An other boring blog

Yesterday night I had the chance to see the second and last performance of the Singapore’s Men Chorus at the Lee Foundation Theatre. I had no great expectations as I remembered a Christmas concert I’ve seen 3 years ago (With Every Christmas Card I Write...) and the choir wasn’t really good but I enjoyed it thou, just they had no sense of staging at the time. 3 years later and waters ran under bridge. After 11th months of rehearsing, the men are back on stage (I guess they would love to call themselves “Singapore’s gay men chorus” but within the impossibility of it they still remind you all night that they are !)

About the show, I must say it was a great selection of songs, they had to choose some famous titles like “Anything You Can Do” from Annie get your gun or “Maria” from Bernstein’s West Side Story and finally a choice of quite infamous ones (for neophytes) as they even choose a song from Jean Seberg ! (which is surely Marvin Hamlisch best score ever).

Ones after ones, songs are going quite well together, and the company has finally hired qualified choreographers and those men doesn’t have left foot only, I can tell you ! It was very enjoyable. That was the first act. Unfortunately, there was a second one…

After 20 minutes intermission, the chorus is presenting a mini-musical based on musical songs linked with a mini-drama, supposed to be talking about relationship between men : father-sons, brothers, boyfriends (yeah, you really thought you would escape from it ???). And here… C'est là que le bât blesse…. This is the worst part of the evening. The drama is full of non-sense, dialogue are common and not very deep, sorry to say so but the chorus should stick to sing and not to act. During that performance, 3 (or 4) soloists are heard, only one, Y.K. Woon (outstanding) can hold a song (and he can do it very well), the 2 others are struggling and 1 of them doesn’t even manage to articulate words correctly (must have been choose because he's tall and/or appear to be cute, which seem to be only what he got...). And when finally when that musical "mosaic" ends, you really wonder how come claps are so loud (lot of family and friends in the audience I guess)

Finally after that “mini-musical”, the chorus come back to sing a nice medley of 1960’s musical songs (starting with “Welcome to the 60’s” from Hairspray, 2002 (!)) and songs from “Grease”, “Little Shop of Horrors”, ...

And to end the show, you won’t be surprise, a song from the musical Mamma Mia. I agree, Mamma Mia is a great piece to end a show, a cheerful song, very intense with strong lyrics… but what a catastrophe ! Something I would reproach to that evening, is the translation of songs for a choir. Some are done wonderfully, where some others are so flat (like Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm sounded more like “I haven’t got rhythm and I can’t swing either”…) The interpretation of Mamma Mia was so insipid, for sure those boys have fun singing it as you could see it, but you couldn’t hear it ! If you never heard the song before you couldn’t understand the words, it was chaotic. But you know, at the end of the show, the audiences gave them a big applause, and so did I !

Please check on and support the Singapore’s Men Chorus : Official Website/Facebook

I must say that I was very surprised to see how my first week in Singapore started. Last Saturday I found myself on the top of the Swisshotel-Stanford, not at Equinox, but on the rooftop, at the helipad. What a great view of the city there ! I was there, invited for the launch of the “Chefs with altitude” week. Except by spending the night with ‘chic’ dressed strangers sipping Moet & Chandon, I had the chance to taste some of the food that will be served during that week at the restaurant. After starting with a tasteless pastry, I tried that piece of foie gras between a macaroon, it really taste great, a nice mix of sweet and salty. I also eat scallops in a carbonara sauce, I was quite surprised as I never eat scallops usually, but it was a really different taste, not fishy at all. Then after few more glasses of champagne, some chocolates and almond candies, we head up to a bar for some drinks, and again after 2 Singapore Slings, I was so drunk that I wasted those food i ate earlier….

Though I knew Cole’s recordings of “On The Street Where you Live”, I’ve recently discovered, while listening to it’s Complete Capitol Recordings, that Nat has covered the soundtrack of “ My Fair Lady”.

The above track plus some others like “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face”, “ Get Me To The Church on Time” and “ I could have dance all night” being my favorites ones, it’s funny to hear other songs like “The Rain in Spain”. The latest being, in the original musical, a dialogue between three persons, become here a solo where the King sings all the lyrics, asking questions and replying to himself ! That certainly sounds weird ! It’s also interesting to hear how he is not comfortable with the songs sung by Higgins : "I'm an Ordinary Man," "You Did It," and "Hymn to Him”, the ‘ declarative’ tone used in the original makes Cole’s version awkward. Finally, the song “Show Me”, sings by Elisa on the show, here become a very slow ballad, and very lushly with his warm voice.

Maybe one of the weakest of his albums, thou quite entertaining.

Friday, May. 05, 1961

It is possible to arrive at a Judy Garland concert, if one is not a believer, in a state of considerable nausea. The listener knows more than he cares to know about Judy's perpetual troubles—with studios, husbands, nightclub owners, food and the British press. He knows also that Judy has sung Over the Rainbow over and over since she was 17, and that she will sing it again, sure as there is ooze in Oz. Worst of all, there will be the Garland believers who clap wildly and weep like new widows at anything Judy does onstage.

