Hello again, it has been some time since I stopped blogging due to work commitment. Regardless of how busy, my passion for musical never fades. Once again, I am obsessed by the all-time favorite greatest love story in the world, "Love Never Dies". To appreciate the musical, one must understand the background of the main fictional character. Christine Daae is one of them.
Christine was born in Sweden and was raised by her father (whom she called Daddy Daae) as her mother died when she was six. To earn a living, Daddy Daae played the violin while Christine sings at fairs. They are discovered at one of these fairs by kind-hearted Professor Valériuwho took them to Paris and provided for Christine's education. As a child without mother, Christine was extremely close to her father who told her Scandinavian fairy-tales of which the "Angel of Music" tale was her favourite.
Christine entered the Paris Conservatoire to be a professional singer but lost all her passion for singing after 4 years. When she arrived at Opera Garnier, no one appreciated her singing except Erik (the Phantom) who found beauty in her voice and fell in love with her. Erik told Christine that he was her "Angel of Music" and coached her in singing. When another singer fell ill during one performance, Christine was asked to take her place. Christine 's angelic voice captured everyone's attention including her childhood sweetheart, Raoul who was also present. The story continues in the Phantom of the Opera musical.
Christine's age however, was a mystery. According to the novel, she was around 20 years old when she first met Raoul but The Phantom of the Opera 2004 film altered her age to 15 or 16. Personally, as conservative Asian, I prefer her to be 20 years old when she first met Raoul. Even Christine's father name was also a mystery as Christine simply called him "Daddy Daae" in the novel.
Now that you know the background of Christine Daae, comes the question of which female artiste is your favourite to play this role in the musical?
(1) Sierra Boggess
This pretty American theater actress and singer (born in 1982) has previously been starred in this female leading role of Christine Daaé in the 2006 Las Vegas production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. She was also starred in the 2010-2011 West End (UK) production of Love Never Dies.
Watch Sierra's amazing performance of Love Never Dies at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXzfGf0gJss
(2) Emmy Rossum
This young American actress and singer-songwriter (born in 1986) was assigned the leading role of Christine Daaé in the 2004 The Phantom of the Opera movie.
Watch Emmy's lovely "Think Of Me" performance in the 2004 The Phantom of the Opera movie at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utdu_fTRP1U
(3) Anna O'Byrne
This Australian lady graduated with BMus (Hons) in classical voice from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. She played the role of Christine Daaé in the Love Never Dies musical down under and was later invited to join the company of The Phantom of the Opera and making her West End debut at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, UK.
Watch Anna's stunning performance of Love Never Dies at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPvxOrsGwy0
Certainly, the perquisite to play the role of this leading female protagonist are:
1. Have suitable vocal range as Christine is a Soprano singer.
2. Have youthful look (Christine was portrayed between 15 to 20 years in The Phantom of the Opera and 20+ to early 30s in Love Never Dies) .
3. Able to perform ballet dancing as Christine also had some ballet training.
I have made my choice after watching the performances of the 3 female artistes and have selected my favourite based on her stunning performance which is full of expressiveness on stage. Perhaps you would like to make a guess on which one.
Another thing to ponder about is the tough decision made by Christine on whether to sing for the Phantom or leave Coney island with her husband, Raoul immediately upon learning that the one who hire her is the Phantom. Raoul had been a bad husband who gambled heavily until Christine had to sing to repay his debts. The Phantom, on the other hand had no right to interfere with Christine's life after her marriage. Ladies, what are your views?
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Saturday, 20 December 2014
Winter Solstice (冬至)
In scientific term, winter solstice (冬至) is an astronomical phenomenon which marks the shortest day and the longest night of the entire year. In another word, it happens during the point in time when the earth has reached the position in its orbit such that the sun's daily maximum elevation in the sky is the lowest. When the northern hemisphere experiences winter solstice during December, the southern hemisphere would experience the reverse which is the summer solstice.
For the current year of 2014, winter solstice in the northern hemisphere occurs at 21 December 23:03 UTC time (i.e. 22 December 07:03 Singapore time). After this day, the daylight hours will gradually lengthen (for the case of equatorial regions like Singapore, there won't be any difference). For this reason, the Chinese considers this day as a start of a new lunar year as more daylight means more positive energy flowing in.
