeveloped island paradise that tickles our fantasies of tropical get-aways on the darkest days of our bleak mid-winter. The warm sun, the warm water, and the warm smile of the people.

The kind of place where kids run out to the road as you drive by on your scooter and yell out, "Bye Bye", or they climb a palm tree for you to get you a fresh coconut. The kind of place where, within minutes, you'll be having a converstation with a local and they'll treat you like a long lost friend. The people are so friendly that James Cook called Tonga 'the friendly islands'. It's a name that stuck and still holds true. Tell a Tongan your name once, and they'll remember it and use it from that point on. The girls in the coffee shop I frequented daily would always yell out when I arrived, "Malo e lelei Patrick, how are you today?" or, "Patrick in the house!" Where there are Tongans, there is laughter and smiles.

Tonga is miles of this...

...and miles of this

Tonga:
-is one nation of one hundred and seventy-six islnads
-is the same latitude as Rio di Janero
-has the most PhD's per capita in the world
-has one of the worlds' highest literacy rates
-is the last existing Polynesian Kingdom. It's royal lineage can be traced back to 950 A.D.
-is home to The Ha'amonga a Maui triathalon on Tongatapu, which has been running continuously for about 800 years.
-sits on the International Dateline, so is the first nation to see the sun every morning
-has some of the deepest oceans in the world
-has the oldest constitution in the world (1875) and has never been colonised (though clearly the missionaries spun their web at some point 'cause it's a veeeery christian country)

Tongan one-stop-shopping viewed from my veranda.

Fresh fruit and veggeies in foreground

Catch of the day across the road

Driving yourself anywhere on the island of Tongatapu is an adventure.
1) When driving in town, all intersections are uncontrolled. It is expected that the drivers on the bigger, busier road (be it north/south or east/west) have the right of way. It's up to you to decide if you are on the busier road or not.
2) Tongans are not always particulalry detailed when giving directions. When looking for the pharmacy, I was told, "Just there. Up the road", which actually turned out to be two streets over and up the back alley behind the office supply store.
3) Though there are island maps available, they are wildly out of scale. Pretty to look at, but out of scale. I've put almost 300 kms on my little scooter in four days.

4) The roads on the map have names, but the actual roads have no signs, except for a few right in town, so you have to guess which road you're actually on.
5) Here's where it really gets interesting, the maps do not differentiate between major, paved roads, smaller, secondary roads, or parallel dirt tracks leading off through a coconut grove. Many times, I've come around a corner to be faced with a narrow road, so full of potholes that it looks like it's been under mortar fire (and the holes are sometimes so big they could swallow the scooter whole) and I've thought to myself, "This can't actually be the road I'm supposed to be on". It alway is.

A Tongan 'must see'

The 'road' leading to it

6) And just to add to the fun, the "must see" sights that are marked on the map, are not necessarily marked by any signs on the road. (Tourism not being very developed here) Through trial and error and a whole lot of following my nose, I did manage to find my way to most of the things I wanted to see, but a few remain a hidden mystery.

Case in point:
I wanted to see something on the map marked as "Flying Fox Sanctuary". (Flying Fox is a pretty name for a Fruit Bat). After driving around for a while, stumbling onto some other sites that I wasn't particularly interested in, I stopped for a refreshment at an out-of-the-way beach 'resort'. I asked the bartender for help.

Me: I'm trying to find the Flying Fox Sanctuary but I think it's back down the road, right?
Her: You passed it. It's back down the road. In Kolovai.
Me: That's what the map says, but I couldn't see anything. Is there a sign?
Her: Oh no. There's no sign.
Me: No sign?
Her: Oh no.
Me: So.....
Her: It's just a big tree where they all hang out.
Me: (Dripping sarcasm) So if I go back down the road to Kolovai and look for a big tree full of bats, I've found the Flying Fox Sanctuary?
Her: (Unsure about the sarcasm) Do you want another beer?

I never did find the 'sanctuary'. I did, however, on my way back into town, miles down the road from the actual, supposed 'sanctuary', look up into the sky to see a huge flock of winged shapes circling above me. The shapes were so big I thought they were ravens or some kind of sea eagle. Fruit bats. Hundreds of them. Big, mothah-fuckin' bats, all screeching like banshees. Almost as big as some of the spiders I saw.

If and when you do arrive at a "must see" site, there are no ticket booths, no guides, no explanatory signs. Sometimes a pig rooting around, or perhaps the odd local selling carvings or weaving, or just sitting in the shade eating, but generally, the sites I went to were deserted.

On my last night, sitting in a seafood place down the road from my hotel, gazing at the open ocean, watching the barefoot kids climb palm trees for coconuts, the live band struck up a meloncholic, Hawaiian guitar rendition of "White Christmas". Surreal, but fittingly appropriate to the pace of island life...

Malo, Tonga. Malo.

VERY HIGH IN AUCKLAND

2011-11-22T02:17:00.001-05:00

Things I did in Auckland:

-Saw a production of Moliere's Tartuffe. Most outrageous, over the top adaptation EVER! (Imagine it with a kiwi accent!)

-Drank delicious New Zealand wine and ate spectacular New Zealand cheese.

-Saw a beautiful, elegant production of The Pitmen Painters, by Lee Hall who wrote the screenplay for Billy Elliot. Not only is the play hilarious, but it contains some of the best discussion about the purpose of art and who gets to decide what's good and what isn't that I've ever heard.

-Met up with Paul, a Brit friend of Kiwi Tim's, who used to live in Singapore. Got roaringly drunk.

-Met Santa

-Saw Wim Wenders tribute film to choreographer Pina Bausch.....in 3D!

-Helped "Occupy Auckland"

-Jumped off of a ridiculously high building.

Feel the fear and do it anyway...

WINDED IN WELLINGTON

2011-11-17T21:31:00.001-05:00

Wellington has hills.

And wind. Hills and wind. OMG, the wind. I guess that's why they call it Windy Wellington.

The sunny spring weather would be lovely and warm, if it weren't for the wind. And the rain. Because of the not-so-welcoming weather, I did a lot of indoor activities. Fortunately, the city has some excellent museums, art galleries, restaurants and bars.

(And please take note, governments,....the museums are FREE !!!)

The Te Papa National Museum is one of the best I've ever seen. Six floors of amazing, intriguing, hands-on exhibits housed in a stunning new building on the waterfront. You can even go down to the basement and get a close-up look at their Quake Breaker system, the pads that the building glides on during a quake.

The fourth floor is devoted to the history and culture of the Maori people and I spent most of my time there. I was blown away by Maori creation stories and their ideas of divinity and the supreme being. The symbol below is a representation of what they call Tekore -

the place where all things began, where all things are beginning, where all things end, are ending. It is the great, unknowable void, the ultimate, unanswerable question. For the Maori, it IS The Supreme Being, so unknowable that one needn't waste one's time trying to figure it out but rather focus on Mother Earth and Father Sky. I love this idea. No wonder New Zealand has such a powerful green movement.

I did manage to take advantage of a sunny (though windy) afternoon, by taking the cable car up the hillside for some stunning (though windy) views of Wellington harbour and surrounding neighborhoods.

I was struck by the fact that many of the stories in the museums were personal accounts of historical events, a couple of them involving animals that became icons of the city. There was a dolphin at the turn of the century that would welcome every single ship into the harbour by performing acrobatics alongside it. For twenty years or so, people came just to be welcomed by the dolphin. I also found the story of Paddy, below, very bittersweet.You'll have to clic the pic to enlarge and read.

I wonder, would this happen in 2011?

In an effort to stay indoors, and see as much theatre as possible, I went to a sort-of-a-performance-art-thing called "Wakeless". The advertising promised a mutli-media escape from the every day world. *sigh*. Alas, what I got was part improv, part comedy, part mask tragedy, part performance art, part clown show, part wank-fest that mostly just left me bored and wishing I could sneak out for a pee. I'll admit that I had a few good laughs, but so did the soldiers in the trenches of WWI.

SHAKEYTOWN - CHRISTCHURCH, NZ

2011-11-12T22:28:00.001-05:00

The media, with it's insatiable appetite for the disaster-du-jour, has moved on, but nine months later, the people of Christchurch are still struggling to put their city and their lives back together. The epicentre of the quake that struck in February was directly under the CBD. To this day, the downtown area is still closed.

The museum, the art gallery, the live theatres, the big chain hotels, town hall, office towers....all closed. The casino, of course, is open.

The areas surrounding the CBD are faring slightly better, but the signs of devastation and desertion are everywhere.

The buildings that fared the worst are the older ones, churches and heritage homes mostly. Those homes that are not a pile of rubble or a vacant lot now are propped up to keep them standing.

It is estimated that upward of twenty-thousand people are moving away from Christchurch because they've lost their homes and their jobs in one fell swoop. Still, there is an optimism on the streets. There are people in the shops and restaurants that survived. The bar down the road from me always seems busy. Cars are coming and going, as are planes and trains. The line I keep hearing is, "It was a beautiful city once. It will be again". They're a determined lot who have all been brought closer together by a common enemy. (And, yes, things still shake a little now and then)

Outside the city, the various eco-tourist sites are gearing up for their season, hopeful that 'they will come'. There are still mountains to be photographed, dolphins to swim with, and "Lord Of The Rings" movie locations to visit. I did my bit to contribute to the local economy by visiting an open-range park to go on something called 'a lion encounter'. What this means is that they put you in a big cage on the back of a pickup truck and drive you into the lion paddock. The lions know that the handlers will be feeding them meat through the cage, so you are immediately swarmed by the glorious beasts who only get fed every other day.

Seeing them stand up and demand attention is unnerving enough, but when they jump up on top, it's easy to feel very small.

How to feel insignificant in one easy lesson...

SYDNEY

2011-11-11T16:35:00.001-05:00

I feel compelled to admit that Australia/New Zealand were never very high on my list of places to go in the world. But, having spent nearly a year in Asia, I felt like I needed to travel outside of the realm of that cultural paradigm before returning home. And since I was so close to 'the bottom of the world' I decided to go for it. I now find myself thinking, "Why did I wait so long?". As much as I enjoyed Melbourne, Sydney blew me away and I had a fantastic time. This is due, in part, to the fact that Aussies are all so bloody friendly, but also because I was wined and dined by various people throughout my stay. This is not to take away from the city itself which is shiny, vibrant and pulsing with a kind of energy that makes you want to dive right into it. And dive I did...

The Jacaranda trees are in bloom

I wish this was in smell-o-vision

Quintessentially Aussie

Affectionate Spotted Python at Darling Harbour

My hotel was in Kings Cross, a neighborhood that is in mid-transition from grimy to fabulous so the mix of people there is a show in itself. Execs, backpackers, hookers, twenty-something-party-animals, junkies, tourists,...all rubbing shoulders on the sidewalks.

Across the street from my hotel

After years of trying and never quite making it for one reason or another, I finally went whale watching. This is just the very end of the season for whales here, but from our tiny little boat, a few kms off the coast, I was lucky enough to spend about an hour watching a mama Humpback and her calf. Unforgettable. (No pics though. The sea was a bit rough and gray, making the whales almost impossible to see in a photo.)

I also took myself to see the Australian production of "Mary Poppins" which turned out to be one of the best feel-good musicals I've seen in years. Brilliantly designed and executed with a top-notch company that didn't give anything less than 100% through the entire show.

On a blazing hot spring afternoon, Kate's sister Danielle and her husband took me to Bondi for an annual event called Sculpture By The Sea. Hundreds of sculptures of all shapes, sizes and mediums dot the coastal walk from Tamarama beach to Bondi beach. So many, in fact, that we couldn't see them all before the heat took it's toll and we all staggered down to Bronte beach for a refreshing swim in the Tasman Sea. Below are some of my favourites...

Lions...seems to be a theme these days...

On another afternoon, Kate's ex-girlfriend, Deb, took me to Opera Bar at The Sydney Opera house where we lounged about drinking champagne.

On my last night in Sydney, I had dinner with Lou (from Hair & Make-up dept. in LK Singapore) who was visiting her brother who lives just a few blocks from my hotel.

Lou in the kitchen making her specialty...

a phone call for Indian take-away

It was only when I was staggering home afterward that I realized that getting up at 6 a.m. the next morning was going to be unwelcome and particularly unpleasant. Damned champagne !

As someone who has grown up having 'white Christmas', even after the years I spent in Bermuda, it's still hard for me to wrap my head around Christmas without snow, or at least enough cold to require hats, parkas and gloves. The fact that the stores all have the holiday decorations out continues to play with my mind, particularly when I see the lavish, animated displays in the big department store windows.

Ten points if you can name this Christmas Carol

(Mom, you know this one!)

KING ISLAND, TAS, AUS

2011-11-07T05:49:00.000-05:00

People have asked me again and again, "Why King Island?". The simple answer? The cheese. The multi-award-winning King Island Dairy makes my favourite blue cheese, "Roaring Forties Blue",

named for the incessant, perilous winds that blow across the 40th parallel on which the island sits.

So, I thought, "Why not? Seems as good a reason as any to visit a place, even one as isolated as this".

Welcome to King Island. Population, 1,600 people.....and approximately 1,000,000 wallabies.

I came for the cheese, I got side-swiped by the beauty.

The view from my room.

This is a lush, wild place, rich with history, agriculture and wildlife. Driving around the island, in the course of one day, I experienced multiple sightings of the following: wallabies, echidnas, pademelons, fairy penguins, huge wild turkeys, ring-neck pheasants, peacocks, white geese, sea eagles, gulls, terns, dozens of exotic and colourful birds, like the electric-blue wren, and more than one or two types of lizard (Some so large I thought they were tree branches on the road). And of course, cows, cows, cows dotting the green pastures that are everywhere. King Island is also a migratory stop for the extremely rare Orange Bellied Parrot (only 150 left) but it was not their visiting time.

