[an artsy weekend]

From a tragic tale of love to a bunch of sensual cats prancing around on stage.

On Thur night, Sakura was my date to Romeo and Juliet by TNT Theatre Britain. If you haven't already guessed, I'm a sucker for British (stage) productions. It was shown in Jubi/lee hall at Raffles Hotel, and getting to that place alone was a wow-er. Being the suaku Singaporeans we are, we were awed when we stepped into one of our biggest national icons. Although we've seen the building from outside, the architecture was even more striking inside. That and the majestic chandeliers and facade made us feel we were in another century. As if that weren't amazing enough, the more we walked towards the hall, the more enthralled we got. No wonder MJ loved staying there lol. The theatre matched the atmosphere of the colonial building, with its perennial wooden interiors and imposing tall columns. We felt like we were instantly transported into a distant past, glorius nobles being entertained with a play at our own leisure.

The play itself was engaging, with a touch of humour and austere backdrops/props. The only part I didn't like was that it was in old English (talk about being transported back in time!) so I had a hard time understanding everything. I guess as long as I know Romeo & Juliet are from warring families and got married secretly so that they don't face the wrath of their families. Haha. I must say that Leo Dicaprio's version did ruin my image of how R&J should classically be. Sakura also mentioned she pictured Leo in several scenes. Heh. Juliet was really pretty I must say, although Romeo was ahem..disappointing. Haha. I told Sakura that moral of the story was: good thing we have handphones today, so that misunderstandings such as that wouldn't happen. She rolled her eyes of course. Lol.

Today's musical was a stark contrast with yesterday's - with the grand backdrop which Jam, being the *pro* (theatre student), said was very elaborate. Initially we thought our seats were too close in front (3rd row even though on the online plan it showed 5th row "E") , but as the show started, we were glad we were sitting there. We had upclose coverage of their expressions and I think that added to the grandeur of it. Once again, another Andrew Ll/oyd Web/ber musical has not failed to enthral me heh. Yes true, the plot content was almost absent (tho Jam pointed out the old cat and her "Memory" could be some sort of plot). But the brilliant orchestra, perfect delivery of skillful dance steps and humourous lines definitely made up for it. We were really impressed with the different genres of dance that were incorporated into the show, from disco to ballet to tap dancing...dancing was definitely a requirement to be in the show. There were interesting characters like the Magical Cat and erm the one we called "MJ" cat (dunno his real name lol), and the cats looked really sexy in their skin tight costumes. Well, the ladies at least; men in..ahem..skin tight spandex doesn't do very positively with me lol.

Ahh, I could really live the life of a tai-tai watching musicals every weekend lol (that's a bit much lah..maybe every month? haha). Defintely money well spent....too bad Sakura couldn't join us for CATS. Now GH and I are waiting for Mamma Mia to return. We've already "choped" each other to watch it. Haha.