Different cultures have their own ways of observing winter solstice. The southern Chinese consume glutinous rice ball (汤圆) during family gathering while the northern Chinese enjoy dumplings filled with meat or vegetables. Since most Chinese in Singapore are descendents of southern Chinese, eating glutinous rice ball is a common practice during winter solstice. Every year around this time, my mum would prepare glutinous rice ball to offer to ancestors during prayer and also for the family to consume. According to Chinese tradition, eating glutinous rice ball symbolises becoming older by a year although in reality, we grow older each year whether we consume glutinous rice ball or not. Winter Solstice is widely observed by the Chinese communities in Singapore as this is a time for Taoist/Buddhist to offer prayer to ancestors and the fact that this day is very near to Christmas, it is almost impossible to forget. Most importantly, this is the time of the year when students are having semester break and working professionals are clearing annual leaves, thereby allowing more time to celebrate this occasion.
Glutinous rice balls are usually filled with peanuts, sesame or red bean paste. However, these days there are many new flavours such as Chocolate or fruit paste. Nevertheless, those filled with peanuts are my favourite.
If you are reading this post, whichever culture you belong to and wherever you are, I wish you a happy winter solstice and hope that you have an enjoyable time with your loved ones.
For the current year of 2014, winter solstice in the northern hemisphere occurs at 21 December 23:03 UTC time (i.e. 22 December 07:03 Singapore time). After this day, the daylight hours will gradually lengthen (for the case of equatorial regions like Singapore, there won't be any difference). For this reason, the Chinese considers this day as a start of a new lunar year as more daylight means more positive energy flowing in.
Different cultures have their own ways of observing winter solstice. The southern Chinese consume glutinous rice ball (汤圆) during family gathering while the northern Chinese enjoy dumplings filled with meat or vegetables. Since most Chinese in Singapore are descendents of southern Chinese, eating glutinous rice ball is a common practice during winter solstice. Every year around this time, my mum would prepare glutinous rice ball to offer to ancestors during prayer and also for the family to consume. According to Chinese tradition, eating glutinous rice ball symbolises becoming older by a year although in reality, we grow older each year whether we consume glutinous rice ball or not. Winter Solstice is widely observed by the Chinese communities in Singapore as this is a time for Taoist/Buddhist to offer prayer to ancestors and the fact that this day is very near to Christmas, it is almost impossible to forget. Most importantly, this is the time of the year when students are having semester break and working professionals are clearing annual leaves, thereby allowing more time to celebrate this occasion.
Glutinous rice balls are usually filled with peanuts, sesame or red bean paste. However, these days there are many new flavours such as Chocolate or fruit paste. Nevertheless, those filled with peanuts are my favourite.
If you are reading this post, whichever culture you belong to and wherever you are, I wish you a happy winter solstice and hope that you have an enjoyable time with your loved ones.
Thursday, 4 December 2014
Christmas Island
Watching the drama The Journey: Tumultuous Times (信约：动荡的年代) currently showing on MediaCorp channel 8 made me reliased that my understanding of Singapore history is quite limited. Another thing that came to my mind recently is a place known as Christmas Island which I first heard of in secondary school when one of my classmate mentioned that this island used to be part of Singapore until one of our ex-president sold it to Australia. After doing some research online, I found out that he wasn't exactly correct.
Recently when Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott's flight stopped over in Singapore while returning home from London, our Prime Minister treated him breakfast and the two leaders had a discussion. This news was reported on social media and there were people who asked whether our Prime Minister talked about the topic of buying back Christmas Island. Apparently, I am sure it wasn't discussed.
First of all, I am sure lots of Singaporeans and perhaps even the older generation are unaware of this island. Christmas Island is situated in the Indian Ocean, quite near to Java, Indonesia. It probably takes only about 1.5 hours of flight to get there from Singapore. The main activity on this island is phosphate mining and the land crabs and sea birds are most noticeable fauna on the island. There are even flats on the island similar to the one shown below that are build in accordance to Singapore Housing Board standards in the 1960s.