Wallaby close encounter

The people are like the island itself: rugged, uncomplicated, welcoming and evolving slowly. Things move at a much slower pace here, to the rhythm of a more relaxed time, driven by the tide and the demands of the land. A simple "Where can I find.....?" conversation can take 15 minutes. No one locks their houses or cars and everyone knows everyone.(I was told to leave my rental car at the airport, unlocked, with the keys in the ignition). You are greeted by strangers many times in a day. A perfect example of the relaxed, friendly nature of the place is the fact that everyone, EVERYONE you drive past on the narrow country roads gives you either the full 'hi-how-you-goin?'-wave, or the finger lifted from the steering wheel as a stoic,but friendly 'G'day'. The people are intensely proud of their island, offering (in their words) some of the finest beef and dairy products and freshest seafood in the hemisphere. (I had some K.I. oysters that were almost the size of my hand but still melted like butter in my mouth). There's nothing "fancy" here. No lounges, bistros or Starbucks. No resorts, boutiques or dress-codes. There is, in fact, only one place on the entire Island to check email. But all of the trappings of urban life seem useless and easily forgotten when sitting on a rocky cliff, gazing at the ocean that reaches to the horizon and inhaling the intoxicating mix of tea tree blossoms and sea salt while the Roaring Forties blow your hair around.

Disappointment Bay

which was anything but.

Penny's Lagoon

one of the worlds few 'suspended' fresh water lakes

The calcified forest

Pretty much any site I went to, I was the only person there.

It would sometimes be hours before I'd see another car or person

From now on, when I use the term

'rugged beauty'

this is what I'll be thinking of

It's only just the beginning of tourist season, but rooms (and cars) were hard to come by because The Cape Wyckham Lighthouse was celebrating it's 150th birthday the weekend I was there and the island version of excitement was in the air. The Governor-General was flying in for the event and happened to be staying at the same place that I was. So, the morning I left, the place was getting the spit-and-polish of it's life. Lawns mowed, windows washed, dogs groomed and flowers fluffed, all under the watchful eye of the Governor's aides. The Gov-Gen's Air Force jet landed just a few minutes before my flight took off, so I was lucky enough to meet her and be a part of the hoop-la at the airport. Me, and the other 20 people that were there.

The old girl that's causing all the fuss

Australia's tallest lighthouse

Hand-hewn, stone by stone

And this is the old girl that was the guest of honor

Australia's first female Governor-General

Quentin Bryce

photo credit Andrew Meares

Her plane

My plane

Next stop, the sparkling metropolis of Sydney...

Oh, and p.s....

I did buy some cheese at King Island Dairy (after eating my way through everything in the tasting room).

I may never get the smell out of my luggage

SG TO AUS

2011-11-05T00:23:00.002-04:00

It was a glorious, drunken, sad and celebratory afternoon/evening on my last day in Singapore. Though not as crowded as it once used to be, we 'made merry'.

The reprobates

Jay, Kate & Aaron

A few remaining LK'rs

When it was time for me to finally leave, and all the final hugs and goodbyes had been exchanged, I grabbed my suitcase and headed for the door as the group of them gave me a standing ovation. As if it wasn't already hard enough to leave.

And then, suddenly, the next morning.....Melbourne...

I don't normally do the B 'n' B thing. When I travel, particularly if I'm travelling by myself, I prefer my anonymity and the idea of coming and going as I please. Also, since I don't really do breakfast either, the idea of chatty holiday-makers or hosts interfering with the serenity of my morning coffee gives me shivers of horror.

That said, I was more or less forced to go the B 'n' B route in Melbourne because my trip happened to coincide with The Melbourne Cup, a gigantic horse racing event during which the entire city goes party mad, and hotel rooms, when available, are eye-poppingly expensive. I discovered a website called Airbnb which offers various home-stay options around the world, and that is how I met my charming hostess, Robynne.

Robynne a single woman who runs her own consulting business from her little house in the beautiful, bohemian neighborhood of St. Kilda. She's also a foodie, has a social conscience and loves a good chin-wag over a glass of wine. Long story short, we got on like a house on fire. I can't say that I'm a convert to the B'n'B option now, but in this case, it was meant to be and really added a lot to my stop in Melbourne.

Near St. Kilda Beach

Love that Aussie humour

Melbourne reminds me so much of Vancouver: the constant shift between rainy drizzle and mostly-warm sun, the tree-lined streets, the architecture. And then there's the people: lots of hearty, outdoorsy types in cycling gear on a constant hunt for organic-gluten-free-preservative-free bottled water, skate punks, emos, granola-munchers, business-types, artsy-types, bums, starving musicians and Japanese tourists all rub shoulders with the dog-walkers on clean streets lined with boutiques, bakeries and pawn shops.

They speak Singlish here

The one thing I noted in Melbourne that is sadly lacking in Vancouver is a thriving theatre culture. Several grand, old, well maintained theatre palaces play home to all kinds of shows.

(Apparently, neither does Andrew Lloyd Webber)

I took a deep breath and bought a ticket to "Love Never Dies" and, while I think it's got some problems and is probably the most over-designed show I've ever seen, I didn't hate it as much as I expected to. In fact, I admit to actually sitting up and paying attention once or twice. The set, however, is so massive, complex and kinetic that I just wanted it to stop moving for five minutes !

Next stop, King Island, in the mystical state of Tasmania...

THE LAST ROAR

2011-10-31T02:39:00.000-04:00

It was, admittedly, a surreal experience to arrive back in Singapore after 5 days of tranquility, sleep, and then crawl out of bed to do the final two Sunday shows. It was nice to feel rested, but my body wasn't happy about doing that Sunday morning warm-up after getting used to sprawling around the villa for almost a week.Also, the energy of the company on the final day was off the charts, as were the emotional levels. Our final two audiences were positively rabid and started cheering the moment the houselights went down. To do two performances in the vortex of that kind of adrenaline and high-octane emotion is exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time.

But now, it's done, and in another week, after some sweat and cursing from the crew, it will be put to bed. Already, much of the cast has passed through Changi airport on their way to various corners of the world. Having checked out of my apartment at the appointed hour, I am now parked, for one last time, at my favourite bar, South Coast (or, as I've come to think of it, my other office) until heading to the airport this evening.

The crew pulled a beautiful closing-day prank

by filling the Stage Management office

with balloons

The final warm-up

Confetti cannons during the final bow

And Singapore provides me with one, final lesson in Singlish

*****

"...and where the journey may lead me....I cannot stay here, my family, but I'll remember my pride..."

TOUR OUR VILLA

2011-10-28T12:18:00.000-04:00

Or watch it on YouTube for better streaming

ISLAND LIFE...

2011-10-27T07:46:00.003-04:00

It's clear that we really are at the tail end of the tourist season here. Actually, just beginning the off season. Shops are closed, bars and restaurants are woefully empty, but we're not complaining. More sun would be nice, or course (we've had a few monsoon downpours) but at least the roads are not clogged with drunk Brits on scooters. And the weather overall is still very warm and the people are friendly. This island has such a relaxed, peaceful vibe that you have to work pretty hard to have a bad time. Even right now, as I sit in the protected outdoor sala, the skies have opened up for another 20-minute-monsoon-downpour, but Enya is playing on the outdoor speakers, the air is warm and life is good.

Breakfast at Karma Sutra, Fisherman's Village, Bophut

Doggie-poseur at breakfast

The Big Buddha

Reclining Buddha at The Big Buddha

Offerings to Big Buddha

Beer break at Big Buddha pier

Morning at the dining room table

Had the best green Thai curry of my life at this place

but was in a veritable state of hilarity at the thought

of veretables

2011-10-25T07:25:00.002-04:00

Everyone who has ever moved knows that moving is a gigantic pain in the ass. You would think that it would be easy to move away from a place that you've only been in for 10 months. A place that you arrived at with two and half suitcases. Not so. The organising, shipping and administration (cancelling cell phone, government taxation issues, distribution of unwanted flotsam, etc.) have consumed the majority of the last few weeks. The final act of departure was to pre-send the majority of my belongings to Canada since I have no desire to drag them around while I slowly wend my way home through Australia, New Zealand and Tonga for the month of November. Ever-faithful-friend Tim agreed to help me drag all my crap to the post office for shipping, and documented the process.

Yes, for some reason, suitcases have to be

wrapped in paper

.(It's Singapore. There are rules)

And speaking of travelling.....here's the way things worked out....

Way back in June, or May, or some month that seems like years ago, we were told how the vacation requests would be handled. Basically, all the male performers were considered to be one 'department', and all the female performers were considered to be another 'department'. If someone from your 'department' had requested a specific week for holiday time, no one else in that department would be granted time off for that week. So, anxious to take advantage of the rare privilege of paid vacation time as an actor, I poured through the "vacation request book". The first available week for me to take time off was the final week of October. It seemed fitting, falling just after my birthday. A few months later, we received the announcement that our closing performance would be October 30. And that is how I ended up taking my vacation during our final week of performances. Of course, when we got the closing announcement, I changed my flights so that I could return to Singapore to perform on the final day, but I had no intention of giving up my Thai vacation.

At the moment, however, Singapore and The Lion King seem very distant because I am in a place that more or less forces one to start thinking of synonyms for paradise. Not only is Koh Samui unspeakably beautiful, the villa that I found and rented (owned by a delightfully entertaining American film & TV producer) is a small slice of heaven. It is perched high on a hill, deep in the jungle and personifies the word 'luxury'. We (friend Tim & I) have not yet been here for 24 hours, and already the bliss we are experiencing is intoxicating. We have decided to do a video tour of the villa, but until we get around to filming that, here's a bit of Day One...

Transportation.....sorted

We really are staying in the countryside...

This is how to check your email in paradise

Tim cooling off

Lunch in the village

BOAT CRUISE

2011-10-12T00:13:00.001-04:00

Since the time for our departure is drawing near, events of all kinds are starting to fill our days off. On a sunny Monday afternoon, I held a wine tasting seminar for the cast, graciously hosted by our ever-generous friend Kate at her restaurant, South Coast.

Kate put together a beautiful list of 14 different wines, comparing old world to new world styles as well as providing fantastic nibbles through the afternoon. We were hoping that the food might help keep everyone from getting too drunk but there were a lot of dehydrated people at the show the next day. I heard, after the fact, that the twenty or so of us that were there went through three cases of wine.

Kiwi Tim & I

Our physio, Emma

and Michael who plays hyena Ed

A good time was certainly had by all and some people even took notes worthy of a university lecture!

On a more recent Monday afternoon, a group of us headed out on a boat cruise into the Johor Strait, the strip of water that separates Singapore from Malaysia. Another event organized by Kate, including Lion King cast as well as some of the people from Voyage de la Vie, the circus show on Sentosa Island. A truly fantastic day of eating, drinking, swimming and cavorting.

I did learn one important lesson: DON'T DRINK VODKA WITH RUSSIANS !!!

Pre-launch at the stunning Raffles Marina

Happy Campers

Joilson serves sausage

Russian bread with a Brazilian filling

Partying

Peaceful

Slightly damaged after a Russian vodka pounding

In spite of my vodka intake, I did have a fascinating conversation with a young woman who grew up in the circus training elephants and bears. (And in the "Ain't it a small world?" category, she even worked at African Lion Safari in Cambridge, Ontario !) It was great to hear her take on animal training (and see the scars on her arms left by grumpy bears). And I thought I led an unusual life.

Though we are coming up fast to our closing date, life at the theatre, and in Singapore, continues on. There is still a show to do every day on top of all the extra work of organising to exit the country. Not even a meerkat can escape the tasks of 'life administration'.

...and Singlish continues to entertain...

DAY TRIP TO ANOTHER WORLD

2011-09-27T13:09:00.000-04:00

On my overnight trip to Kuala Lumpur, I picked up a copy of Silk Air's in-flight magazine. Listed in the back were a selection of easy getaways from Singapore. In an effort to continue to discover as much as possible on this side of the planet while I'm here, I combed through the suggestions for anything that was two hours away or less - which is how I found myself crawling out of bed a six a.m. on a Monday morning to hail a taxi in the pouring rain to take me to the airport for a flight bound for Phnom Penh in The Kingdom of Cambodia.

THE GOOD

Foremost, I looooved my hotel, The Blue Lime. The all-cement theme might be a bit too austere for some, and those not used to a tropical climate might find the mold stains off-putting but I was terrifically impressed with everything. My room, with private swimming pool, cost $75US for the night, a kind of luxury unattainable in most western countries. The whole place is immaculately clean, the staff are extremely friendly and very helpful. (Oooo...and fresh passion fruit juice for breakfast !)

Instructions in Khmer, emailed to me by the hotel

in case the taxi driver didn't know the address.

Welcome tray

All cement room

Private pool

Enjoying private pool

The Cambodian people are lovely. Their smile is wide, honest, engaging and comes quickly and easily. The smiles I received were the exact opposite of the glassy-eyed, open-mouthed stares I witness from service staff in Singapore. I felt that when the Cambodians said, "Thank you, sir", they expressed actual gratitude. Those same words spoken in Singapore sound meaningless and false by comparison.

There is a new Cambodia emerging, barely. Scattered here and there are shiny new government buildings and the odd office tower. These structures seem cold and lifeless next to the many temples who's elegant, golden spires reach to touch heaven. The new buildings hide their people. The temples embrace them and teem with the wild, joyful chaos of life. Solemnity is reserved for business.

The National Museum

The Royal Palace which I was unceremonious hustled out of after

a brief tour, because the King needed to pray before

the national holiday the next day.

