MAKING OF...

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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!

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...

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

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

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

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.