The island got its name because it was discovered on Christmas day by either English or Dutch explorers. Somehow, the island was controlled by British and was administered under the Administration of the Government of Singapore which was still a crown colony of Britain back then. For some reason, the UK government decided to transfer the sovereignty of the island to Australia in which the Australian government paid £2.9 million in compensation to the Singapore government. Literally, it was the colonial government that sold Christmas Island before Singapore's independence and not our own government.
Recently when Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott's flight stopped over in Singapore while returning home from London, our Prime Minister treated him breakfast and the two leaders had a discussion. This news was reported on social media and there were people who asked whether our Prime Minister talked about the topic of buying back Christmas Island. Apparently, I am sure it wasn't discussed.
First of all, I am sure lots of Singaporeans and perhaps even the older generation are unaware of this island. Christmas Island is situated in the Indian Ocean, quite near to Java, Indonesia. It probably takes only about 1.5 hours of flight to get there from Singapore. The main activity on this island is phosphate mining and the land crabs and sea birds are most noticeable fauna on the island. There are even flats on the island similar to the one shown below that are build in accordance to Singapore Housing Board standards in the 1960s.
The island got its name because it was discovered on Christmas day by either English or Dutch explorers. Somehow, the island was controlled by British and was administered under the Administration of the Government of Singapore which was still a crown colony of Britain back then. For some reason, the UK government decided to transfer the sovereignty of the island to Australia in which the Australian government paid £2.9 million in compensation to the Singapore government. Literally, it was the colonial government that sold Christmas Island before Singapore's independence and not our own government.
Sunday, 23 November 2014
My Favourite Christmas TVCs
During this time of the year when Christmas is round the corner, there will be many TV commercials featuring gifts for loved ones. There are some interesting TV commercials which are broadcasted specially for Christmas every year and here are two of them which I particularly love.
Disclaimer
I am NOT promoting or reviewing any of these products shown in the following TV commercials.
TV Commercial 1: OSIM uPhoria - Say I Love You This Christmas
This commercial relates the story of a sweet young girl who first met her hubby during foot massage while on a vacation trip alone. Watching him screaming in pain during foot massage made her laugh which captured her attention. Thereafter, both of them became friends and went on a hiking trip together. Whenever the girl's legs were tired after walking, the guy would offer to massage her legs. When it was his turn, the guy would refuse by saying that his legs were too "ugly" which was a rather funny and lame excuse. On that day, not only did the girl found a friend, she also found a life partner who will be walking with her for life. After they got married, the girl decided to pamper her hubby's "ugly legs" by giving him a leg massager as he will be walking together with her for a long time to come.
Personally, I feel that this TV commercial is almost perfect! With such a sweet and meaningful storyline coupled with the all-time favourite "First of May" song sung by our local artiste Olivia Ong, it certainly never fails to capture viewers attention and make them remember it vividly. Moreover, not to mention that both the guy and girl in this TV commercial look charming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lTrKSOyMa4
TV Commercial 2: Ferrero Rocher - Share Your Golden Christmas
First of all, chocolates are definitely a must-have item for Christmas celebration. This commercial promotes the chocolate as a prestige Italian tradition whereby only the finest are served during an ambassadors' party. Likewise, the finest chocolates should be shared or given to your guests during this special occasion.
Italian food and songs have always captivated me. In fact, one of my favourite song, La Califfa sung by my favourite western singer, Sarah Brightman was played in the background. Although I feel that the meaning of this song may not relate well to the chocolate, it definitely reflected Italians' dedication in making the finest chocolate. If you are interested, listen to the full version of La Califfa at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJEZaflRIRs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCF5Z-m1c0I
Disclaimer
I am NOT promoting or reviewing any of these products shown in the following TV commercials.
TV Commercial 1: OSIM uPhoria - Say I Love You This Christmas
This commercial relates the story of a sweet young girl who first met her hubby during foot massage while on a vacation trip alone. Watching him screaming in pain during foot massage made her laugh which captured her attention. Thereafter, both of them became friends and went on a hiking trip together. Whenever the girl's legs were tired after walking, the guy would offer to massage her legs. When it was his turn, the guy would refuse by saying that his legs were too "ugly" which was a rather funny and lame excuse. On that day, not only did the girl found a friend, she also found a life partner who will be walking with her for life. After they got married, the girl decided to pamper her hubby's "ugly legs" by giving him a leg massager as he will be walking together with her for a long time to come.
