2009 Year in Review: Concerts

Theater:

What the Butler Saw, Zebra Crossing Productions: A British farce with some genuinely laugh out loud moments, but ultimately disappointing due to suspect direction and a lack of cohesion among the cast members. Vernetta Lopez stood out, though Elizabeth Tan looked out of depth, and Gerald Chew was far too self indulgent in the lead. Some attempts at localizing the play worked (like turning a typical British bobby into a khaki wearing local policeman who kept saying "yes sirs, how can I help you sirs?", but others were often lame, and fell pretty flat. Quite a fair bit of the play was lost in translation. Overall, fairly disappointing. Grade: D+

Story of a Rabbit, Hugh Hughes: A very interesting one man show by a wonderfully engaging and charming Welshman. I loved the interaction with the audience, and the way Hugh could move from the comic and funny to the deeply introspective without missing much of a beat. Oddball and never less than interesting, this is compelling autobiography and avant garde theater that is engaging rather than pretentious. Karin got a free cup of tea to boot. Grade: B+

Much Ado About Nothing, Singapore Repertory Theater (Shakespeare in the Park): Two of Shakespeare's sassiest characters brought to life with real verve and flair by the ever excellent Adrian Pang (in comedy roles) and the wonderful Wendy Kueh. A slightly more uneven supporting cast, but a beautiful 1920s set and costumes, and good production values made this a lovely (but quite muggy) evening out. Or maybe it was just the half bottle of wine I consumed when watching it. Grade: B+The Cherry Orchard, Lin Zhaohua Studios (Singapore Arts Festival): Chekhov done entirely in mandarin was a better fit than might be expected. Certainly, the themes of a gilded landed aristocracy being supplanted by the proletariat is relevant enough to a Chinese theater company. The largely bare stage and minimalist overtones suited Chekhov nicely and the acting and direction was fairly spot on for the most part, barring a few strange moments (actors freezing when a rising scale of musical notes suddenly stops surely belongs in the worst tradition of farcical sneak thief movies). My only gripe: the subtitles were clearly truncated and often couldn't keep pace with the dialogue, compromising the subtle grandeur of Chekhov's writing. Grade: B-

Own Time Own Target, Wild Rice: The army and national service continues to provide fertile creative inspiration for local playwrights and this double bill of a play and musical is a very welcome addition. Laremy Lee's Full Tank is an uninhibited satire of the army what with golf club wielding generals, clueless privates, and a long suffering sergeant. Mayhem ensues when a tank crew goes on a joyride, while a terror suspect manages to escape from a prison (Mas Selamat anyone?). Botak Boys, as it's title suggests follows the experiences of a group of young men during their first two weeks of basic military training (BMT). It features some catchy tunes, and outrageously camp costumes, and it fairly good fun, if a bit twee and sentimental for my liking. The 'good cop bad cop' routine of the two BMT sergeants, with the short one prone to pontificating endlessly and the tall one limited to strutting about going 'chao recruit', and 'chee bai' was so true to life it had me in stitches. Grade: B

Defending the Caveman, Singapore Repertory Theater: This one man show was stand up comedy masquerading as theater. It did have its funny moments, but the material was far too unoriginal and well-worn to make for an interesting performance. I mean, men as hunters and women as gatherers, who would have ever come up with that original idea! There were appropriate chuckles for quips about how women can't read maps and how male bonding is restricted to grunting and staring at the telly, but this amounted to nothing more than a re-hash of complaints you've probably shared with friends over a pint of beer at the pub. Grade: D+

Hamlet: the Clown Prince, Rajat Kapoor (Director): Hamlet, as performed by a troupe of clowns turned out to be a fascinating mix of farce and pathos. The performance was compelling, right from its bizarre five minute opening featuring a spot-lit Hamlet going on a long monologue in gibberish right till the end. There was an ample variety of humour from moonwalks, and hilariously over-the-top accents, to a drunken actress depositing a handkerchief with an audience member as a sign of affection. What truly merited praise was the ability the actors had in switching from slapstick humour to the seriousness and pathos of scenes such as Ophelia's suicide, all within an instant. An original idea that was wonderfully executed. Grade: A-