At Carnegie Hall last week, in her latest of many comebacks, all malaise seemed justified. The elegant old music box was jammed, notably with Hollywood stars, starlets, starlettes, and lesser celestial debris. When Judy strode onstage (she is probably the only woman of 5 ft. ½ in. who can stride), she got, without opening her mouth, what it takes Renata Tebaldi two and a half hours of Puccini to achieve: a standing, screaming ovation that lasted almost five minutes. As the hoarse shouts dwindled, one could hear an undertow: "She's much, much thinner," "She seems very stable."

Lungs & Pizaz. The title of the first song, When You're Smiling, made its point a little too muscularly. But this made no difference. By the first, trumpet-clear, high hard note in the first verse, the woozy feeling had disappeared. Judy swung into a bouncy Almost Like Being in Love, blared with humor in Puttin' On the Ritz, wept her words in The Man That Got Away, and brought down the first-act curtain with a ringing, roistering San Francisco. Long before this, the neutral auditor had realized again (one goes through this every time Judy Garland comes to town) that untidy life, maudlin fans and cornball repertoire did not mean much. There are not many good girl singers these days, although there are plenty of echo-chamber yowlers, and there is no one who can come within miles, or ergs, of Judy. She has, in addition to lungs, clarity, drive and rhythm, an incredible amount of nostalgic pizaz, a quality in bad repute largely because it is so unpleasant when it is faked.

Fan-Fanned Lather. Life is going relatively smoothly these days for Judy. She has toured successfully since February, with a short break to play a brief dramatic role in Stanley Kramer's film Judgment at Nuremberg. She will soon tape a television show for next season, is considering a Broadway show. Most important, Judy, at 38, is singing at her best, far above the level of two years ago, when she appeared, puffy-faced and uncertain, at Manhattan's Met.

She proved it last week by coming back for a second act even better than the first. She sang quietly, to the piano, a haunting Foggy Day, and got standing ovations—legitimate this time, not fan-fanned—for Come Rain or Come Shine and Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody.

Eventually, of course, the ooze began to flow again. Judy wound up with Over the Rainbow, and her children were hoisted, blinking, onstage while the believers covered themselves with lather. A nonbeliever could only edge quietly out of the hall, knowing that he had heard the best belter in the business.

This is the article which was originally published in Time Magazine after Judy’s famous concert at Carnegie Hall in 1961. I have been listening to that concert on it’s entirely recently (April 23th being the date of the its recording). I can understand that it has been called “The biggest night in show business”, as it always give me chills for 2 full hours. I will never get enough of that woman, witty-funny woman, wonderful entertainer and unsurpassed singer.

2 weeks ago, Beatrice Arthur died. I’m a huge fan of her work, from Maude to the Golden Girls, as well as her Broadway acts, could it be The Threepenny Opera, Fiddler on the Roof or Just Between Friends, her first and last one-woman show.

Maude : This was maybe the first outbreak of Bea on TV, she appeared first a Cousin Maude in the series All in the Family. When the head saw her appearance, all he could say was “Give this woman her own show !” And then there’s Maude ! The principal trait of her character, except being tall and having a deep voice, was being an outspoken feminist living in affluent Westchester County with her husband and divorced daughter. During it’s 6 years run, the show treated many controversial topics, including abortion.

The Golden Girls :

I think that, among my friends and others of my generation, Bea is mostly known for her part of Dorothy in The Golden Girls. Such a witty character she was, I remember that scene when Rose is carrying a bucket because the roof is leaking and Dorothy asking “Is there water leaking into your room too Rose ?” and Rose answering “No Dorothy, I just come back from milking the cow… Gee, you see, with little sleep I can be as bitchy as you”.

I couldn’t find any extract on YouTube of her last Broadway show that I keep playing over and over on my iPod, a wonderful one-woman show where Bea talks about her life on stage, screen and small screen and sing in between, but I could find this wonderful song she sings with her long time friend Angela Lansbury, a song from the musical Mame that she performed on stage and on screen in the Lucille Ball version.

I’m quite excited as I will be travelling for my own again soon ! I’m going to spend two weeks in Singapore and a week in Jakarta ! Ok, I lived in Singapore and have travelled there often, but it’s still my favorite place ! And as far as Jakarta is concerned, this will be my first time in Indonesia. Yeah, I’ve heard many people telling me that I should go to Bali, that I will love it there. But, but but, the main reason I’m travelling to Jakarta is to visit my dear friend William !

William is my longest time friend here in S.E.A., the first person I ever met while I was in Singapore. I landed on a Friday evening, the following morning I was already meeting him :) We have become very good friends, but I haven’t seen him for ages as he is now back there and I’m living here…

So for the past days I have been looking for a travel book about Jakarta, well I have to understand that there is no books about Jakarta… In Indonesia, only Bali have his own travel book, for other places you have to get the full Indonesia one ! But I dun need it, I’m not travelling elsewhere !