Personally, I feel that this TV commercial is almost perfect! With such a sweet and meaningful storyline coupled with the all-time favourite "First of May" song sung by our local artiste Olivia Ong, it certainly never fails to capture viewers attention and make them remember it vividly. Moreover, not to mention that both the guy and girl in this TV commercial look charming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lTrKSOyMa4
TV Commercial 2: Ferrero Rocher - Share Your Golden Christmas
First of all, chocolates are definitely a must-have item for Christmas celebration. This commercial promotes the chocolate as a prestige Italian tradition whereby only the finest are served during an ambassadors' party. Likewise, the finest chocolates should be shared or given to your guests during this special occasion.
Italian food and songs have always captivated me. In fact, one of my favourite song, La Califfa sung by my favourite western singer, Sarah Brightman was played in the background. Although I feel that the meaning of this song may not relate well to the chocolate, it definitely reflected Italians' dedication in making the finest chocolate. If you are interested, listen to the full version of La Califfa at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJEZaflRIRs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCF5Z-m1c0I
Friday, 21 November 2014
Service Excellence
What would you consider as service excellence? How would you improve service excellence in an organization?
The main objective for a service providing organisation is to render the correct service to customer in order to achieve the desired outcome. For example, a customer patronising a fast food restaurant would expect his/her order to be placed and the food served accordingly. However, the organisation would need to do more in order to achieve service excellence instead of the bare minimum.
First of all, the service staff serving the customer must be attentive, upbeat and personal to make the customer feel relaxed and in a better mood to communicate. In this way, the service staff would be able to find the actual needs of the customer. Understanding the needs of the customer is essential as for certain type of services rendered, different customer would have different preferences and expectations. Knowing the customer needs would enable the organisation to render the correct services or deliver the correct product to the customer.
Another important point to note is that the services rendered to customer must be within the acceptable time frame. Most government organisations have a standard Service Level Agreement (SLA) which promises that the service would be rendered and customer can expect the desired outcome to be acheieved within the time frame unless complication arises.
Finally, the service staff should be sincere in serving the customer and if necessary try his/her best to go the extra miles to serve the customer. The overall quality of service and attitude of the service staff would determine whether the customer has an overall pleasant experience with the organisation.
There are three steps to improve service excellence in an organization.
First of all, the management can setup a feedback system to find out the current standard of the organisation service level and determine areas to improve on. The easiest way to do so is to have a simple questionnaire form with few simple questions for customer to fill up after the service has been rendered. After that, the results consolidated would help the management to plan and formulate ways to improve service quality.
After the management has determined areas to improve on, the service staff would most likely need to receive some form of trainings to acquire the right skills to serve customers better. Nevertheless, the feedback system would remain so that the management can determine if the service quality increases after the service staff have received training and after implementing any other additional measures like improving facilities.
Lastly, the management can think of an incentive system in which the customer can express gratitude to any service staff for excellent service rendered. This would motivate service staff to work harder to achieve service excellence for the organisation.
The main objective for a service providing organisation is to render the correct service to customer in order to achieve the desired outcome. For example, a customer patronising a fast food restaurant would expect his/her order to be placed and the food served accordingly. However, the organisation would need to do more in order to achieve service excellence instead of the bare minimum.
First of all, the service staff serving the customer must be attentive, upbeat and personal to make the customer feel relaxed and in a better mood to communicate. In this way, the service staff would be able to find the actual needs of the customer. Understanding the needs of the customer is essential as for certain type of services rendered, different customer would have different preferences and expectations. Knowing the customer needs would enable the organisation to render the correct services or deliver the correct product to the customer.
Another important point to note is that the services rendered to customer must be within the acceptable time frame. Most government organisations have a standard Service Level Agreement (SLA) which promises that the service would be rendered and customer can expect the desired outcome to be acheieved within the time frame unless complication arises.