I thought, "Well, it's his house, after all."

Some random observations...

-All dogs in Phnom Penh have fleas. There are a lot of dogs.

-Horn honking is a second (or third) language. It is rarely aggressive though. It usually means, "Hi, I'm here beside you. Don't change lanes or we'll both die".

Airport transportation

-Traffic lights are merely a suggestion. There are only a few, after all. If the coast looks clear, please feel free to charge on through.

-Crosswalks are nonexistent. On the smaller streets, this is not a problem, but the wide, busy avenues require you so summon your pedestrian courage and step bravely into the road, timing every step and weaving through the traffic with millimeters to spare. Or, you could wait for the Cambodians, who tend to cross in groups (safety in numbers) and hide behind them.

-It's hard not to stand out as a tourist. The white skin is kind of a dead give away. Children and adults alike will wave at you and say "Hello". Even passing by on their motorcycles they will shout a greeting.

I found this sign so incongruous that I couldn't resist photographing it

-Three on a motorcycle is not uncommon. In fact it is almost as common as two on a motorcycle. Or two and a kid on the handlebars. Or two and a basket of chickens (dead or alive). Or two with a 12-year-old driving.

-If you see a young Cambodian woman in high heels and a tight dress, she's a hooker. Unless she's wearing flip-flops and tight shorts, in which case she is also a hooker.

THE BAD

Perhaps because I've been living in squeaky-clean, rule-bound Singapore for so long, I found the profusion of garbage, dog shit and stink more than just a little overwhelming at first. My survival instinct told me to hide in my hotel room, but I pushed myself into the streets, determined to discover what lay beyond the filth.

As the stand-out-in-the-crowd-white-guy, you are at the mercy of the touts. The tuk-tuk drivers are the worst. Step one foot outside the hotel and you are surrounded by shouts of, "Tuk? Tuk?". And a walk down any street is constantly interrupted by random motorcycle drivers pulling over to ask if you want them to drive you somewhere.

The Cambodian Riel is, literally, not worth the paper it is printed on. $1US = 4,000KHR. American dollars are the preferred currency, but no coins are used if change is given. Instead, you will be given the equivalent in Riels. I tipped my breakfast servers 19,000KHR ($4.60US) just to get rid of the wad of Cambodian bills.

THE UGLY

I had many offers from tuk-tuk drivers to take me to the infamous "Killing Fields", the site of Pol Pot's brutal executions carried out by his Khmer Rouge. I admit that I had to think long and hard about whether I should go and what I might gain from being there, other than just to say that I was there. In the end, I realized that I did not want to feel the pain of this country's past in a place where the bones of 10,000 dead still push themselves to the surface after a rainfall. Instead, I wanted to live the resilience of the place by being among the living.

The soul of this place has been beaten and crushed and almost defeated. But, phoenix-like, it is being reborn. It expresses the anguish of it's growing pains in the shit and filth of poverty, but it also expresses it's joy and energy in the sparkling eyes and disarming smiles of it's people. For what is a country? It is not a place, it is the people who inhabit it.

Phnom Penh changed me in a way I can't describe. I'm larger somehow, as though when I opened up to it, it gave me part of itself. It is not a place for everyone, but it does have something to offer to anyone. Something unique. Something beyond words. Something given, as a gift, to those who are willing to step into it's arms.

THE EFFING F1

2011-09-22T02:22:00.000-04:00

Singapore's Formula One racing event is upon us. This is a massive event and crews have been busy building barricades for weeks with the worst of the road closures going into effect as of yesterday. Since a huge chunk of The Central Business District actually becomes the race circuit, traffic has become an even more snarled mess than usual as drivers try to navigate their way around the blockades and detours. Being a pedestrian is also much like being a rat in a maze since crosswalks are closed and bus stops are unusable. Guests of the Ritz-Carlton, which is right in the heart of the track, must enter the hotel through the underground car park of the hotel next door !

Since our theatre is a mere stone's throw from the grandstand, we are practically in the heart of the chaos and getting to and from work has become a grand adventure. In the evenings, after the show, I quite enjoy the walk around Marina Bay Lagoon or, as we call it, 'the long way', but in the afternoons, I just want to get to work already. You'd think the locals, who have dealt with this for three years already, would have a game plan, but not so. I was very entertained last night as everyone stood outside the stage door trying to figure out how to get home or figure out where their bus stop had been moved to.

Marina Bay Sands lit with a racing motif

It's not only a challenge for us to get to the theatre, our audiences will also have to find a way in. I'm pretty certain that as the week goes on and we draw nearer to the big race on Sunday, our curtain will be going up exponentially later with every performance. We are, as yet, unsure about the sound-proofing of the theatre. It's a definite possibility that the constant buzz and drone of speeding cars will seep into the Savannah.

***********

The Mid-August festival and my new-found love affair with mooncakes, have come and gone. One of the dressers, Justin, took me to the huge, annual mooncake bazaar at Takashimaya dept. store.

He is a self-confessed mooncake junkie and it was fascinating to have him lead me around the various stalls explaining the different regions and ethnic styles of mooncakes.

After dozens of samples, we eventually settled on our choices. I decided on a very traditional baked mooncake filled with black sesame paste. Justin opted for a mixed box of snowskin style cakes comprised of two green tea flavour and two chrysanthemum flavour. To our surprise, they made the snowskin cakes right there as we waited.

The flavoured paste is first rolled into a ball

then wrapped in snowskin

The ball is then pressed into a wooden mould

and banged out onto the counter

Happy shoppers

Part of the mooncake allure is the beautiful packaging

We traded with each other

(just like baseball cards)

so that we could both have one cake of each flavour

*********

Ramya, my Tamil makeup artist, has been passing along her knowledge of Indian cooking to me. I've attempted my first home-made lime pickle. Not a 'pickle' in the traditional sense, as in vinegar, but a preserve using salt, spices and oil.

The tiny limes have to be quartered, salted

and sat in the sun in a jar for around two weeks.

Then the spices are added, and the jar is

put back in the sun for a few days.

The final step is to cook mustard seeds in mustard oil, mix the whole mess together and put it back in the sun for another week or so. Problem is, we've had an endless series of cloudy, rainy days here, so my whole pickle schedule keeps getting pushed back. Sadness.

*********

Claudia, in make up, knows that I have an intense aversion to all things 'cute', so she insists on lining up her 'adorable' stuffed toys on her mirror. She even went so far as to move the cutsie circus onto Ramya's mirror so that I could 'enjoy' it more fully. Of course, I could not let this flagrant assault on my sensibilities go unpunished, so I took some of her stuffed family out on a day trip and sent the photos to her phone.

**********

Singlish just never stops being entertaining

...FACE THE FINAL CURTAIN....

2011-09-16T23:43:00.002-04:00

Or, to quote another well known tune, "...its the fiinal countdown ". We received official notice yesterday that Lion King Singapore will give it's final performance on October 30. By that point we will have done 285 performances and played to over 300,000 people. We have set the record for the longest running show in Singapore history and changed the theatrical landscape forever. But now, it's time to go.

Though there is certainly a melancholy that comes with the announcement, the spirits of the company are high as people start to think about the idea of "home" and returning to all that is familiar.

Six weeks to go...

MOON CAKES & MALAYSIA

2011-08-31T00:46:00.020-04:00

When mid-August festival rolls around, it can only mean one thing. Yes, you guessed it, MOONCAKES of course !!! I had heard about these unique creations before coming here and was really looking forward to trying them out.

The most traditional moon cakes are filled with lotus-bean paste and sometimes a cooked egg yolk in the centre. These days, everyone tries to out do each other by coming up with new and interesting fillings. The daily newspaper had a full-colour, eight-page special insert announcing all of the various up-scale moon cakes available from the major hotels this year. What ever the filling, it tends to be very thick and pasty, slightly sweet, dense and incredibly rich. Though one cake will fit comfortably in the palm of your hand, they are so rich that it's difficult to eat more than one at a sitting.

I started with the traditional baked moon cake, purchased from a tiny little bakery around the corner from my apartment that has been making them in the old-fashioned way for decades. This little assortment of 8 (an auspicious number for the Chinese) cost $13.80 and were all delicious, with the exeption of the coffee-flavoured one. Bleagh !I also wanted to try Snowskin Moon Cakes from one of the big hotels. These are an unbaked cake and are wrapped in paste similar to marzipan, but mostly tasteless. I asked Justin, a Chinese friend and self-confessed moon cake junkie, which hotel he thought did the best snow skin cake. Without hesitation, he replied, "Raffles". Though Raffles did introduce a durian filled cake this year (shudder), I opted for the the champagne and white chocolate ganache.
A box of these pristine-white beauties costs $60, but OMG what a mouthful. Click the link below for a review from a local blogger who has had more moon cake experience than I....

http://sparklette.net/food/raffles-hotel-mooncake/

---

I decided it was time to start taking advantage of the corner of the world I'm living in, so on a whim, I booked myself an overnight trip to Kuala Lumpur (or "KL" as it's referred to here) for my day off. A mere one-hour flight and something different from the beach on my beloved Bintan.

Why can't all airports be designed like Changi in Singapore?

The city centre of KL reminded me a lot of parts of New York City. Masses of people, traffic, noise, stink, blinding lights, hookers, tourists and a great, glorious chaos that first overwhelms then intoxicates you.

Through the Internet, I stumbled across a fantastic little boutique hotel on a quiet(ish) street just a few blocks from city center. Only 18 very lovely rooms surrounding a central courtyard, with an outdoor, rooftop breakfast/bar area. My stunning mini-suite with private balcony and hand-carved teak furniture cost 600 Malaysian Ringgit for the night. A fortune to the average Malaysian. Just under $200 Canadian.

Since my time was limited, I stayed away from the usual tourist sights and opted instead to just 'live' in the city. I walked, ....a lot. I ate, (delicious Nasi Lemak & Thai Laksa )shopped, had a massage, napped, and spent a huge amount of time people watching and drinking in the manic energy of the place.

Old KL

New KL
Inside a massive luxury shopping mall

This place gives new meaning to the words
Cocktail Lounge

Bet'cha didn't know they made THIS flavour
(And, F.Y.I., they're disgusting)

Bet'cha didn't know they made THIS flavour either

I love breakfast in a tropical country

My cup of blast-off-Americano-style coffee automatically comes with
fresh fruits and a glass of fresh mango juice.

---

My apartment in Singapore is very near The National Museum and The Singapore Art Museum. These two institutions have created an annual event called Voyage Night Festival during which they throw open their doors late into the night allowing free entry. The park on the well-manicured grounds of The Singapore Management University which separates the two institutions becomes the fairground and is filled with live music, food stalls and events large and small. One of the star attractions this year is a performance art piece, Corazon de Angeles in Paradise by a group from Belgium called Theater Tol. The piece involved actors, dancers, singers and musicians, lots of white helium balloons, mountains of glitter, songs in a myriad of languages and two gigantic cranes that lifted the performers high into the night sky. Though the story line was sometimes hard to follow, riffing on themes of cross-cultural marriage and love, the show was evocative and visually stunning and included some heart-rendingly beautiful music.

On an ordinary night, we wouldn't have been able to see the performance because we'd still be doing our own show, but a heavy rain pushed the show back by a few hours. The videos below will give you a small taste of the experience.

---

LION KING SINGAPORE TURNS 200 !!

HELLO MICHAEL, GOODBYE GIUSEPPE

2011-08-22T03:51:00.014-04:00

Michael finally made the long, loooong journey to this side of world for a whirl-wind visit, which included a week spent on his own in Malaysia where he got his SCUBA certification.

Though we only had a short time together in Singapore, we made the most of it. I dragged him, willingly, along to all my favourite neighborhoods and haunts. Shopping, eating, sight-seeing, eating, drinking, eating, lounging, drinking, eating....it was exhausting and so much fun.

Michael shopping at a "departmental store"

Wild Boar Ham with Pecorino

Beer break in The Arab Quarter

Fresh taglitelle with Marsala sauce and truffles

Sunset Cocktails

Michael's new favourite breakfast from Wild Honey
Mango-stuffed French Toast

The furniture room of the Dali exhibit
at The Art Science Museum, Marina Bay Sands

Natalie Wood joined for dinner at Graze

Michael is back home now, slowly recovering from the jet-lag and the massive food and alcohol intake.

Our dear Head of Wigs & Make-up, Giuseppe, has left us. He is now in London starting his new job as Head of Wigs & Make-up for The National Theatre. On his last day, there was a small pot-luck dinner for him in the make-up room between shows.

Lou & Giuseppe using wig lace to dust the pavlova with icing sugar.
How's that for ingenuity?
Lou makes the best pavlova on the planet. I devoured a huge piece just before my big solo number in Act I. Not the smartest decision, but certainly the tastiest.

Rowena's cake masterpiece

Lyall put together a fantastic farewell video for Giuseppe. He spent days collecting photos and taking videos of people saying their goodbyes. He then spent the entire weekend editing in the dressing room between scenes.

The tissue in the ear is to keep the earphone from getting covered in blue make-up!

Ciao Giuseppe
We will miss his antics almost as much as we will miss his plentiful opinions.

Even with Giuseppe's departure, and the various other comings and goings of people on vacation or away from the show due to injury or illness, backstage life continues to be a never-ending circus.

Jamie (Timon) has gone soccer-mad and the outside of his dressing room is starting to look like a sports bar.

I found a pair of sunglasses on Rowena's make-up table and decided they'd be useful for a bit of Sunday night silliness backstage.

I couldn't resist this pic of the ever-useful backstage shopping cart.

