The music was as I remembered, superb and lush and the singing was just excellent.

An RH friend thinks that Christine, played by Ana Marina, was ugly and short but I thought that she had a lovely voice that resonated throughout the Esplanade. Quite a pure voice. It was however rather funny in Music of the Night when the Phantom had his hand over her chest and started swaying her to the music as he was practically towering over her. It also looked quite weird when she had to kiss Raoul and the Phantom on 2 separate occasions because she had to practically look up to them to kiss them! But I still think that she was superb - just a bit miffed that she didn't play with her red scarf during her big number "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again".

The Phantom was played by Brad Little was superb - how many times can one use the word Phantom? As many as I want. :P His acting was really on the dot and I thought that he had good use of his hands! He did these wonderful expressions with his hands in the air every time he sang and when he was whining his heart out on the angel sculpture, it was quite unnerving to see this man whom everyone is afraid of suddenly turn into a bawling boy who cannot understand why Christine chose to fall in love with Raoul. His ultimate tantrum was wow-inducing but perhaps a tad too slow for my liking :P But it was still awesome.

Raoul, Raoul, Raoul - a character that could very easily become a stereotype given a wrong actor's interpretation. I liked David Somerville's interpretation of him - suave and aristocratic - but he had almost no emotion in the lair scene. He had a lovely voice, very controlled and he could reach all the notes effortlessly but when he was behind Christine at the cemetery, I couldn't help but whince when he started singing "Leave her... You have no business here, Leave her... Your words are wasted...". Here he was trying to protect Christine from the Phantom and he sings it with almost no conviction. Bah - but all my friends did say he was handsome - apparently a very important requisite of Raoul.

And the costumes and the sets - I cannot stop gushing over them at all... The costumes gleamed under the intense bright lights for the stage and they looked so so lush and intricate. Carlotta's costumes were some of the prettiest on stage - especially her Prima Donna dress and her Don Juan Triumphant rehearsal dress - loved the way the colours worked on stage. They even made a false mink scarf for her from some fake animal! It looked really cool and really worked for her snobbish character. The 3 semi-real operas in the show "Hannibal", "Il Muto" and "Don Juan Triumphant" had the best costumes overall I thought - very opulent and very beautiful. Especially loved the costumes in Don Juan - very Spanish-looking and there was beautiful black lace on all the costumes. Loved it.

And the sets!!! The sets!!! I was damn surprised that everything fit so well on the Esplanade stage. The lake scene was just awesome - couldn't even afford to blink when all the candles started appearing on stage and the fog and mist was swirling on the stage and given a bluish-green wash to imitate the lake beneath the Opera House. It looked perfect on stage. A bit miffed that the bigger huge-ass candelabras came from the sides because they probably couldn't cut holes in the stage to accommodate them from allowing them to appear from underneath the stage. But it still looked awesome onstage. Loved the boat, loved the candles, loved the candelabras and loved the porticullis. I want a candelabra in my room. Now. And everyone around me couldn't withhold their astonishment when the masquerade set appeared on stage - it fit perfectly on stage and was in proportion to the size of the stage and looked so so perfect! Even I was in total awe. And I loved how the curtains worked to increase the excitement and covered up parts of the stage until the perfect moment when it revealed what was behind it. Masquerade was just like that. Wow...

Overall, I think that the production is superb through and through. Truly worth my $110 and guess what? I'm definitely watching it again. At least once more and on the 1st level where I'll able to see the actors' expressions, costumes and sets even more up close. Bought a few goodies too - the programme book to augment my New York one and a Phantom poster. :) There was a spiffy jacket/sweater thingy for $65 which I'm considering of buying on my next visit!

So guys, go and bloody watch the show!!! :) Die die must watch.

On a totally unrelated matter, school's been a bore. My last LAWR lesson is tomorrow - it's the module which everyone in Law School hates. Is only worth 4 credits but takes up my time and effort like it was worth 16 credits. Crazy-ass module. My long-awaited moots are on the 11th of April and I'm probably getting a suit this weekend for the moots - really formal thing where u sort of have an 'intellectual conversation' with the judges. Basically a debate with the judges who preside over your case. Got a really irritating case that's very iffy on details but I hope it turns out well. :) Worked really hard on the case for the past few months - may not actually win because the law seems to be against us but will try really hard for the moots. Wish me luck! :)

And I think most of my friends from the UK are back for the hols before embarking on their exams proper. Hope to meet up with them soon before they move back the UK... :) Still wondering when I'll be able to physically go there to meet them - been wanting to do that since last year. But this Dec I'll be going down to South Korea and Tokyo to utilize my free ticket from United Airlines. Hopefully the UK beckons next year or something!

Till next, ciaoz everyone!