Finally, the service staff should be sincere in serving the customer and if necessary try his/her best to go the extra miles to serve the customer. The overall quality of service and attitude of the service staff would determine whether the customer has an overall pleasant experience with the organisation.
There are three steps to improve service excellence in an organization.
First of all, the management can setup a feedback system to find out the current standard of the organisation service level and determine areas to improve on. The easiest way to do so is to have a simple questionnaire form with few simple questions for customer to fill up after the service has been rendered. After that, the results consolidated would help the management to plan and formulate ways to improve service quality.
After the management has determined areas to improve on, the service staff would most likely need to receive some form of trainings to acquire the right skills to serve customers better. Nevertheless, the feedback system would remain so that the management can determine if the service quality increases after the service staff have received training and after implementing any other additional measures like improving facilities.
Lastly, the management can think of an incentive system in which the customer can express gratitude to any service staff for excellent service rendered. This would motivate service staff to work harder to achieve service excellence for the organisation.
Thursday, 30 October 2014
Cruise Vacation
Time flies and its nearing the end of the year again. To us, Singaporeans, this is the time to relax and unwind. This period also coincides with the festive season (e.g. Oktoberfest, Christmas, New Year Countdown). Because of the year end school holiday and festive season, most people would choose to go for an overseas trip since our country is so small and attractions are pretty limited and costly. For most of us, overseas trip would involve taking a plane to another country, stay for a day or two in one place and travel to another place by road, rail or even plane. Such travel plan is a norm since we want to visit as many places as possible within a limited time. With a strong currency exchange value, cost is not really an issue for long trips but rather the limited annual leaves which working professionals in Singapore can afford to take or be away from work. However, if you just looking for a short and relaxing trip to unwind, why not consider going on a cruise?
There is a local myth saying that going on a cruise trip is equivalent to going on a gambling trip. Well, if that is the case, it would also imply that staying in or visiting any of the Integrated Resorts here is for gambling purpose only. Certainly this is not true although there are some people who does that solely for the purpose of gambling only. The point I am trying to get across is that like the Integrated Resorts that we have here, cruise vessels also provide many other form of facilities and entertainments which passengers of all ages get to enjoy and best of all, at affordable prices.
The cruise vessel itself is a hotel cum transportation. It will take you to some places for visiting without the hassle of packing and moving your heavy suitcases around. Along the way when the vessel is out at the open sea or after returning from a day of land tour, you can simply relax and enjoy the facilities and entertainments provided on board. Most cruise vessel would provide the following facilities.
Food & Beverages
Food is inclusive and is usually served both in the main dining hall or cafeteria. Passengers have the option of having a three course meal in the main dining hall served by waiter/waitress or dine in a causal buffet-style manner in a cafeteria. Buffet style dining offers a wide variety of choices for Western and Asian dishes. Aside from compliment dining, passengers may choose to dine in posh restaurants which offers French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese etc cuisines. Cruise vessels operated by Americans also offers fast food and Starbucks coffee at a premium price. Regular coffee, tea and hot chocolate are usually available free-of-charge but alcoholic beverages are payable. Most vessels would provide complimentary snacks (eg. pizza, hot-dog bun, cookies etc) round the clock.
Entertainments
Most cruise vessels provide complimentary night performances by their own crew or guest performers. Performances may also include magic shows or band singing at the poolside. For passengers who prefer a quiet moment, there is library with Internet facilities available. Internet service is very costly on board. Sometimes, the crew on board would organise activities like treasure hunt, wine tasting, health talk etc to keep passengers occupied. There is also casino to cater for gambling addicts.
Sports & Wellness
Sports facilities like swimming pool, spas, basketball court and gymnasium are usually provided so that sports enthusiasts do not have to break their routine sports regime while on vacation. Newer cruise vessels may even have a rock climbing wall or ice-skating rink.
Shopping
Most cruise vessels have duty-free shops on board where passengers can purchase items like wines, clothing, watches, souvenirs and even tobacco. Due to the duty-free restriction, these shops can only operate when the cruise vessel is cruising in international waters. The same rule applies for the operation of casino on the vessel.