Emma, our physio, has this pic on the wall in her treatment room.
Lion cub sleeps with meerkat.

As well as the backstage entertainment, Singapore continues to entertain me in all kinds of ways. There's a 'bird man' who sometimes hangs out on the mall in front of a Bhuddist temple near my house. He usually has love-birds and small parrots who happily sit on top of thier cages chattering at pedestrians.

Always remember, Singapore is the land of "NO". No smoking, no jaywalking, no spitting, no durian-eating and, in the case of the universal bar sign below, a very specific "NO".

SUPER-HYPER-MEGA-POST

2011-08-04T02:06:00.027-04:00

I have a folder on my desktop into which I dump data that I think might make an interesting blog post. Every now and then, I dig through it and see if there's enough raw material there from which to mine some gold. Often, while digging, I think, "Well, that may have been interesting to me, but who the hell else cares?" On the other hand, I do sometimes pass things over but keep them in the file for later use. I decided it was time to clean out my iPhone and my blog folder, so this post is really a smorgasbord, a collage of people, places and events that could answer the question, "So, what else is going on?"

Here they are in no particular order...

Though it's not always particularly funny to me, there are people that think it's hilarious that I can't go for a pee in my costume. Though the designers did put zippers in what would, technically, be considered to be in the right places, the geography simply doesn't work. (I'll spare you the details of the mess I've made perched over the toilet like a confused giraffe at a watering hole). I've learned that I have to hydrate all day and then ration my water during the show.

Thomas (stage management) and Vero (wardrobe) found it unbearably funny that I would sometimes need to pee through the whole of Act 1, and began making all sorts of jokes about getting me some incontinence underwear. They would appear in the wings waving toilet paper at me and squeezing their knees together. One night, I came into the dressing room and the ceiling was full of disposable underwear hanging from the acoustic tiles (and they're still there). On another night, I found mini-me on a mountain of toilet paper.

Scar & Zazu normally preside over our shared counter space..

I arrived one night to find Scar sitting on his throne...

I, of course, fought back, unravelling an entire roll of toilet paper into Thomas' backpack. Thomas retaliated by leaving me a plastic training-potty for kiddies. Green. And shaped like a seal. I plotted my revenge which will be revealed below.

----

We have several people from Paris working on the production. I was feeling the need to cook so I invited some of the Frenchies for dinner, promising them an authentic Coq au Vin. This meant that I had to shop for coq. (Please begin with all double-entredres now because it's only going to get worse). True Coq au Vin is usually made from old coq, which is why it needs to soak in wine and cook slowly. I asked my current make-up artist, Ramya, who is Tamil, if the wet market at Tekka would be a good place to find a coq. She said that it would, and that it would be fresh.

The problem, as always, comes down to language. The Indian butchers didn't understand the word "coq", and "rooster" drew similar blank stares and rapid conversations in languages I don't understand. The only thing that made sense to them was "boy chicken". (Again, feel free to indulge in one-liners). I eventually got what I was looking for and, though I was assured that it was fresh, it's age remains a mystery.

If you ever want to make a group of French people happy, just serve them some French country cooking and finish the meal with a huge platter of stinky cheese. I have never seen people's eyes get so wide with delight. "Stinky cheese", they cried in accented unison as they descended on the platter like starving wolves.

The French Mafia for dinner
Vero, Thomas, Charlie and me

Oh, and the aforementioned revenge? I used the kiddie-training-pottie as an olive boat.

The French word for seal is 'phoque'. Have at it...

---

I may have mentioned our weekly "Thursty Thursday", a chance to have a drink and hang out after the show, which is held at South Coast, a hip, up-scale restaurant/bar at Marina Bay Sands. The owner, Kate, and her manager, Aaron, have been incredibly welcoming and treat us like royalty whenever we go there.

Kati & I (possibly drunk)

The food is delicious and the atmosphere is chilled and welcoming. When I have the time and the inclination, it is one of my favourite places to sit and watch the world go by.

It's also a great place to take visitors, allowing them to meet the company socially and introduce them to 'the life' here. Pictured below are my surprise visitors from Canada, who happened to be on tour in Asia with a show from Nova Scotia's Mermaid Theatre.

Kate and I joke that her bar is becoming the unoffical theatre bar of Singapore.

A while back, Kate & Aaron thought that our company morale was getting a bit low so they decided to throw us a special Thursty Thursday. On a normal Thursday, there is usually plenty of free pizza going around, but on this Thursday, they upped the ante with things like Jell-O Shooters and Beer Pong in the hope of helping us find our way back to 'fabulous'.

Whether our morale was lifted or not is unsure. (It's hard to measure through a hang-over). But South Coast's generosity, open arms and party-spirit came through loud and clear.

---

Last week we had a few birthdays in the company. It's rare that a week goes by without at least one birthday in a company of over 100 people. Joilson was one of the birthdays last week. Now, I believe in celebrating my birthday all week long, but this guy makes me look like an amateur. There was a party every night, culminating with a blow-out at Movida, a local salsa club.

Birthday boy in the middle

Lavina (Shenzi) takes the stage to do a number with the band
(As a group, we know how to take over)

Important gossip

All of this birthday merriment, which my reports tell me didn't end until 6 a.m., was followed by a pool party at Aaron's (of South Coast) condo. A lovely way to waste a Monday. Tons of great food, beer, wine, miles of swimming pools, and the few, brave souls who didn't totally destroy themselves the night before.

Pool antics

Relaxed (or drunk) (or hungover)

Drunk driving incident with the food trolley

---

The first available time for me to take a vacation away from The Pridelands turned out to be the final week of October. Which also happens to be just after my birthday. As Margaret says, the past few years would indicate that I seem to be making it a habit to celebrate my birthdays away from home.

Looking to discover someplace new in this corner of the world, I settled on the Thai island of Koh Samui. Also, being a snob, I immediately started looking for something OTHER than the resorts and hotels where the normals stay. I found a villa owned by a TV commercial producer in Los Angeles. Given that the end of October is low-season in Thailand, the price was similar to what one would pay in a resort over-populated with the mewling spawn of apathetic couples and puffy, white business men on the hunt for lady-boys. Presenting, Villa Sampresada. Happy Birthday to me.

---

A graffiti artist with a sense of humour

Please put my picture next to this
definition on Wikipedia.

SENT HOME FROM SCHOOL

2011-07-23T03:29:00.007-04:00

Well, it was bound to happen, I suppose. There is a reason that Lion King has a bit of a reputation for damaging it's performers. (Hence the fact that every production has an on-staff physiotherapist). The awkward costumes, the raked stage, the repetitive, unusual movements, it all takes it's toll when multiplied times eight, week, after week, after week.

In my case, it all started with, what seemed at the time, a rather benign stumble. During last Sunday's matinee performance, I tripped over an ill-placed hyena (something you'll never hear said outside of the theatre or a game preserve) and went down, hard, on my knees. It hurt, but I knew nothing was broken, and since it was the final scene of the show, I made the fall part of the moment and kept going. After the show, Emma (our Physio-Goddess) examined me and said that basically, I'd just given my knee (left one in particular) a good bash, and with some ice and a few days, it should be fine.

That may be the case in normal life, but not in The Lion King. Through the rest of the weekend, and the shows the following week, my knee was aching by the end of every show, and was particularly painful when going up and down stairs, which I do constantly in the show. Emma's daily treatments helped, but didn't cure the problem. By Friday, we were both growing concerned. Emma diagnosed that, given my physical activity in the show, the knee simply wasn't getting it's chance to heal. And so she began negotiations to take me out of the show.

I tried to convince her not to for a variety of reasons,(bear in mind that I did tech-week of "The Drowsy Chaperone" with Swine Flu !!!) but Emma's logic was sound. She believed that to do two, two-show days in a row would only damage me further and increase the possibility of taking me out for a full week. The decision was made to take me out of the weekend, double-show days, giving said knee a full three days of recovery/rest. (And making Emma oh-so-popular with management) So, here I sit, with an ice pack on my knee, missing my pride and wondering what moment of the show is happening without me.

My life for the next few days
reduced from this...
...to this...

On the up-side, Emma did prescribe, as part of my therapy, that tomorrow, I should head up to the swimming pool, prop myself in a corner and pretend I'm riding an underwater bicycle. Who am I to disobey a direct order like this?

And just for additional levity, we discovered the other night, by accident, that when my wig is on backwards, I look just like Professor Snape.

SIT OUT

2011-07-16T23:07:00.003-04:00

I'm such an idiot. I completely forgot one of the main topics, one of the main reasons, for my last blog post because I got so carried away rambling on about cherries, dragonflies and Bintan.

I finally had my 'sit-out' one Saturday matinee not too long ago. This means that James, my first cover, goes on in my role and I get to sit in the audience and watch the show. This gives him a chance to actually do the show with an audience, and gives me a chance to see the show from out front, like a real person.

It was an intense and moving experience for me. Of course we all want the shows we're in to be good (and we know when they're not!), but I sat there thinking, "This IS good. This is a really, really good show". In fact, it's such a good show that I realized at one point that I had forgotten that I knew all the people on stage. It wasn't Andrew and Puleng up there performing, it was Simba and Nala telling me a story that I was totally wrapped up in. And, as usual for me, I was constantly amazed, overwhelmed, humbled and moved by the incredible talent, passion and beauty emanating from the stage, ...which caused me to weep every 20 minutes.

Overall, it was thrilling, and such a good reminder of what it feels like to sit in the dark and watch this epic, this magic unfold before your eyes. My performance that night had a whole new energy and life to it.

Thank you, Lion King company, for an exhilarating afternoon. I won't forget it.

TAXI !!!!

2011-07-11T06:53:00.018-04:00

I had the most eccentric taxi driver in Singapore the other day. I'm standing at the taxi stand, and a tired looking, mint green taxi starts to veer toward me. I think I'm hallucinating at first, but as it nears, it becomes clear that it has Texas longhorns mounted on it's front grill. Driving the taxi is an Indian man, sporting a cowboy hat atop a bushy head of black curly hair, streaked with grey. He is also wearing a bolo tie on his crisp, white shirt. (Secretly, I'm also hoping that he was wearing cowboy boots.) I also can't help but notice the Confederate flag on his dashboard. Unlike most Singapore cabbies, this one is chatty. In my 7 minute trip with him, I learn that he is a retired structural engineer who now drives a taxi and occasionally teaches mathematics for fun. He is married to a Chinese woman. He speaks Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay, and two different Indian dialects. Oh, and his name is Tony !

Though our ticket sales have slowed a little, the show is still selling 1,200 tickets a day and more than 215,000 people have passed through the doors to find their inner hakuna matata. The biggest surprise is that 85% of those people are Singaporeans. A surprise because the producers thought there would be a bigger percentage of tourists. Still, good news for us, who ever the bums in the seats are. Apparently, Marina Bay Sands is selling a lot of room/show packages to Singaporeans who like the idea of the 'stay-cation'. No passports, no airports, just check into MBS for the weekend and hang out. Not my idea of a getaway but ....

And speaking of getaway....

Lyall and I headed back to Bintan, Indonesia
for a quick, overnight fix of tranquility

I know there are always people who are
grossed out by food with eyes,
but this fish was so perfectly cooked
that it melted like butter in the mouth !

We were unimpressed that first class was full
on the ferry home and we had to travel with
the great unwashed in steerage.

I texted Tim and asked him if he had any cream
for a middle-class rash.
He said he usually just wears a condom.

Our dresser, Anuar, recently spent a week in Surabaya, Indonesia. This meant that someone had to be trained to deal with the complications of the Scar costume. (Or as Anuar calls it, the Scars costume. I'm always referred to in the plural for some reason. Mind you, this is also the man who left a note telling us that he used our bathroom to take a showel). The entertaining and slightly sassy Alfri covered for Anuar and only had two days to learn how to deal with all the mechanical of my costume. So, upon returning from makeup one night, I was greeted with this...

Alfri in my costume

Anuar thought that the best way to show Alfri how it feels if anything is wrong is to make him wear the costume. I only found out later that, because of the short amount of time to teach him the track, Alfri practiced by using Anuar as a stand in for me.

The shorter, Malay version of Scar

Singapore's National Day, which celebrates their independence from Indonesia, is on August 9th. We've been watching a huge, multi-level, steel stage being constructed at the floating stadium near our theatre. The work has been going on for months.
They've also started rehearsals for the grand spectacle that will take place with a cast of thousands. Getting to work for Saturday matinees will be hell until it's all over since the main approach road that we all use is blocked off for these rehearsals. Not to mention the swarming masses of people.

And here's a photo that will make anyone living in Niagara or B.C. cringe

That's CDN $18.13 by today's exchange rate !

You'll have to enlarge the next photo to really see it properly. It's my favourite tree on our pool deck. The deck and chairs often look like a deranged flower-girl has gone on a spree because it drops it's delicate pink blossoms everywhere. The thing I really like about it though is the fact that it's always swarming with dragonflies who are attracted to it's flowers.

COMPOUND SCARS

2011-06-26T22:43:00.019-04:00

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

2011-06-17T11:44:00.041-04:00

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 !

2011-06-06T03:05:00.022-04:00

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.

COPING

2011-05-23T23:27:00.011-04:00

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...

2011-05-18T23:16:00.009-04:00

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...

2011-05-11T02:44:00.013-04:00

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.

FIRST VISITORS

2011-04-29T03:00:00.010-04:00

A couple of milestones passed in the past week.

