Recently, one of our local newspapers Today, organised a contest to win tickets to the Phantom of the Opera musical. It was a really simple contest, you just had to answer a question along the veins of "What is your favourite song from the musical and why?".
So I entered, and I was one of the winners!
I had to schlep all the way to MediaCorp to collect my tickets but hey, getting to see the musical again for free is a great trade-off!
 |
| The Tickets |
As you can see, these are the cheapest, possible seats in the house, lol. They are ordinarily priced at $55 apiece but hey, at least I wasn't sitting in the absolute back row. ;)
Pre-show Dinner
Ah, Marina Bay Sands really has no cheap options for food. We settled on Din Tai Fung, a tried and tested option. I was really anxious about getting seated at the theatre comfortably before the show started so I practically ran to the restaurant. Alas! As we were nearing the restaurant, I could already see people milling around the entrance. This meant a wait, but how long? 30 minutes PLUS an additional 30 minutes wait after getting your table if you want their famous Xiao Long Baos . :(
Ah, I wasn't up for walking around any more to look for food options and we felt it was probably going to be a similar situation elsewhere. So, settled on this.
Thankfully, the staff at DTF are really efficient and we were seated and served very quickly, within the promised time frame.
Here're our noms!
Beef noodles
- Oily like mad and rather tasteless. Beef was pretty tender though.
- Nice! Made me feel better about missing out on the Xiao Long Bao!
MBS Theatre
Our view of the stage, far far away
Well, since I didn't pay for the tickets, can't complain!
I came prepared with binoculars though! ✌
My mani
Of course, I had to have some appropriate nails for the occasion.
I used my go-to black a-england's Camelot as the base and painted my interpretation of icons from the musical.
What do you think? :D
The performance
The musical is staged at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Grand Theatre, performed by an international cast.
What I am grateful for:
- no phones went off during the performance. Hooray!
- The seating of the theatre was in a staggered manner to minimise the chances of your view getting blocked
Not so great:
The Grand Circle where I was seated, opens to a non air-conditioned area of the MBS property. So before the performance started and all through the first act, it was really HOT!
Claire Lyon, who plays Christine had a great voice, as did all the other performers. However, the most important role of the Phantom, played by Brad Little, was kind of disappointing. Sure, he had great acting ability, but in musicals, acting is nowhere as important as the ability to sing. And alas, he does not quite possess the lung capacity I had hoped. Couldn't really reach the high notes. So that was definitely a let down.
All in all, I'd give the performance a 7. It was definitely enjoyable but I wouldn't shell out the dough for top tier seats.
Now the songs from the musical are stuck in my head. :P