If you can afford the time, going on a longer cruise trip can be exciting as you will be waking up each morning in different locations. However, the disadvantages of cruising include longer traveling time to get to a destination and only certain destinations which are near to the sea port are accessible. In most cruise itineraries, the cruise vessel would arrive and depart from the same location within the same day which results in lesser time for passengers to spend on shore excursions, not to mention additional time spent on immigration procedures (may be necessary depending on the local immigration procedures) and in certain location where the vessel is unable to dock at the port, it is necessary for passengers to take small boats for disembarkation and embarkation. If you are planning for a short weekend getaway trip, why not consider a cruise vacation which your family members, young and old will enjoy?
There is a local myth saying that going on a cruise trip is equivalent to going on a gambling trip. Well, if that is the case, it would also imply that staying in or visiting any of the Integrated Resorts here is for gambling purpose only. Certainly this is not true although there are some people who does that solely for the purpose of gambling only. The point I am trying to get across is that like the Integrated Resorts that we have here, cruise vessels also provide many other form of facilities and entertainments which passengers of all ages get to enjoy and best of all, at affordable prices.
The cruise vessel itself is a hotel cum transportation. It will take you to some places for visiting without the hassle of packing and moving your heavy suitcases around. Along the way when the vessel is out at the open sea or after returning from a day of land tour, you can simply relax and enjoy the facilities and entertainments provided on board. Most cruise vessel would provide the following facilities.
Food & Beverages
Food is inclusive and is usually served both in the main dining hall or cafeteria. Passengers have the option of having a three course meal in the main dining hall served by waiter/waitress or dine in a causal buffet-style manner in a cafeteria. Buffet style dining offers a wide variety of choices for Western and Asian dishes. Aside from compliment dining, passengers may choose to dine in posh restaurants which offers French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese etc cuisines. Cruise vessels operated by Americans also offers fast food and Starbucks coffee at a premium price. Regular coffee, tea and hot chocolate are usually available free-of-charge but alcoholic beverages are payable. Most vessels would provide complimentary snacks (eg. pizza, hot-dog bun, cookies etc) round the clock.
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Entertainments
Most cruise vessels provide complimentary night performances by their own crew or guest performers. Performances may also include magic shows or band singing at the poolside. For passengers who prefer a quiet moment, there is library with Internet facilities available. Internet service is very costly on board. Sometimes, the crew on board would organise activities like treasure hunt, wine tasting, health talk etc to keep passengers occupied. There is also casino to cater for gambling addicts.
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Sports & Wellness
Sports facilities like swimming pool, spas, basketball court and gymnasium are usually provided so that sports enthusiasts do not have to break their routine sports regime while on vacation. Newer cruise vessels may even have a rock climbing wall or ice-skating rink.
 |  |
Shopping
Most cruise vessels have duty-free shops on board where passengers can purchase items like wines, clothing, watches, souvenirs and even tobacco. Due to the duty-free restriction, these shops can only operate when the cruise vessel is cruising in international waters. The same rule applies for the operation of casino on the vessel.
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If you can afford the time, going on a longer cruise trip can be exciting as you will be waking up each morning in different locations. However, the disadvantages of cruising include longer traveling time to get to a destination and only certain destinations which are near to the sea port are accessible. In most cruise itineraries, the cruise vessel would arrive and depart from the same location within the same day which results in lesser time for passengers to spend on shore excursions, not to mention additional time spent on immigration procedures (may be necessary depending on the local immigration procedures) and in certain location where the vessel is unable to dock at the port, it is necessary for passengers to take small boats for disembarkation and embarkation. If you are planning for a short weekend getaway trip, why not consider a cruise vacation which your family members, young and old will enjoy?
Monday, 20 October 2014
Love Never Dies
Most of us know that The Phantom of the Opera musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber is so successful that it still achieves full-house ticket sales for performances anywhere in the world after more than 2 decades. However, not many people especially in Singapore are aware that there is another musical known as Love Never Dies which is a sequel to this greatest love story in the previous century. As an avid fan of musicals, I want to share with fellow fans of the Phantom musical who aren't aware about it.
Before I share the storyline for this Love Never Dies musical, lets recap the ending for The Phantom of the Opera musical.