My first set of visitors have arrived, Esther & Linda, my mom and her sister. I got them tickets to the Sunday night show since, though the audience can sometimes be mushy, the cast can smell the day off just around the corner and usually pulls out all the stops for the last show of the week. The ladies, of course, loved the show and hooted and cheered appropriately. (Or inappropriately, depending on your point of view)

As my schedule to play tour guide is a little bit limited, and the heat and humidity can be wearing on those who aren't used to it, we've been having some short but intense outings together. A ride on The Singapore Flyer, shopping excursions to Little India and The Arab Quarter, lunches, dinners and even a little time by my pool with a bottle of pink champagne.

Another milestone for this past week was having our, one-hundred-thousandth ticket-holder see the show last night.

I'm going to assume that having 100,000 people see the show in 50-some performances is a good thing.

I decided that since the Internet is full of videos about putting on the complex Lion King make up, I would do a video showing the slightly less complex, though equally tedious process of taking it off after every show.

Oh, and P.S.....
Am I the only one that really doesn't give a rat's ass about the royal wedding?
Zasu (or as we call him, Tata Zaza) seemed fairly excited to be invited...even bought a new hat.

GOODBYE YOUNG SIMBA

2011-04-24T23:37:00.003-04:00

And so, we have said goodbye to a cast member for the first time. One of our Young Simbas has had to leave the show. The problem with casting the kids in the show, especially the boys, is that they have to be around the age when 'changes' start to happen. Young Leon, who turned 13 while he was with us, started to grow like a radioactive weed (I swear he'd grow an inch in two days) and his voice started to break, making it very difficult for him to sing his song.

It was heart-warming/heart-breaking to witness his farewell speech as his boyish self struggled with the emerging young man. While the young man made a very eloquent, mature speech, saying that he'd learned so much from each one of us and that he'll never forget the experience, the boy cried uncontrollably.

I admit that I also got a bit teary-eyed, as I did when I saw his Facebook status one night which said, "Don't be sad that it's over, be happy that it happend."

Goodbye Leon

Previous to Leon's departure, a new Young Simba, Nicholas, was hired. The first Singaporean in the cast. He rehearsed in the afternoons for a few weeks and, as of last night, has now completed his second performance with us. He's done an admirable job for one so young. I could tell that he was nervous, but he knows his stuff and with a few more shows under his belt, he'll look like an old pro.

Here's a sample of the kind of antics Lyall and I get up to to amuse ourselves in the dressing room...

The daily weather forecast in Singapore is pretty much the same all the time. In fact, our physiotherapist told me that at one point, she thought the weatherman had died and they were just running an old recording every day..."Hot, humid, partly cloudy with rain on some parts of the island." We did have a couple of weeks, however, when you could set your watch by the afternoon monsoon. It never lasts for very long, but it's definatley not your long-walks-in-the-rain kind of rain. I caught this video from my apartment window one lazy afternoon at home.

...SO HOW EXPENSIVE IS IT?

2011-04-06T02:44:00.008-04:00

I just came back from a small, very small, shopping excursion. You know, just picking up a few of those things that one needs to run one's daily life. I should know better by now, but I am continually surprised every single time the cashier tells me the total.
Here's what I bought at grocery store:

-fresh flowers
-bottle of (cheap) wine
-razor blades
-dental floss
-can of tuna
-box of crackers
-cheddar cheese (xtra old)

Total cost, S$ 73.82. That's CDN $56.27 by today's exchange rate. Oh, and just so you know, the cheapest thing I got was the fresh flowers,....cut orchids. S$ 5.60 (CDN 4.26) for eight stems. Ridiculously cheap, I know, but they are so common here that even the saddest little public planter box is full of them.

The layout of the grocery stores (and pharmacies for that matter) continue to elude me. Nothing is laid out in any real, recognizable pattern. In the pharmacy, the shelf space tends to be divided by brand name, not product type. So you can't always just stand and look at all your options for, say, shampoo. You have to wander all over the store. I remember my mother used to make her grocery lists in the same order as the aisles of the grocery store. All the produce in one column, the tinned goods in another, frozen in another. Well, doesn't really work here. At my local Cold Storage (local chain), some kinds of cheese are in the dairy case, others are in another case with the cured meats. All things pickled are on the top of a refrigerated unit that displays fresh vegetables. Razor blades are not with the rest of the health/beauty items, but at the front of the store. Cookies and crackers are intermingled on the shelf and the dizzying array of sauces, marinades & dips seems to be crammed in which ever way they fit. Even a quick trip to pick up a loaf of bread can be an adventure!

Really, the continued lesson here is that it is much cheaper, and much easier to eat out...like the Singaporeans do. Given that rents are extremely high, it's nice that food is so plentiful and cheap.

I admit that I've started to covet some of the Lion King merchandise in the lobby shop. So far, I've only purchased a t-shirt for myself, but I was also given one of the dolls, a small likeness of ....well, me.

And here's a pic that had Veronique, who dressed Scar in Paris, in stitches. I was listening to some music during intermission and, of course, had to put my reading glasses on in order to see the play list on my phone.

She kept repeating, and giggling, "Scar lunettes, Scar lunettes." Actually, I think I look a bit like a crazed Princess Leia.

Singapore has a massive campaign against Dengue Fever going on at the moment. Makes sense really, what with this being a rainy, tropical country, it's a perfect breeding ground for the little mozzies. I discovered this add at the bus stop across the street from my apartment.
It was the huge, 3D mosquito that caught my eye, bearing in mind that this is one of the few cities in the world that can get away with something like that on street level since vandalism and graffiti are virtually non-existent here.

In the entire time I've been here, I don't think I've seen a single mosquito. In fact, it's rare that I see any insects at all. The odd cockroach in a street garbage can perhaps, a dragon-fly now and then, but pest-control and fogging are rampant. Singaporean don't care for the bugs.

MAKING OF...

2011-03-26T12:03:00.005-04:00

We are finally starting to see the pay off for the endless rounds of media calls that we faced earlier in the month. We will probably not see many of the pieces that we were interviewed for as they'll appear in other countries, but the Singapore coverage has definitely reached a new level.

Here is the trailer from the official "Making of..." program that was being filmed throughout rehearsals. I haven't seen the actual show, of course, because it airs while I'm on stage.

This is a photo from the Marina Bay Sands magazine SANDS STYLE, a luxury lifestyle mag. (They're big on the word 'lifestyle' here) The article contains a number of really beautiful photographs taken during rehearsal, and a lengthy interview with John, our director. I'm not certain why the editors thought that this particular shot of John & I was the best pick. 'Action shot' perhaps?

Social media is also doing it's part to promote the show. Photos and videos, most of them illegal, are starting to appear all over the internet. Here's a shot, taken from the audience, during our curtain call one night. I've noticed that our audiences pretty much totally ignore the pointed "No photos or videos" warning at the beginning of the show.

And here's a shot, that has nothing to do with publicity, taken during something called a "Five Minute Party". This is, apparently, a traditional event that happens on short notice in the hair and make up room. The idea is that, during the intermission, you drop in for a minute or two, push a bunch of junk food into your face, dance briefly to the pounding music and then race to where you need to be to start Act II.

This past week went well, though I admit that I was particularly tired by the end of it. Doing five performances of this baby over the course of a weekend is a pretty intense marathon. During the Sunday afternoon show, I was so tired that, while I was waiting for my final entrance of Act I, I was standing in the wings, leaning against the fog tanks, and I closed my eyes for a moment. In that moment, I actually started to fall asleep.....standing up. Me, who can't even fall asleep sitting on a plane. In order to make it through the evening show I had a nap, hoovered a big plate of pasta and downed a double-shot blended latte. It worked.

MEDIA AND MOVING

2011-03-21T02:59:00.022-04:00

The cameras may not be flashing any longer and the endless rounds of television crews may not be stalking the hallways every day, but the ripple-effect from our opening is still reverberating through Singapore. Response to the show has been phenomenal and tickets, I hear, are selling like mad.

And our presence on the streets of Singapore has definitely increased!

I had had yet another reminder of the fact that "we're not in Kansas anymore" when I did a radio interview the other day with Gugwana, Andrew and Wen....for a Chinese station! It was mind-boggling (particularly because it was early morning) to try and keep up as our hosts (and Wen) switched effortlessly back and forth between Mandarin and English.

Also, video footage from media is surfacing so I can finally show you clips of our actual cast rather than recycled footage from Broadway or London.

Here's a hybrid clip from a local blogger that was invited to media day. There are other photos and clips on the site too if you want to visit....www.superadrianme.com

And here's a 'behind-the-scenes' piece from AseanTV

And here's a clip of what has to be, still, one of my favourite numbers in the show, "Shadowland". The way Puleng tears her heart open in every performance of this number never stops inspiring me. Perhaps not the greatest videography you've ever seen, but the soul and passion of the number come across even in this medium.

And, at last, I have a home here in Singapore. Yup, no more luxury hotels for us. We have finally moved into our (serviced) apartments though I am still facing another (small) move. There weren't enough one-bedrooms available on our move day so I have been living in a beautifully spacious two-bedroom. The plan is to move me on March 22. It will be my fifth move in three months. Aaargh!
The staff here has been incredibly helpful and friendly and made a big fuss over us on our arrival day. Makes one feel welcome. Once I move into my 'actual' apartment, I'll create a video tour of the place. Given the size of the one-bedrooms, the total running time of the clip should be about thirty seconds.

WHAT A SWELL PARTY...

2011-03-13T11:49:00.015-04:00

It has come to pass. We opened. More importantly, we survived the weeks leading up to opening. The rehearsals. The media interviews. The photo calls. The technical issues. The exhaustion. We lived through it all. We climbed the mountain and triumphantly planted the flag.

We actually had more than one opening. The night before opening was 'media night'. You could call it our 'soft opening', but there was nothing soft about it. The crowd was wild, raucous and vocal and we gave them a hot, HOT show. The actual opening night crowd was a bit more typical for an event filled with that many corporate-types, more reserved and not quite as willing to let the hair down. We got them loosened up eventually and it was clear that they loved the show, and the buzz after the show reached epic proportions.

I have never been to an opening night party quite like this one. Because it was a black tie, red carpet, invitation only affair, the company turned itself out in it's very best glam and haberdashery. The music was loud, the energy in the room was atomic and the champagne flowed like water. The media were waiting at the top of the escalators to nab us for post-show interviews so it took me a good 15 minutes just to make my way to the nearest bar, but the cameras didn't stop, not for the whole night. Eventually, I even gave up trying to make it to the food because I couldn't go five feet without being stopped by someone.

I spoke briefly with the television host whom a few of us had spent the day with when we filmed segments of the 'making of..' program. His assessment of the night was that we had blown Singapore away and that we will be running here for a long time.

It turned out to be another one of those nights where I didn't get to bed until 4 a.m. When you're riding on the kind of a high, why would you want it to stop?

Me with Veronique (wardrobe), Sienna (cub-minder) & Tim (Stage Management Office)

Anuar (our dresser) with my friend and dressing-room-mate, Lyall (Zazu)

Lion cubs

Jamie (Timon)

Lou (who does my make-up and wig) and her husband Pollycarpus (ensemble)

Mon ami Veronique qui a travaillé à la production de Paris.

Our elegant stage management team (Minette, Charlie, Kristin & Karen)
with Warren (the littlest Young Simba)

Vero with Jee-L (Mufasa)

After the craziness of opening week, we then had to settle down to the business of doing the show eight times a week. Our opening night was a Thursday so, partied out as we were, we still had five more shows to do before our Monday day off.

On Sunday afternoon, I experienced, firsthand, the kind of mechanical mayhem that puppet technician German-Mike had warned me about very early on. Because the movement systems for Scar's mask are both delicate and complicated, many things can, and do, go wrong. Just before I was about to make my entrance for "Be Prepared", my big number, my mask became possessed by a demon and started sliding up and down my face all on it's own. Puppet techs. were summoned and I was surrounded by people trying to fix the problem in the 2 minutes we had before I had to be on stage. (Not unlike emergency room triage) They ended up turning off the mechanicals and securing the mask to it's support boom with string. I was a bit late for my cue and the poor hyenas, who knew nothing about what was going on, were starting to get a bit worried. I could tell that they had run out of dialogue and were carrying on with their laughter that I usually interrupt, but their was a certain note of desperation beginning to creep into their cackling.

On a completely different note...

Sometimes, the subtle nuances and slang applications of language are lost on people who may not be the native speakers of that language. Give yourself a pat on the back if you get why these signs are funny....

TIPS

2011-03-07T09:03:00.008-05:00

Oh,.....day off. Oh glorious, treasured day off....how I love thee. A little time lying by the pool, reading, chatting and swimming. A nap and a bit of a wander through the consumerist mecca that is Orchard Road. It's almost time for bed and I'm feeling as though I might actually be able to face the coming week. Yesterday, if you'd asked me how I felt about facing opening night, I might have curled up into a ball in the bathtub, quivering and sucking my thumb.

For those of you that are planning a visit to Singapore, I thought it might be helpful to give you a 'view from the inside'. Some small things that your guide books may or may not mention.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CHEWING GUM
Officially, it is considered contraband. You may see people chewing, but gum is not widely available, which makes mints and candies wildly popular. Also, because gum is fairly rare here, some Singaporeans might actually consider the act of gum-chewing rude. If you bring it in your luggage, keep the quantities very low. If it looks as though you have enough to re-sell, it will definitely be confiscated. No police officer is going to grab the back of your neck, teacher-style, and force you to spit it out if you are chewing on the street, and it's not as offensive as, say, peeing in a public fountain. Still, if you chew, use discretion.

THE TRUTH ABOUT JAY-WALKING
It's true that it is illegal, (I know people that have been stopped) and for good reason. The major avenues in Singapore are wide and very busy. Often, the busiest streets are lined with barricades which would make jay-walking impossible anyway so you're better off using the cross-walk. On the smaller streets, take your cues from the Singaporeans. If there are no crossings in sight, or if they look too far away to bother with, you're probably safe to make the dash. And remember, they drive on the other side of the road here. When crossing the street, look first in the OPPOSITE direction that you normally would!

