Phantom of the Opera on Broadway New York

I hadn't planned on doing anything in New York the first day I touched down from Indianapolis except collect the New York Pass which I had purchased, esp since my flight had been delayed by an hour because of the foul weather in NYC. However, because the collection point for the pass was at Madame Tussauds which is at the Times Square area, I ended up at the TKTS booth located at 47th Street, Broadway. There were several short queues of 5-6pp each for each counter about 7.50pm and despite not really knowing what they were standing in line for ( I had a hunch it might be for broadway tickets), I decided to join a queue anyway.

As luck or fate would have it, I was the very last person served at that counter. The server impatiently asked me what show I wanted to watch and I said Phantom because I had watched the movie before and rather liked the dark drama. He told me he had tickets for the 8pm show which was the last show for the day and to quickly pay before it was too late. So even though I had no idea whether USD71 was a reasonable price to pay for a broadway ticket, I gave him the money and he told me to run to the Majestic Theatre on 44th Street as the play would start in 3mins. And as I turned away from the counter with my ticket in hand and the person behind me stepped up at 8pm sharp, the server cried out that there were no more tickets for sale and pulled down the shutters. I only realized later what an excellent deal I had gotten - as per the ticket above, the price I had paid was at a 50% discount and for fourth row seats from the front at that! However, I had to run at full speed from 47th to 44th street to get to the Majestic Theatre on time and less than 2 mins after I had fallen into my seat huffing and puffing, the doors were closed (about 8.10pm). I guess the moral of the story is to buy last-min discounted tickets at a theatre which is near enough to TKTS on 47th street so as to avoid being denied entry (until the interval) or missing the start of the play.

Of course, photography of the play is prohibited and with the LCD screens most cameras have these days, it is easy to be caught taking photos or videos during a performance. So like most people, I took photos of the theater before the play begun. As per my pic below, there are circle and balcony seats on a higher level other than the main floor which was quite fully packed.

The picture below is of course the stage of the theater - the chandelier (top right) plays a rather large part in the play as per the plot but so do the other seemingly unmovable parts. However, these features/effects pale in comparison to the costumes, props (there was even a fake elephant), dancing and acting by the performers on that stage.

The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Awesome. Truly spectacular in every sense of the word. I am not a musical person or one who appreciates or likes plays but Phantom on Broadway had me riveted and converted. The change of each scene was carried out with precision and maximum efficiency without compromising the quality of the setting. And the performers conveyed the different emotions of each of their characters with not just song but by their entire body language.

I haven't watched any other Broadway plays to make a fair comparison of Phantom but I dare say that one should most definitely catch a Broadway play if one is in NYC instead of just shopping and if one isn't sure of which to watch, just remember that Phantom is the longest running musical on Broadway and the Slog here who has nary an artistic bone is raving all about this play. :D

Love and Other Drugs (2011) Movie

This was the 1st movie I watched on the flight to LA, and the 1st movie that I've watched in a long time that had me sitting there with tears flowing uncontrollably down my cheeks. So despite my earlier post, I am still a romantic and sentimental sop at heart. Really. I easily give this movie 10/10.

Not because of the plot alone - intelligent but wayward handsome guy who goes for anything in a skirt falls in love with a woman with a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system (Parkinson's). But because of fragments of life captured in the film, and of course, the very moving ending bit. Definitely a must-watch for all who liked My Sister's Keeper, and anyone else who has a sentimental bone. Oh, and I should mention there is top front nudity and some rather intense love-making scenes.

Anyway, there is a pretty good review of the film's plot written here so I won't write a recap of the movie. But it is the ending which made me cry - all last 10mins of it. You know, the scene where Jamie (the male lead) is putting his heart out to win back Maggie (the female lead) after he watched the video tape they made together where she said something along the lines that this moment with him was perfect and even if she had 10 thousand more moments like this one, they would all be the same, so this one (moment) was enough for her...because she has that (moment). Anyway, Jake says to Maggie that she needs him, and she says "No I don't" and he says "Everyone needs someone to take care of them" and she says that she will need him more than he will and it isn't fair and she can't ask that of him. And Jake says "You didn't ask me to." Maggie tells him that she has places to go and Jake replies "I will carry you.". Jake also adds that if there was a parallel universe where she was healthy and he perfect, he would still choose the current her, the current them. I think that is when I bawled. Meh - what a sad sop.

