Everyone's been raving about Varekai and how it's the must-see event of the moment, but I'm not really a dance/performance-art/circus-appreciating kind of girl. I'm much more interested in musical theater, so this is more my cup of tea:
The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber features Australian talents singing selected songs from ALW's famous (and not-so-famous) musicals. It's a musical revue of sorts.... the singers don't really act as characters in play, they just sing and (sometimes) dance. It's a different way of presenting ALW's music, and I actually loved it!*
Just a tiny nitpick before I get to the show proper, I hate it when theater venues require patrons to surrender their cameras. I know it's to prevent people from taking pictures to distract the performers, but I just think it's useless given that a lot of mobile phones nowadays can take pictures anyway (some even with flash, like my own phone). Besides, I really had no intention of taking pictures, given that we were seated this far from the stage:
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| Ninja phone shot taking during the intermission |
Now on to my favorite moments from the show:
1 - "High Flying Adored" from Evita - This is my absolute favorite song from Evita, and it's not really one of the more prominent tunes so I was pleasantly surprised to hear this included in the setlist. Beautifully sung, and it transitioned perfectly into...
2 - "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" from Evita - I cannot see which lady sang this tune from my vantage point, but she did a very excellent job (complete with pa-emote emote and hand movements!)
3 - "One Rock and Roll Too Many" from Starlight Express - I'm pretty sure that 99% of the audience that night have not heard this song before. I'm one of the 1% who has heard this before, thanks to Syesha from American Idol. It's a sexy, vampy song and I like the way it was done ala Grease.
4 - "Phantom of the Opera" and "Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera - These two songs never fail to bring the house down. Phantom alternates as my favorite Broadway show (the other one being Les Miserables) so how can I not love this segment?
A few disappointments:
1 - I've read other reviews, and I don't know why "I Don't Know How To Love Him" (from Jesus Christ Superstar) wasn't sung in our show. Bummer.
2 - I wish they had featured more upbeat tunes from ALW's lesser known musicals. I just felt there were too many solo female power ballads (maybe that's why they ditched I Don't Know How To Love Him?)
3 - On a shallow note, I wish they had sung the title tune from Starlight Express, Only You and Make Up My Heart. 80's cheese-fest!
Overall, I had a great time! I'm looking forward to seeing more of these types of shows in the Philippines. On my wishlist: Phantom, Mamma Mia and Wicked, please!
*Of course, I probably would not have loved it as much if I had to pay for the tickets. Why are theater tickets so damn expensive in this country? No wonder we rarely get good shows here!
Naks naman, cultured. Hehe Does the show at least have a storyline, Mel? Or do they just randomly sing ALW songs?
ReplyDeletePao wants to watch Varekai. I'm more inclined to watch this instead. (Varekai is just so darn expensive). But I don't think I'll appreciate it if they just sing.
Gladi: The show has no storyline, pero it's not boring. They change costumes to fit the theme of the songs they are singing. Some songs, they sorta act out how it was sung in the actual musical (like Phantom of the Opera, Don't Cry For Me...)
ReplyDeleteMedyo expensive din this ALW, I probably would not have watched it if the tickets weren't free. Varekai is not my type. Considering you got bored by Cats (na puro dance), baka ma bore ka rin sa Varekai (although I guess since circus-like spectacle siya, the costumes and sets alone might be enough to keep it away from boring).