POLICE/SECURITY
This is a security-conscious nation and CCTV cameras are everywhere. Even when you might think you're not being watched, you are. The great bonus to this is the fact that the crime rate is extremely low here and you should never worry about walking the streets late at night.

GETTING AROUND
The MRT system is fast, clean, efficient and very easy to use. The attendants at the subway stations are very helpful and will happily guide you through using the pass-card entry/exit system.

Taxis are also a very efficient way to get around if you'd rather stay above ground. They are plentiful and quite inexpensive, but bear a few things in mind...
-There are taxi stands everywhere. Use them. They are usually well marked and often have railed lanes for queuing (they're big on queuing here). And don't jump the que. If you do, the driver may ask you to get out of the taxi and take your place in line. It is possible to hail a taxi on smaller side streets, but it is illegal for drivers to stop on busier streets to pick you up.
-Don't try to figure out all of the various additional charges like 'peak time of day' or 'extra baggage'. You may suddenly find yourself paying double the fare for the same trip you took yesterday, but at a different time of day. Just pay it. The fare will still be quite reasonable and taxis are heavily regulated making the chances of you getting ripped off pretty much non-existent.
-If you are going somewhere other than a major tourist destination or landmark, have some directions or a printed map handy. Singapore is large and complex and the same street can change it's name five times over a short distance. Not all drivers know all corners of the city. If a driver accepts you as a fare and then ends up driving around to find your final destination, they are obligated to turn off the meter or discount your fare.

EATING
You can find virtually any type of cuisine here, but don't expect it to be 'just like home' or "..just like that penne we had in Italy..". It won't be. I'm not saying that it will be bad, it just might be different from what you're expecting.

Be brave enough to try the food stalls and hawker centers. They offer a mind-boggling array of food options that are very cheap and usually of very good quality. Always, ALWAYS carry a package of tissues with you though. Paper serviettes, especially at food centers, are the exception here, not the rule. And if you come across a table at a food centre that has a tissue on it, it isn't someones used snot-rag. It means that someone has claimed the table and gone off to choose their food.

Restaurant service is not what you will be used to from home. Your food will not arrive at the the table all at the same time. Sometimes, all your courses may arrive in very quick succession. Get used to it. Also, I would advise ordering from the menu exactly as it is written. My experience has been that most places do not have systems or policies in place to cope with personalized alterations and everything will end up getting complicated. (I asked for a side of sauerkraut once and got an entire dinner plate piled high with it!)

As for tipping, generally the rule is "don't". Ninety-nine percent of restaurants will add a 10% svc chg to the bill, though there are some European-style eateries that do not do this. Check your bill. If the svc chg is there, it will be clearly marked, usually just below the 7% GST.
(You may tip taxi drivers at your discretion, though generally most people don't. If you do tip them, they are usually quite appreciative.)

MONEY
Banks and ATM's are plentiful, making it easy to draw local currency from your home account. If you're cashing travellers cheques, have your passport with with you for I.D. In fact, you may be asked for your passport frequently. I have been asked for my passport at the branch where I have an account!

SHOPPING
Shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping!!! You can't walk 10 meters in Singapore without running into some kind of retail outlet, so be prepared to have retail accidents.

If you are shopping at street stalls, you will, of course, automatically inspect your merchandise thoroughly before finalizing the purchase. I would advise the same, however, even in major departments stores. I had an issue with a computer bag that took three days to resolve.

When in street markets in Chinatown, Little India or The Arab Quarter, feel free to bargain. You will get a better prices.

And, put away any altruistic ideas you may bring with you about energy conservation or greening the planet. Even shops that keep their entire front wall wide open to the elements will have their air conditioning blowing full blast. And everything, EVERYTHING will get put into a plastic shopping bag unless you are carrying a re-usable with you.

CLIMATE
It is hot here. And humid. And because we are virtually on the equator, the sun's rays come straight down! If you burn easily, or it you're still carrying your winter-white skin, put sunscreen on, even just to walk around. If it rains, it usually won't last long. Stop and have a coffee or a cocktail and wait it out.

Most hotels will provide you with bottled water. Take it with you when you leave the room and drink through the day. Even though you may think the humidity is keeping you moist, you are actually dehydrating.

On the flip-side, Singaporeans loooooove air conditioning, and there's usually only one setting, FULL BLAST. I've seen a book called "The Air Conditioned Nation", and that is an apt description. I've gotten into taxis that were so cold I began to hibernate. Sometimes, the difference between inside and outside temperature is enough to make my glasses fog over when I exit a building. Pack a wrap or a long-sleeved shirt for going out to dinner or a show.

Because of the climate, casual or smart-casual dress is acceptable most everywhere. Men may want to were long pants at some of the more up-scale restaurants but it is extremely rare that they would request a jacket or tie.

SINGLISH
It's true that the various cultures here communicate in English, but don't expect to hear the same words you hear at home. You must be ready for a wide variety of accents and varying levels of proficiency. Also, be prepared for Singlish, the unique slang words that are specifically Singaporean.

Most used is the "La". This is an added syllable, probably from the ethnic Chinese who like adding a sound or syllable for punctuation. It is very common to hear: "Thank you-la", "Ok-la", "You have to pay the tax-la".

Also common is the double-positive "can can". If you see an empty seat in a food court and you ask someone if you may sit, they might respond with a vigorous, "Can can". It can be used in many situations but essentially it means that, not only is the situation acceptable, but it is SO acceptable that it needs a double yes.

CROWD CONTROL
This is a big city with A LOT of people in it. Depending on the time of day, the streets and shops range from fairly busy to Oh-my-god-I-just-need-to-get-the-hell-out-of-here busy. The territorial imperative is smaller here than it is in North America so be prepared for people to stand closer to you in line. Also, when walking the streets, it may look as though people are going to walk right into you but, in fact, they are going to make a tiny adjustment at the last second, squeezing past with mere millimeters to spare. (Feel free, however, to body slam anyone who is walking while texting. The way I see it, if your face is in your phone, you're fair game!)

In theory, you should stand to the left of an escalator, leaving the right side as an express lane.(Remember, ex-British colony. Right-hand drive.) In practice, this rarely happens. In Singapore, as in many other places in the world, escalators seem to posses the power to mysteriously steal people's will to self-ambulate. Also, you must be prepared for people to reach the top of the escalator and decide that it's a good place to have a discussion about which direction to go, heedless of the fact that there are 50 people behind them that have no way of stopping. People will, in fact, stop dead just about anywhere for no discernible reason.

I'm sure that the longer I live here, the more insights I'll be able to share, but for now, I think it's time for one more day-off-glass-of-wine. Or perhaps not. Well,.....hmmm.....oh what the hell...

PREVIEWS AND Q-TIPS

2011-03-05T21:09:00.002-05:00

It's been a long, tiring road getting to our first week of preview audiences, but we've made it. A few battle scars, a little weary, but we're almost at the end of our first week of actual audiences. Thankfully, the people that bought tickets to these, our very first public performances, are the people that really, really want to see the show and you can feel their excitement buzzing on the other side of the curtain. The particularly enthusiastic crowds will often break into spontaneous applause four or five times during the opening number ! The cast members that have done the show before tell me that THAT is part of the magic of The Lion King experience, and that it happens so often that one starts to expect it.

Because my body and my brains are functioning on what tiny reserves of energy I have left, this will be a, necessarily brief blog posting. I did, however, want to re-introduce you to Lavina who plays my number-1 Major Domo, the bad-ass hyena, Shenzi.

Here she is singing one of the tunes that helped put her in the top 12 finalists on Australian Idol. The girl can bring it !!!!

Also, I wanted to share the eccentric and extravagant bouquet that Kathi sent me via her hair-dresser, Douglas, who is on a trip to this part of the world.

Kathi had asked if there was anything from Canada that I needed and offered Douglas as her mule. I explained about the necessity of good, old-fashioned Q-tips because of digging make-up out of my ears so they became an integral part of the bouquet!

Two more shows today, press night on Wednesday (9th) and official opening night on Thursday (10th). So close...

TECH SITZPROBE BINTAN TECH

2011-02-25T01:35:00.015-05:00

It has been ten days since my last entry and the majority of those ten days have been long and arduous. We are still working in all the various elements of the show, and things are getting better and smoother every time. We have fallen into a routine of doing a fully-dressed run of ACT I in the afternoon, followed by notes. Then time to remove make-up, have dinner and do a fully-dressed run of ACT II in the evening, followed by notes. It's grueling, but the results are easy to see.

Now that we're running the show in make-up, my call time is usually around 1:30, which gives me one hour in the make-up chair and thirty minutes to get into costume/mask/mechanicals.
And speaking of full costume, I feel like I am now allowed, finally, to show you what I look like in full Scar-drag without fearing the wrath of Disney since there are pictures of fully-dressed Scar all over the internet.

I'm not sure why they had to paint the sneer on,
my face does that quite naturally.

Before we got to enjoy two glorious days off, we ended on a high note by having our Sitzprobe. This may be a strange and somewhat uncomfortable term for those of you who live in the normal world, but fear not. It's a German word that simply means to sit and sing, paying special attention the the sound. It's our first chance to hear what the orchestra sounds like, after rehearsing with a piano for months, and it's their first chance to hear us. It's always, always, for me, the most exciting day of rehearsal. Everyone gets very giddy and it's hard to keep the whole thing from turning into a Rave.

Me at microphone, partial orchestra right, ensemble standing, left.

Later this week, we will also be doing a Wandelprobe, which is a similar thing except that we walk the stage, as we would during the show, with microphones but no costumes, so that we can hear exactly what the music will sound like during performance.

And to add to the above photo, here is a visual representation of all of our home countries.

In order to take full advantage of the relaxation opportunities that two days off can offer, Lyall (Zazu) and I booked a beach cottage on the nearby Indonesian island of Bintan. Many Singaporeans vacation on Bintan as it is easily reached by ferry in less than an hour. Though the entertainment on the ferry, at 8:10 a.m. left a little something to be desired.Our simple but comfortable room at
Mayang Sari Beach Resort,
at Nirwana Gardens

The view from our deck

Our director, John, also took advantage of Bintan but he stayed at the spectacular Banyan Tree Resort. We went to visit for cocktails and dinner, but felt obligated to take advantage of the amenities...

Like the private, horizon-style plunge pool

Lyall & John paddle in the sunset

And the various snacks stocked in the kitchen
(Just what flavour are these "export quality" crisps?)

We arrived back in Singapore feeling very relaxed. A little too relaxed, perhaps. It wasn't easy getting back up to show energy on our first day back. And it was particularly difficult putting my flying harness on over my sun-burned waist-line.

Tonight, we will be running the whole show, with no notes or dinner break between acts, for the first time in many days. And on Tuesday, March 2nd, we get our very first audience for an invited dress rehearsal.

Onward...

FINESSING THE ROCK

2011-02-15T09:41:00.006-05:00

The past few days have been an endless refrain of, 'Oh God, how much longer is this going to take?", sprinkled with the occasional, "Wow....that's beautiful", as well as the odd, rare, "Ah...it all makes sense now".

We started adding all the technical elements to the show on Friday. By the end of the following Thursday, we had worked through the entire show (Sunday off). That's six, ten-hour tech days. For anyone who is used to having two tech days and a couple of run thrus before a first audience, that may seem like luxury, but this show is full of so many different elements that have to be coordinated between so many different people and departments that even the most hyper-active wedding planner would be tearing their hair out. ACT I of course takes longer because we have six different children, 3 boys and 3 girls, who alternate playing the Young Simba & Young Nala. That means that any scene they're in has to be done at least three times to give each one of them the feel of the scene.

Also, we've started flying. And when you fly, you might as well fly with the best, Foy. Our resident Foy-boy is Cowboy Dave who is easy to spot in Singapore with his huge, fluffy, white beard, hair to match and ever-present blue jeans. Dave exudes exactly the kind of Zen-like country-boy calm that you want from someone who is in charge of harnesses and tiny cables that carry you 2 or 3 stories into the air. He's all about safety, repetition, technique and, above all, making sure that whomever is being flown feels comfortable.

I've wanted to fly in a show for years and while I admit that it's pretty exciting, I've gotta say that it wasn't the adrenaline rush I thought it would be. Perhaps because I have so little time to focus on the actual sensation as I am continually processing information from several different sources-
"Keep your head straight or your mask will get tangled in the wires"
"Listen for your music cues"
"Try to relax and just let your lines flow" (while you're walking backward along a one-foot wide platform that's three stories high)
"Try to look like you're falling off, without actually falling off"
"If your feet don't leave the platform at the same time, you'll spin in the air. That's not what we want."

I would love to show you pictures of me hanging in the middle of the empty stage but that is impossible. Picture taking, now that we're in the theatre, is strictly forbidden and I'm not interested in getting a 'Please Remove' order from Disney legal. However, to try to illuminate just how many elements can be involved, I will attempt to talk through a very small segment, (let's say about 12 minutes) of the show. This scene, well actually 1 and 1/2 scenes, gears us up to the climax of ACT I.