Concerts:Eliane Elias and Ivan Lins: Think Brazilians and you immediately think of the smooth laid back groove of bossa nova, or the playful sexiness of the samba. Smooth sexiness was definitely evident with Eliane Elias, with her blonde bombshell looks. Elias was sultry but definitely not cold, striking up an easy rapport with the crowd between takes, giving background to the songs, and personal anecdotes, including an extended account of a holiday in Northern Brazil. Her languid contra-alto and smooth piano playing helped her to epitomize the bossa nova vibe. Ivan Lins, for all his reknown talent as a songwriter, didn't quite have the voice, the presence, the personality, or the looks to match. His songs were fairly repetetive in sound and people soon become restless. It said a lot about his character and resolve that he remained fairly charming even as a fair number of people in the audience began walking out, but he just didn't have the verve to charm the crowd and his quirkiness rather fell flat. Grade: Eliane Elias B Ivan Lins D-


Sondre Lerche

Coldplay: The popularity of Coldplay could be seen in how tickets for the concert sold out within days, if not hours. Although I hardly listened to their later two albums X&Y, and Viva La Vida, I jumped at the chance to see Coldplay perform live. The atmosphere was certainly electric, from the entire crowd singing along to their signature song "Yellow" (complete with yellow spot lights), to the repeated chanting of the main chords of the chorus from Viva La Vida to urge the band to come back for an encore. For all the technical baubles (disco ball screens), dropping balloons, Chris Martin's charisma was what electrified the evening, and we even got a chance to see Will Champion sing a little. A brilliantly fun concert. Grade: A-


Joanna MacGregor: MacGregor certainly cuts a fascinating figure, classically trained pianists don't usually come with dread-lock hair. Reknown for her eclectic repertoire, this variety was most definitely on show in her solo recital. The first half consisted of her alternating Preludes and Fugues by Bach and Shostakovitch a blend of baroque and modern that was illuminating rather than discordant due to her fine artistic touch. It was in the second half where she really was in her element, cutting loose on a number of Latin American pieces most notably six Tangos (transcribed by her for the piano) written by Argentinian composer Piazzola. Her dynamic range and versatility certainly shone through in a fine concert; thoughtful comments on the music she was playing was an added bonus. An excellent recital. Grade: A-

Nikolai Demidenko

Li Yundi: For once, the Straits Times got this one perfectly right. The headline of their review of this concert was 'shockingly bad' and it truly was. I had very high expectations of Li Yundi, a teen prodigy who won the extremely prestigious Warsaw Chopin competition at just 19 years of age. His rendition of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 was disjointed, replete with wrong notes, and totally lacking in subtlety and grace. It often felt as if he were just banging the piano, and he was woefully out of sync with the orchestra (for once I am not blaming the SSO). This was piano playing not dissimilar to Sunday evening entertainment in the parlour. He even managed to mangle his encore piece. Grade: F

King's College Choir

Amanda Palmer, Live@Stereolab: I had little familiarity with Amanda Palmer's music and I knew her only as the new beau of Neil Gaiman, noted graphic novelist and all round genius. Indeed, she was in Singapore to accompany Neil who was here was part of the Singapore Writer's Festival. While in town she decided to do a last minute gig at Stereolab, and I decided to go after a friend described her as "Tori Amos high on speed" and the self-styled depiction of her former group, The Dresden Dolls, as performing "Brechtian punk cabaret". Palmer definitely had a wonderful stage presence, providing easy banter with the crowd, even when occasionally mangling or losing her place in the middle of songs. A classic moment was in the middle of her signature song "Coin Operated Boy", when an audience member completed the line "I need..." with the emphatic shout of "a dildo". Amanda's quick witted retort was that "everyone thinks the song is about dildos when it was actually about emotions and relationships and commitment and all that fucked up serious shit". Her most compelling and interesting songs were those from her earlier work with The Dresden Dolls, as well as two fascinating little known covers of "I Want You But I Don't Need You" and "Look Mommy No Hands", weirder was her rendition of Radiohead's "Creep" on ukelele. Her newer songs, even "I Google You", co-written by Gaiman, were dull in comparison. Still, a fun vibrant gig. Grade: B

Vienna Boy's Choir: The little boys with the angelic voices are back in Singapore yet again. This time they did a fairly interesting Silk Road repertoire with a whole range of music from China, to India to Central Asia. The voices were indeed heavenly and the boys also managed a few laughs with their use of random props, the choicest of which was two of them dressing up as a camel. All rather theatrical and detracting somewhat from the singing. But on the whole, they were rather irresistible Grade: B.

Count Basie Orchestra: It's not often you get old school big bands plying their trade anymore. Given my love of swing, I just had to go to one of the most famous big band jazz orchestras. The band played a number of the classic standards, obviously a number from the Count himself but other tidbits from the full range of the classic big band repertoire (including some from the Duke). The group was led (conducted would be far too generous) by a genial laid back old gentleman who often had to ask the band members about what they were next going to play. A nice swinging time overall. Grade: B+