So anyway, other than this sappy ending, the movie has its moments of humor, sizzling scenes but its core and essence never shifts from reflecting accurately the realities of life. Jamie says at the very end of the movie "Sometimes the things you want the most don't happen and what you least expect happens...you meet thousands of people, and none of them really touch you. And then you meet that one person and your life is changed." If you are reading this entry my friend, the Slug, I thought of you right after I watched it and I believe that you'll like it as much as I do so go catch it if you haven't already. Till I get back!

Newark Airport SAS Lounge and Loving Me at the end of this trip

I've got about 2 and a half hrs before the 18hours flight back to SG and rather than exercise my credit card(s) some more at the duty free shop here, I've decided to spend my time in the SAS lounge to write this instead. Below is a pic of the SAS lounge's complimentary internet stations, one of which I am hogging.

The selection of food at this lounge is rather meagre - just a salad bar really, (as compared to Changi Airport T3's lounge which I shall blog about another time), but since I have just USD30 in my wallet and I've also developed a taste for salads, I'm not complaining too much about my free dinner.

You know, there is this scientific finding that people always remember how they feel, and not so much the details of the specific incident/event. I could and will write about the places I've been, but right now I want to write about how I feel at the end of the trip before I get on the plane and watch more movies.

So. My "takeaway feeling" from this trip is that I am actually happy and comfortable being alone. There is no sense of loneliness or wishing that anyone was here with me. Sure, I do wish my sister was here when I see all the louboutin shoes but I don't wish she was here with with me on this trip. Sure, I do think my mother would have liked the awesome view of NYC from the Empire State Building but I didn't miss her when I was on the observatory deck taking photos or asking strangers to take photos. I did whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and it was all good. Being by myself didn't stop me from doing things that I wanted to do - such as eating at nice places or doing touristy things - even when everyone else had someone else with them. I only observed that I was the only one alone, but that observation was nothing more than just that - an observation, and then it was me being with me, and loving me.

Maybe it is because shopping is therapeutic, as is eating, and I was doing plenty of both. Or maybe it is because my circumstances are such that solitude and I are destined to be together...and given how futile it is to lament, reconciling myself to what I cannot change is the best and perhaps only way forward. Don't get me wrong that I don't like people or that I am going to do another "runaway" (and I really hope that I won't) But painful experience and my good colleague have taught me better than to pin my happiness and hope on another person.

So while I still hold to my favourite quote by Emily Kimbrough ("Remember we stumble everyone of us. That's why it is a comfort to go hand in hand""), I have learnt how to love me, be friends with me, and depend on me primarily for happiness and pleasure. A

I am Number 4 (2011) Movie, Drive Angry (2011) Movie and Adjustment Bureau (2011) Movie

We caught 3 movies last week, the first "I am Number 4" on a Wed, and the other 2 movies over the weekend. It wasn't because of a lack of things to be done but my CEB was on a movie-roll of some sort and there was just no stopping him.

Anyhow, here is my personal review of the movies:

"I am Number 4" <- 6/10. A teenager flick aka a weak version of Twilight. Alien boy with supernatural power falls in love with a lovely lowly earth being. Alien boy is hunted by ugly big Voldemort-like aliens and manages to join forces with another alien (No 6). And really, that's about all to it. A waste of time.

"Drive Angry" <-4/10. I didn't think anything could get worse than the first movie but Drive Angry proved me wrong. We didn't think the movie could be that bad given that Nicholas Cage was starring in the movie but B- action flick it turned out to be with echoes of Cage's famous movie "Ghost Rider". In this case, Cage plays a character who escapes from hell with a weapon called the Godkiller, intent on taking revenge on his daughter's killer, Jonah King, the head of a satanic cult. Jonah King also has the daughter's child which Cage is determined to save at all cost. However, Cage is hunted by the "Accountant", a being tasked to bring him back to hell. There is quite a bit of senseless violence and unrealistic unreal fighting scenes. Watch only if there is nothing else to do

"Adjustment Bureau" <-6.5/10. While my CEB agreed that Drive Angry was a lousy movie, he thought that this movie "wasn't too bad" (to quote him). I on the other hand felt that we would have done better purchasing the DVD for the same because it really wasn't anything remarkable. Men in fedoras altering the world to make sure that the "Chairman" 's grand plan for each individual went smoothly. You can read more about the plot here. Be warned though that the movie has a happy "against-the-odds" fantasy ending. Which reminds me of my friend The Slug, who would try still despite the cards being decked against his favour.