THE STAMPEDE/EULOGY
-Scar-wall drop flies in (with music underscore)
-Ensemble members create a brief shadow-puppet show on the Scar wall from back stage. (This means that they operate the puppets themselves as well as the lights that create the shadows.) The shadows show giraffes walking through the Savannah.
-Enter cheetah-lady from down stage right.
-Enter giraffe-boy from down stage left.
-Cheetah and giraffe pass at center stage. Cheetah turns, now in hunting mode and follows giraffe off right.
-Shadow puppets re-appear, this time showing Scar leading Young Simba on a walk.
-Shadows fade
-Enter real Scar & Young Simba down stage left(music out)
-During the ensuing small scene, crew scrambles, behind the Scar drop, to set "The Gorge" for the stampede scene. On word cue from Scar, Scar-wall flies out revealing The Gorge.
-Young Simba sits on ledge
-Scar exits down left, leg one, and races to leg two where he steps onto an elevator platform and is clipped into a safety harness. Elevator platform ascends, raising Scar unseen behind Gorge drop.
-Stampede begins. This is a 3-stage process involving a painted drop on a roller and puppets of two different sizes on rotating arms. (Think perspective) This also includes chemical smoke to simulate dust as well as music underscore, live off-stage vocals and sound effects.
-Down stage right, large elevated platform rolls on carrying Mufasa and Zazu. (They are looking down into the gorge)
-Enter female wildebeest dancers (wildebabes)
-Enter male wildebeest dancers (like the females, but bigger)
-Stage crew sneaks through dancing beasts and clips fly wire to Young Simba's flying harness.
-Simba flies up to large 'branch' that has been hinged in from stage right wing. He hangs there.
-Down stage truck rolls off right
-Enter Mufasa, fighting off stampeding beasts.
-Simba 'drops' into his arms. Mufasa releases Simba's fly line and tosses the boy off stage.
-Mufasa makes his way to the wall of the gorge and has his fly line attached by stage crew. He then 'climbs' the wall of the gorge.
-Scar appears above Mufasa, having previously been elevated up behind the wall of the gorge. Scar grabs Mufasa, lifts him, then tosses him down into the stampede.
-Mufasa falls, Scar disappears and is lowered back down.
-Re-enter Simba, looking for Mufasa
-Re-enter Scar, discovering Simba. Short scene. Everyone exits except dead Mufasa
-Rafiki enters
-Lionesses enter
-Gorge flies out. Platforms that wildebabes were dancing on dis-assemble and move offstage.
-Once stage is cleared, Pride Rock, a huge, automated, curving stair case, glides onto the stage, carrying Scar as he climbs to the top of it, ascending the throne.

And that's just one small scene...

You might think it's tedious reading it. Imagine doing it six times in a row. Or better yet, imagine starting to do it then stopping because fly lines didn't come in on time, or because Pride Rock didn't move fast enough, or because the singers couldn't hear the music, or because an actor didn't make it to the stage in time or any number of reasons to stop and try it again...and again....and again...

-

Work, work, ...WORRRK!

2011-02-10T09:05:00.004-05:00

The last little while has been busy. Very busy. More like a blur really. A blur seen through the chin whiskers of the lion mask perched on my head.

Our first full run-thru with the entire company was thrilling, for all of us I think. Up to now, we've been rehearsing in separate spaces, principles in one place, ensemble in another, sometimes people spread all over the building, depending on the day. Finally, brought together, our excitement hummed in the space and our collective energy made the air crackle. I, of course, wept, as I often do when I hear all those powerful voices raised in song, invoking the heart-beat of Africa. I wept when Puleng sang Shadowland with so much anguished heart and raw passion that it's almost unbearable. I wept when Johnathan Andrew sang his first note of Endless Night, a note so small yet from someplace so deep in the soul that I stopped breathing. And then, finally, I wept after my intense death scene, out of pure physical and emotional exhaustion, and two hours of being a demonic tyrant.

The days that followed that first run-thru merged together like a snap-shot mosaic in my mind. Working a scene or a few lines, and running the show. Working again, running again. Stumbling home, soaked with sweat. Showering away the day. Stalking the streets for food and, hopefully, a few moments of peace & quiet. Surfing Chinese, Tamil or German T.V. Falling asleep. Falling asleep. Falling....blessedly...asleep.

Our final run-thru in the rehearsal space was another great day. The creative team were all very happy with the state of the show. Our director, John, gathered the principles together for what we thought would be another session of notes. Instead, he said, "I'm not going to give notes today because we spend so much time talking about what needs to be fixed or changed that you never get to hear about the stuff that's really good." He then proceeded to tell each of us what it is the we have, personally, that makes us unique and wonderful in our roles and encouraged us to allow our individual strengths to come through in our work. I'll not write here what he said to me because it was not his intent that his words be published on the internet (though if you ask me personally, I'll tell you). I will say that his words will be long remembered and replayed in my mind as a mantra on those tired days.

Last night, the company that works hard, played hard. Not only was it one of the principles' thirtieth birthday, but we also felt obligated to enjoy our last free evening as we are now moving into night rehearsals. Michael, the birthday boy, threw himself a party at the dance club in the hotel and it turned into a bit of a rave with most of the company turning up in their best glam. It's hard for us not to take over a venue when we travel as a group. There may have been a few tourists who were entertained by the antics on the dance floor and quite a few more who fled into the night, not brave enough to enter after glimpsing the high-octane revelry from the door.

Now, the tedious work begins with technical rehearsals in the theatre. Days and days of slowly adding the many tech. elements of the show. Sound, lights, fog, elevators, stage traps, quick changes for dozens of people in tight quarters, massive automated moving set pieces, and, of course, the flying. I'm not sure if I'm excited or terrified by the prospect of my death scene which requires me to fall, backwards and flailing, from a platform suspended high above the stage.

FLUENCY...

2011-02-07T07:54:00.003-05:00

I couldn't be happier that I am sharing a dressing room with my new friend Lyall (right). We share many common interests and habits, including a well matched sense of humour and other....erm...abilities. It seems fated that Michael (centre) wore this t-shirt.

Patrick says hello

GONG XI FA CAI

2011-02-04T00:02:00.012-05:00

The company has been working,flat out and full steam ahead, for about a month now and it is clear that everyone is ready to blow off some steam. Chinese New Year provides us the opportunity to do just that.

New Year gift from the hotel

We learn from various sources that this is THE big holiday of the year and many people will be taking a four day weekend. If you work a 9-5 job, it is not uncommon to work a half-day on the eve of New Year, leaving the office in the afternoon, looking forward to your two holiday days off, followed by your regular weekend. As we walk home from rehearsal on Wednesday afternoon, shopping malls are closing, and will actually stay closed for days !! Unheard of in a land where an evening in a shopping mall is considered 'a night out'.

After a short nap and a shower, I meet up with a few people at the Tawandang Microbrewery to watch a traditional Thai puppet show. (For a true dose of culture shock, please visit a Thai microbrewery that makes German-style beer, staffed with Singaporean girls who greet you with the traditional prayer-hands and a "sawadee krap"). This puppet company, F.Y.I., recently took first prize at the International Festival of Puppet Arts in Prague.

After puppets and food, we meet up with a few more people and take a taxi to Chinatown which, at this time of year, is pretty much exactly like Times Square on New Year's Eve. Cast warming up in the hotel lounge
Clockwise from bottom left,
Danilo, Lyall, Dupreez, Thabani, Jerome, Michael and Lavina

Crazy. People everywhere. Traffic. Music. Horns blaring. It's mad and wonderful. We find our way to a bar called Stage Door, a tiny, musical-theatre-oriented gay bar, one of Singapore's many, vibrant, community-oriented 'family' bars. This is where the trouble starts. Unlike touristy places, the drinks here are cheap and powerful and continue to appear without me having to lift a finger. It isn't long before, like a herd of gazelles, I sense movement and we begin to migrate somewhere else.

After half an hour of stumbling through the colonial streets and alleys of Singapore, with several people swearing by the accuracy of the downloaded maps on their phones, we arrive at Lluvia, a friendly, neighborhood, gay karaoke bar, full of people singing loud, off-key, Mandarin pop tunes. Directly across the street is a large temple, Buddhist I think, where New Year's celebrations are in full swing as five dancing lions are doing their dancing lion thing. Keep in mind that it is one o'clock in the morning by this time, and the streets are still crawling with people, including many families with young children.

After a few drinks, and a little karoke judgment, the herd, with a hive-mind, begins to move again, this time to a major gay club called Tantric. It is here that we meet up with other members of the herd that we had previously lost in the chaos. The music is loud. The company is entertaining. The night is warm. The drinks are cheap. It all adds up to this old man staying out until 4 a.m. for the first time in years.....possibly in decades !

The next day, I tumble out of bed around eleven o'clock. Unheard of for me who usually wakes with the sun. Eventually, I make my way down to the pool, planning on doing nothing but lounging, reading and perhaps taking the occasional dip if and when the clouds part, allowing the sun to break through. It is very peaceful except for the occasional cacophony of drums and cymbals that signals yet another dancing lion, being offered oranges in order to ensure a prosperous new year.

I can't help but giggle as the majority of the company begins to emerge onto the pool deck in the early afternoon. They stumble out, one by one, or in small groups, like Bambi-eyed animals in a Disney cartoon, rubbing their eyes and blinking in the sunlight, still tender from their hibernation. Then the stories of the previous night's debauchery begin to emerge. Who got lost, who got found, who hasn't slept yet, who didn't make it to their room without blowing chunks....you know. It becomes clear that, as a group, we have all lived large and slept little.

Hung over ensemble

Before I know it, it is five-thirty in the afternoon. Time to shower, dress and think about the eternal search for dinner. A couple of us decide to make the trek to Dempsey Hill to try the legendary Samy's Curry, which has been in business for 50 years. The night is warm and calm. The trees are draped with long ropes of twinkling blue and white lights. The curry, served on a banana leaf, is potent and delicious. My fingers are permanently stained yellow from prying apart the pieces of my masala crab.

The real bonus to all of this bacchanalian revelry is the fact that tomorrow is ANOTHER day off! A rare, very rare, and much treasured gift.

Some random photos...

Self-amusing on the flat escalator at Carrefour, the giant French supermarket.

Scar and Zazu rehearse a scene. (I'm pretty)

KARMA, FISH SPA & DUCK TOUNGES

2011-01-29T05:22:00.010-05:00

The monsoons have wreaked their havoc on all of our day off plans. It is a bitter pill to swallow when, after a week of physical and mental boot camp, one has to accept that the simple act of sitting outside for the day is no longer an option. To be fair, I fully understand that those who may be wading through hip-deep snow to take the garbage out might be less than sympathetic with my plight (yes Kathi, I know it's blizzarding in Calgary). Still, after days of being locked in a dark, air-conditioned space, wrapped in layers of costuming from head to toe, sweating, stretching, leaping, crawling, trying, failing and repeating, all the while chasing the dangling carrot of just being still in the sunlight...rain seems a cruel, karmic jest.

Lyall and I decided that, for a change of scenery, we might re-visit our old stomping ground and spend the day at the Marina Bay Sands Skypark. We had not walked half a block from the Pan Pacific when the rain began to come down. We thought that if we had a coffee, we could wait it out, but the longer we waited, the more minuscule our optimism looked against the titanic, ever greying sky. The slower we sipped our latte's, the heavier the rain fell. It wasn't long before we were trying to catch a glimpse of the other side of the street through a solid wall of falling water. So....enough. We surrendered.

So as not to have the day be completely without hedonism, I headed to the Kenko on the elevated walkway connected to our hotel. These insta-massage places are all over Singapore. You can walk in, get a 10, 20, 30 or 60 minute massage or reflexology treatment without an appointment. Some days, a ten minute shoulder massage is exactly what I need. And for $10 SGD, you can't beat it. Today, I opted for a twenty minute shoulder pounding, followed by fifteen minutes in the fish spa. Think about those words for a moment. Fish spa. Not words you often hear used together in English. When I first saw these words, I assumed that it must be a place where aquarium owners took their depressed goldfish and pond coy for some r 'n' r and a little communal time with the other city fish. No, no. A fish spa is a place you dangle your feet into a warm aquarium full of something called 'Doctor Fish', and they nibble the dead skin cells, callouses, blisters and what-not from your feet.

At this particular Kenko, they have the regular, minnow-sized fish. But they also have one tank of larger, almost sardine-sized fish. I figured that my crusty, battered old dogs should have the big guns for the first time out. Save the minnows for a maintenance treatment later.
When my feet first went into the tank, it felt like sinking into a vat of writhing eels, particularly because I was the only person in the place so EVERY fish in the tank was on MY feet. I admit, there was a little 'ick' factor that I had to get over. Once I got past the feeling of being swarmed, I had to try to control my giggling because it really, REALLY tickles. Especially these big guys because you can feel their little teeth. Eventually, it felt like dozens of tiny, vibrating massagers running all over my feet and was, in the end, quite soothing. When it's over, your feet are silky smooth and tingly all over.

For my dinner tonight, I once again went out on a culinary limb and order the appetizer of deep fried duck tongues. The texture: an odd mix of soft and sinewy. The taste: virtually non-existent. They tasted mostly like the garlic and chilies that they were dressed with. I only ate a few and then ordered a green Thai curry that was beautiful. While I ate, I was serenaded by the most eclectic music trio I've ever seen. A pianist (who looked like a cross between Che Guevara and Mozart), a percussionist playing something like an Indian tabla (and he looked like a Hindu rapper), and a guy playing something like a Thai Xylophone ( I don't know what they are actually called). These three played a bizarre mix of classical, jazz, Thai, Indonesian, pan-Asian music (often simultaneously) that defies description.

And finally, my favourite topic .... a rant......about alcohol...
I know I've mentioned this already, but I just wanted to use a visual aid to put it into perspective. The photograph, below, shows $79 SGD of booze. With today's exchange rate, that equals $61.56 CDN. Please note that the vodka bottle is only 375 mls.
Cocaine would be cheaper.