Main Characters:
The story continues as Raoul and Christine eventually got married. Thereafter, they had a son called Gustave who was also a gifted soprano boy. The Phantom fled to Coney island (unfortunately not the one in Singapore!), somewhere near New York, USA in which he opened Phantasma, a palace of circus-like curiosities and entertainment. Patrons and performers knew him as "Mr Y".
The Phantom thought of Christine almost everyday and wanted her to sing for him again. In the musical, this scene was depicted by the song "Till I Hear You Sing" which is one of my favourite. It was sung by Ramin Karimloo who played the Phantom in this musical at West End (London).
The MTV version of "Till I Hear You Sing" by Ramin Karimloo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47dUc4iMAvQ
The West End Musical version of "Till I Hear You Sing" by Ramin Karimloo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2PcUa79u8w
Madame Giry and her daughter, Meg followed the Phantom to USA as Giry hoped that Meg would be able to inherit the Phantom's fortune. However, when the Phantom anonymously invited Christine Daae to sing for him as the star attraction of the summer vacation season, Giry's hope was dashed.
Christine, Raoul and their 10 years old son, Gustave arrived in Coney island without knowing the true identity of Mr Y who invited them over. When the Phantom met Christine, he reveled himself and confessed that he still love her and wanted to be with her. The more shocking truth was that the Phantom actually had a sexual affair with Christine a night before her wedding in Paris. The desperate Phantom then challenged Raoul about Gustave's paternity and Christine's affection. He decided to end the confrontation with a bet; if Christine sings on stage, as agreed, she belongs to the Phantom; if she refuses, Raoul has won.
Once again, Christine was torn between the Phantom and Raoul and she knew her decision would determine the future for her and Gustave. As the stage awaited Christine, she appeared and sang for the Phantom. Knowing that he had lost Christine, Raoul returned to Paris without bringing Gustave along. Meg Giry, on knowing that she would lose her inheritance to Gustave, had snatched the boy and taken him to a point at the water's edge known as "Suicide Hall," where she planned to drown him. The Phantom and Christine managed to find her. During their confrontation, Meg revealed the gun which she was carrying. A stand-off occurred and ended with an accidental gunshot. The victim was Christine. At the time of dying, she shared a last kiss with the Phantom and revealed that Gustave's biological father was the Phantom. Gustave found it hard to accept the truth at first but eventually accepted the Phantom as his father.
Watch the scene of Christine singing for the Phantom till the ending of the story here. I believe this is the Australian production of the musical.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJEOQ6ecHb8
The theme song for this musical (the one that Christine sang for Phantom on stage) has the same title. I simply love the version of this song sung by Sierra Boggess (the pretty soprano who played the role of Christine in the London production of this musical) with the compose Andrew Lloyd Webber playing the piano.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_4fo5KSnQk
Unfortunately, if you are an avid fan like me who wanted to watch this musical so much, I think it would probably take 10 years before coming to Singapore. It was first shown in West End (London) theatres in 2010, followed by Melbourne and Sydney in 2011 and 2012 respectively, Copenhagen in 2012 and 2013, Vienna in 2013 and Tokyo in 2014. Like all other musicals, Singapore is always the last few countries where such new musical performances are held. In Asia, cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong are ahead of Singapore for musical performances. I believe the reason is because of the small market base we have here due to our small population size and also generally people in Singapore do not appreciate western musicals as much. Even my favourite British singer, Sarah Brightman (as mentioned in one of my previous post) seems to receive more support in China and Taiwan rather than Singapore. Hence, as far as I know, Sarah never holds any concert here. By the way, Sarah Brightman once played the role of Christine Daae in the earliest production for The Phantom of the Opera.
What are your thoughts regarding this storyline for the sequel of the world's greatest love story? Perhaps you would like to leave some comments ...
Australian Production
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOUFflTzYnM
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwCVw1WdR5A
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzDJgQMe34g
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJEOQ6ecHb8
Before I share the storyline for this Love Never Dies musical, lets recap the ending for The Phantom of the Opera musical.
Main Characters:
- Erik (the Phantom) who was known as "Angel of Music" to Christine.
- Christine Daae, the young Swedish soprano singer at the Paris Opera House whom the Phantom fell in love with.
