The West Wing & We Will Rock You

This week began very musically. I attended 2 musicals, one on Monday and another on Tuesday.

Monday's musical was called The West Wing, performed by the students of the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Theatre Studies group. It was held at the university's cultural hall and believe me, it was just as good as the poster you see on the left. How ingenious they were. They actually interpreted a Chinese play in English and that's not all - they sang the lines in the tunes of today's pop music. From the Pussycat Dolls to even Queen, they pulled it off spectacularly. I was very impressed and really think they should perform it in front of the general public in places like The Esplanade and such...

Tuesday, as you can tell, was the day to let my hair down. Having bought my ticket 3 months in advance (not to mention I was fortunate enough to get one which was 4 rows from the front and at an extremely cheap price), you could imagine my anticipation the moment I stepped into The Esplanade's theatre and saw Queen's crest embroidered onto the curtains on stage. No doubt it was the loudest musical I've ever attended and whoa, I had a hell of a time. The only setback was, as I was seated 4 rows from the front and as you know, people who can afford seats that close to the stage are usually - I emphasize, usually - rich and much older in age, they are not the kind of people who dare to get on their feet and let their hair down. Imagine if I'm the only one standing up when all the others have their butts glued to their seats. I was very sure the people at the back - mostly the younger ones - were on their feet stamping to We Will Rock You. And I could even see it in the performers' eyes: Why aren't many of them standing up? Are Singaporeans that conservative?

Next time if I ever go for this kind of musical, I think it'll be more appropriate to sit with the younger ones, haha! I can't bear to let the great tunes of Queen go to waste again without stamping and screaming at the top of my voice. There were some patriotic fans of Queen in the theatre, no doubt. I couldn't help feeling proud when everyone cheered at Queen's name. The interesting thing about Queen's music is that once you hear it, you will never forget it. It stays with you, and it makes you fill up with pride whenever you hear it. Oh boy, even now I'm getting goosepimples...