ENTER: MADAM SONG

2011-01-27T05:27:00.016-05:00

When Julie Taymor's creative cauldron was bubbling with the ingredients for Lion King, 15-ish years ago, she was trying to imagine how an animated movie could become a live stage musical, without it looking like a large serving of cheeze panto. She found much of her inspiration in classical Javanese mask and puppetry. Our director, John, decided that, since we are in Asia, and just a stone's throw from Indonesia, we are virtually obligated to take advantage of some of the great teachers that might not otherwise be available to us.

Enter, Madam Song and her company. Collectively, they represent the various aspects of traditional dance, puppetry, mask and movement that live at the heart of Malay culture. They join our Lion King family for three, half-day workshops, hoping to give us a crash course in the basics.

Madam Song, foreground
John, our director, background

Madam Song's multi-talented company

It is clear, from the beginning, that Madam Song runs a tight ship but with great humour and respect. The mentor-student relationship is very much in evidence when she deals with her proteges. She rarely demonstrates things herself, but is constantly on the periphery, calling directions, offering clarifications and keeping a keen, yet gently critical eye on all of us. At one point, she was talking about something, I don't know what, because I couldn't take my eyes off of her hand which was moving like a blade of grass or a willow branch blowing in the breeze.

One of the most entertaining exercises involved various cast members who improvised a short story, in their native language, using traditional shadow puppets. You might have one person speaking Zulu to someone answering in Chinese. Or a monologue in Tagalog. My stomach hurt from laughing almost as much as my thighs hurt from learning the basic martial arts stances.

The Young Simbas & Young Nalas do a
shadow puppet version of
"Can You Feel The Love Tonight"

As if discovering our inner Javanese-iness weren't enough, we had a full afternoon of other discoveries, triggered by one event. John was working with Andrew, who plays Simba, on his soul-searching solo in Act II. John wasn't quite feeling the sense of a lost, lonely soul singing to his dead father, so he cleared the stage, put a blindfold on Andrew and stayed just close enough to Andrew that he might be able to sense John's proximity. The rest of us were chit-chatting and adjusting our puppets in the wings. Gradually, all sound in the room ceased as the most achingly beautiful rendition of the song began to flow out of Andrew. We stood, absolutely still, drawn into a voice filled with anguish and loneliness. By the end of the number, most of us were in tears. The real bonus of this exercise, however, was that Andrew's bravery and willingness to allow himself to be totally emotionally vulnerable raised the bar by several notches for our stumble-thru of Act II....and we soared.

Bird kites for the top of Act II

Some more introductions...

Bafikile (Buffy), ensemble
Nasrine, who covers 7 or 8 different ensemble parts

Puleng, who plays Nala
Clem (Clement) our musical director

Puleng is Sotho and speaks, not only her language, but several others as well including Xhosa (the 'X' is pronouced as a tongue click). She's promised to teach me how to 'click'.

Lu, who does my makeup

We are very happy with the results of my most recent makeup test

And, finally, a word about dinner...
Food in the many food courts and hawker centres is usually pretty top notch but, like anywhere, you're bound to get a less than memorable meal sooner or later. So I decide to try my first Fried Char Kway Teow, a Hokkien noodle dish featuring slices of fish, greens and cockles. At least according to the picture. What I am served looks identical to a plate of dog food. Gravy Train, to be exact. The actual dish and the photograph were as different from each other as chalk and cheese. The taste was, well, .....ok, but I had to search through the pile of brown muck to find the two, lonely pieces of unidentifiable greens. It only cost me $4 SGD, so no great loss. But really. I mean....yeeech.

ABSORBING SINGAPORE

2011-01-23T00:55:00.011-05:00

A glorious day off and a chance to do a little more exploring. Some new discoveries and a return some familiar places. Now that I'm starting to understand the layout of the city a bit more, things are closer than I had realized.

I start my day with a Singapore tradition, "Kaya Kopi". ('Kopi', as a word has long, multi-national history, but has been embraced as a Singlish word for 'coffee'.) The 'Kopi Set' is a light, fast breakfast and is perfect for people on-the-go, or for me since I can't face much food early in the day. For SD4.20, you get a cup of thick, sweet coffee, two VERY soft-boiled eggs, and two slices of toast (crust removed) smeared with kaya, a sweet coconut spread. Your eggs come with a spare, small bowl. The proper etiquette is to crack your egg, (one at a time please) pour into the spare bowl, add a few drops of soy sauce, stir it into a rich, yolk-y, yummy mess and sip it from the bowl. The more demure may use the tiny spoon that comes with. It is also permissible to dip your toast or mop up the last bits of eggy goodness. Mmmmmm.

I have heard a lot about Sim Lim Square, the giant technology mall, and wanted to check it out since I will eventually be shopping for a lap top. This place is mind boggling. Six floors of private vendors selling every techno-gadget you can dream of, and a few you haven't. Stall after stall of computers, cell phones, cameras, T.V.'s, closed circuit systems, stereos, gaming systems, MP3's and every possible do-dad, whatsit and extendo-thing you'd ever need. It really makes you realize how disposable technology has become. It is important to remember that most things don't have a price on them for a reason - haggling is expected here. But be warned: Know what you're buying and how much you should be paying. Even the taxi driver warned me not to go unless I know how to bargain! Also, you have to make sure that everything you need is included in the final price. What looks like a good deal can sometimes end up costing much more when you start adding things that would usually be included, like a battery or power cord.

After frying my brain on techno-input, I wander down the Albert Street Mall. It is a Sunday afternoon, and Singaporean families are out in full force. The mall is a retail circus. You can walk from Sim Lim to the OG department store where the sale items are dragged out into the street and advertised by shouting sales-people (usually in Mandarin), then on toward the Fu Lu Shou complex which seems to be Chinese New Year central, through the Bugis Street covered market and into Bugis Junction, another huge mall. AND, the whole walk is lined with street stalls. Singaporeans loooove to shop. In fact, I've been told that they are a triple-threat: They eat, drink and shop like champions. Anyone who considers themselves a pro-shopper at home is in for a rude awakening as Singaporeans will show you how it's done!

Bugis market is a trip. Packed with people, it is two stories of tiny vendor stalls selling clothes, wallets, sunglasses, clothes, shoes, clothes, jewelery, clothes, hats & bags, clothes, baby clothes and clothes and everything in between. You can't be in a hurry in the market, or anywhere in a crowded place for that matter. Bugis is particularly crowed because the aisles are so narrow and you have to adopt the Asian attitude toward 'flow'. Think of the crowd as a river and find a current that's going in your direction, then just let it carry you.

As a side note, I have to say that Singapore is only just taking it's first baby steps into being 'green'. Pretty much everything in a food court is still served on Styrofoam plates with plastic utensils, drinks in plastic cups. There are places that use cutlery and actual dishes, but I've found that they are the exception. Hotel laundry gets returned with everything hermetically sealed in plastic, wrapped in plastic and then wrapped in plastic again for good measure. Some places offer re-usable shopping bags, but generally everything is put into at least one, if not two or three, plastic shopping bags. There are plenty of garbage cans on the street and a prominent "Let's Bin It" campaign, but this is more about eradicating street litter than reducing waste. Still, unlike many places in Asia, Singapore is at least trying to make people more aware.

At the Bugis fruit market, I decide to put my culinary big-boy pants on and try my first durian.

The smell: not unlike your full kitchen compost bucket after it sits on the back deck in the heat for a few days.
The texture: very soft and creamy, slightly slimy, a bit like un-set jell-o or over-firm rice pudding.
The taste: who can say? Can't get past the smell.
I will say that it wasn't as unpleasant as I expected it to be, but I can see where it is definitely an acquired taste.

This is one of my favourite buildings in Singapore, near Bugis. At night, the white snow-flake-globe-things ripple, undulate and flash with patterns creating a pretty amazing light show. I've been to lots of places that feature cutting-edge architecture, but here, everywhere you turn you see another amazing, gravity-defying, perception-changing structure.

After a busy morning of navigating the crowds, (think 'flow'), I retreat for a refreshing dip and relax at poolside, followed by a glass of wine.
And speaking of wine...!
Have I mentioned how expen$ive liquor is here?!?!?! A bottle of Chilean plonk that I pay CDN$9.00 for at home, sells for around CDN$20 here. A bottle of Absolut, CDN$24 at home, sells here for between CDN$50 and CDN$65. And if you're drinking at an up-scale, tourist-driven hotel, it gets even crazier. The other day, I paid SD$40 (CDN$30-ish)for two glasses of forgettable Chilean Chardonnay. A glass of bubbly and two glasses of wine in the lounge, ...SD$90! I have heard that prices are a bit lower on the outskirts of the city, away from the tourist area at city centre. Still, I can't see myself taking the MRT or a taxi to the suburbs to stock up on liquor.

*sigh* Drinking shouldn't be this hard.

HOME (ish) AT LAST

2011-01-20T08:58:00.010-05:00

We have finally made our last (hopefully) hotel move. For now (we hope). We all checked out of Studio M first thing yesterday morning, loaded our bags, our many, many bags, onto buses, dropped our bags at The Pan Pacific and headed off to rehearsal. Later in the afternoon, toward the end of rehearsal, our room keys were delivered to us by company management. Personally, I really liked the neighborhood around Studio M, but the studio-style, euro-chic rooms were just tooooo tiny to consider living in for very long. Though the area around the Pan Pacific is a little more touristy, the hotel is beautiful, the rooms are very comfortable (I HAVE A BATHTUB! YAAAAA!!!) and the staff is very gracious (including the desk clerk I spoke to, Haruka, who went to Simon Fraser University). And we're just a short walk across the bridge from the theatre. I think we'll be happy here for the next 8-or-so-weeks.

Here's a photo, looking up into the the atrium-style lobby from the lounge on the main floor. My room is hovering hovering up there somewhere, twenty-seven floors above the Chinese New Year decorations.

We're definitely steaming ahead with the play. We've staged and stumbled through Act 1 and are almost finished staging ACT 2. In between staging sessions, I'm still getting private mask coaching sessions, private mirror work time as well as various other wardrobe, make-up, choreography calls. I had my first make-up test earlier this week. I'll let this picture speak it's thousand words. It's funny, when I look at this picture, all I can think of is all the roles I've had where I have either adopted a sneer, or had one painted on my face. The above photo was taken a few days ago, but when I was cleaning my ears after a shower this morning, the cotton swab came out brown. I thought my brain was bleeding. I can see that post-show clean up is going to have to be quite detailed. I'm scheduled for another make-up test tomorrow. Two hours in the chair.

And speaking of Chinese New Year, Singapore is definitely gearing up for the big festival. There have been more and more official functions popping up as we near the big event, Feb 3/4. This will be the Year of The Rabbit, so you can't go anywhere in Singapore without seeing rabbit iconography or reference. I found these perky creatures, made out of fresh flowers, outside of a shopping centre in the high-fashion district of Orchard Road. Before we get to Chinese New Year, however, we get to witness the Hindu festival of Thaipusam. This is celebrated primarily by the relatively large Tamil community here. I went to the Little India neighborhood tonight to watch the procession of the devout Hindus that carry their kavadi (burdens) along a set route to prove their devotion. These burdens, in their simplest form, are a pot of milk, but can also involve elaborate cages which are carried on barbed poles which pierce the skin of the wearer. The greater the pain, the more devout the participant and the more merit gained. My photos are not the best, taken on my phone, but I include them nonetheless. The whole route is lined with people, mostly families, all the ladies dressed in the best, most beautiful saris. It was quite a thing to behold.

On my way back to the hotel, I couldn't help but notice, again, the image used on the doors of the MRT, begging people to let people off the train before getting on themselves. I've stared at this image before and finally figured out why it grabs my attention.Does anyone else find it odd that there's three drag queens being used as the poster girls for this campaign? Enlarge the photo and see if you agree with me.

JAVANESE JIVE

2011-01-14T20:54:00.004-05:00

Up to now, I have had some time to work with my mask in the mirrors, on my own, learning to balance the weight on my head and learning to use the mechanical aspects of it.
Yesterday, I had my first session learning about the specific style of mask-work and the techniques involved. Scar, Mufasa, Simba and Nala all wear their masks on top of their heads so that the actors faces can be seen. Theses specific characters (as well as the pride of lionesses) are based on traditional Javanese mask which uses a very stylized type of movement.

The early part of our session was spent learning how to find a new centre of gravity so that the mask, which has now added about one-and-a-half feet of height to the body, is included in the movement. Then, we learned a few of the traditional, angular poses that are typical to this kind of mask work. Not that the show is ever that stylized, but your movements as a human/animal on stage flow in and out of this kind of "posing". Scar, specifically, uses these angular poses the most since he is meant to be the antithesis of the elegant, graceful, flowing lion, being instead kind of spiny, serpentine and a bit of a poseur.

We then did a few exercises where the goal was to have a silent conversation, using head movements to keep the mask 'alive' while still conveying a clear kind of meaning/emotion. Scar has the added bonus/burden of carrying a large walking stick which adds another line to any of his angles and can be used for visual punctuation.

It was all sweaty, challenging work and it couldn't have been more fun. There will be more mask work in our session today, but we will actually be staging Scar's first scene with Young Simba. So far, they've been very kind to me, adding small elements to my costume one at a time so as not to overwhelm me. Still, my learning curve is about as steep as it can get. Maybe I'll try adding my tail this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE "CIRCLE OF LIFE"

2011-01-13T18:52:00.004-05:00

Michael sent me the video of our company singing "Circle of Life" for the press conference we had recently. I had heard that it was out there on the internet, but hadn't gotten around to looking for it. (Too many other things going on).

Enjoy. (I'm in the back row with the handful of us that aren't in this number)