- Raoul, Christine's childhood friend who eventually became her husband.
- Madame Giry, the mistress of the Opera House.
- Meg Giry, Madame Giry's only daughter who is also a ballet girl in the Opera House
The story continues as Raoul and Christine eventually got married. Thereafter, they had a son called Gustave who was also a gifted soprano boy. The Phantom fled to Coney island (unfortunately not the one in Singapore!), somewhere near New York, USA in which he opened Phantasma, a palace of circus-like curiosities and entertainment. Patrons and performers knew him as "Mr Y".
The Phantom thought of Christine almost everyday and wanted her to sing for him again. In the musical, this scene was depicted by the song "Till I Hear You Sing" which is one of my favourite. It was sung by Ramin Karimloo who played the Phantom in this musical at West End (London).
The MTV version of "Till I Hear You Sing" by Ramin Karimloo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47dUc4iMAvQ
The West End Musical version of "Till I Hear You Sing" by Ramin Karimloo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2PcUa79u8w
Madame Giry and her daughter, Meg followed the Phantom to USA as Giry hoped that Meg would be able to inherit the Phantom's fortune. However, when the Phantom anonymously invited Christine Daae to sing for him as the star attraction of the summer vacation season, Giry's hope was dashed.
Christine, Raoul and their 10 years old son, Gustave arrived in Coney island without knowing the true identity of Mr Y who invited them over. When the Phantom met Christine, he reveled himself and confessed that he still love her and wanted to be with her. The more shocking truth was that the Phantom actually had a sexual affair with Christine a night before her wedding in Paris. The desperate Phantom then challenged Raoul about Gustave's paternity and Christine's affection. He decided to end the confrontation with a bet; if Christine sings on stage, as agreed, she belongs to the Phantom; if she refuses, Raoul has won.
Once again, Christine was torn between the Phantom and Raoul and she knew her decision would determine the future for her and Gustave. As the stage awaited Christine, she appeared and sang for the Phantom. Knowing that he had lost Christine, Raoul returned to Paris without bringing Gustave along. Meg Giry, on knowing that she would lose her inheritance to Gustave, had snatched the boy and taken him to a point at the water's edge known as "Suicide Hall," where she planned to drown him. The Phantom and Christine managed to find her. During their confrontation, Meg revealed the gun which she was carrying. A stand-off occurred and ended with an accidental gunshot. The victim was Christine. At the time of dying, she shared a last kiss with the Phantom and revealed that Gustave's biological father was the Phantom. Gustave found it hard to accept the truth at first but eventually accepted the Phantom as his father.
Watch the scene of Christine singing for the Phantom till the ending of the story here. I believe this is the Australian production of the musical.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJEOQ6ecHb8
The theme song for this musical (the one that Christine sang for Phantom on stage) has the same title. I simply love the version of this song sung by Sierra Boggess (the pretty soprano who played the role of Christine in the London production of this musical) with the compose Andrew Lloyd Webber playing the piano.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_4fo5KSnQk
Unfortunately, if you are an avid fan like me who wanted to watch this musical so much, I think it would probably take 10 years before coming to Singapore. It was first shown in West End (London) theatres in 2010, followed by Melbourne and Sydney in 2011 and 2012 respectively, Copenhagen in 2012 and 2013, Vienna in 2013 and Tokyo in 2014. Like all other musicals, Singapore is always the last few countries where such new musical performances are held. In Asia, cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong are ahead of Singapore for musical performances. I believe the reason is because of the small market base we have here due to our small population size and also generally people in Singapore do not appreciate western musicals as much. Even my favourite British singer, Sarah Brightman (as mentioned in one of my previous post) seems to receive more support in China and Taiwan rather than Singapore. Hence, as far as I know, Sarah never holds any concert here. By the way, Sarah Brightman once played the role of Christine Daae in the earliest production for The Phantom of the Opera.
What are your thoughts regarding this storyline for the sequel of the world's greatest love story? Perhaps you would like to leave some comments ...
Australian Production
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOUFflTzYnM
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwCVw1WdR5A
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzDJgQMe34g
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJEOQ6ecHb8
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