What a Weekend and Disappointing Shrek The Musical

23 Jun 12

My mother in-law came to stay with us as she planned to visit our 3rd Auntie in hospital, her friend who stay in our neighbourhood and suffered from lung cancer and thereafter to visit her sister in Klang.

It was Jaden's kinder Parents Teacher Day where we had to go to the kindergarten to review Jaden's learning and performance in school. Jaden has been naughty lately and didn't want us to go to his kindergarten to meet his teachers.

Our review was at 8.30am. Hubby and I went to see the teachers. The review was not that bad after all. Jaden is a quick learner and he stops once he thinks he is good enough, which he does not attempt to excel further.

After the review with teachers, we left the kindergarten and heard funny sound coming from my car. We drove to our neighborhood tyre shop and asked them to check out my car.

The first technician said the sound came from the right rear of the car. He checked the rear tyres but could not find anything. Thereafter, another technician came with cigarette on his hand and took a drive of my car. He said the funny sound came from right front of the car.

He checked the front right tyre and saw this nail on my car tyre. What a start of Saturday morning!

Thereafter, I had my usual Saturday errands to run.

Mother in-law visited her friend who stay in our neighborhood and suffered from lung cancer. They used to do social works together.

In the evening, we had 4 tickets for Shrek The Musical from our Auntie YC.

The musical was at Plenary Hall of Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. We planned to have dinner there before the musical starts at 8pm.

There were not many choices of restaurant in KL Convention Centre. Jared chose Kenny Rogers and we had dinner there.

The restaurant requires improvement on its cleanliness. The floor was wet and dirty. I informed the cashier and told her it's dangerous too.

At the foyer of the Plenary Hall, lots of people taking photos with Shrek and Fiona cut out boards. They were also people selling Shrek souvenirs ie T-shirt, Shrek hair band, Fiona hair band and program book, all at RM35 each. We bought the Shrek The Musical T-shirt for Jared for remembrance.

Surprisingly, the hall was not full. Lots of people said the tickets are expensive and indeed they are.

My aunt bought RM390 category of tickets for us (out of RM190, RM290, RM390, RM490 and RM590) and we thought we should be sitting in the middle of the hall. But we were wrong. Our seats were way up, higher, towards the end of the hall.

The musical was disappointing. I must say the Shrek movie is much nicer. The story line, the songs and pace are not interesting.

During the 20 minutes intermission, we had coffee at the foyer and bumped into Fatboybakes and family at the cafe. He shared the same comment and opinion of the musical.

Luckily, the 2nd set of the musical was slightly more interesting. By that time, Jaden kept on asking me "when can we go home?" and "how long more?".

These photos were taken during the closing routine where the staff were not strict with photography.

It was a 2.5 hours musical. Overall, the musical is disappointing after having watched the interesting Shrek movie.

Jaden was very quiet on the way home.

Michael Learns To Rock Enternity Tour 2009 Live in Malaysia

5 Sep 2009

Michael Learns To Rock ... I love their love ballads.

When I knew of MLTR Eternity Tour 2009 Live in Malaysia on 5 September 2009, I told Hubby about it and he didn't have much reaction. Thereafter, I just close the subject.

Then one evening, Hubby asked "Do you want to go for MLTR concert?" and I answered him "Why? You are not interested". Before I knew it, Hubby booked online 2 tickets for us to watch their concert live in Arena of Stars, Genting Highland. I took out MLTR album and started to listen to their songs again to prepare for the concerts.

Despite the H1N1 outbreak, the hall was packed and I could hardly see anyone with face mask.

Jascha Richter, Kåre Wanscher and Mikkel Lentz enthrall the Malaysian audience with their popular love ballads.

MLTR is more famous in Asia. They shared their experiences in Asia.

The Actor - the most played songs in Indonesia's radio station back then.

Take Me To Your Heart - When MLTR were in Shanghai, while they were in a taxi, they heard the Chinese version of this song and liked it. They didn't understand the lyrics and decided to write this song in English.

Hubby and I enjoyed the concert. It was much better than we expected. Glad that they sang most of their famous love ballads ... 25 Minutes, Paint My Love, Sleeping Child, Take Me To Your Heart, Nothing to Lose, I'm Gonna Be Around, That’s Why You Go Away, The Actor, You Took My Heart Away and many more.

1st concert at Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra

Date: 4.30pm, Sunday 5 Apr 09

Orchestra: Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra

Concert: A Clown's Guide to the Orchestra

Clownductor: Melvyn Tix

Jared's Yamaha Music School teacher encourages us to take our children for concert. We should expose them to music and musical instruments and to teach children the value of live music as nothing like seeing a live musical show.

Hubby and I used to be subscribers to Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (DFP), situated at the heart of Petronas Twin Towers. We decided to take Jared to MPO's Family Fun Day concert, A Clown's Guide to the Orchestra. This light-hearted themed concert provides a better understanding, as well as an opportunity to interact with the music and musicians.

Jared and his very first live classical music concert.

Jared in DFP's box office.

Outside the concert hall, before the concert.

This concert was lead by clownductor, MELVIN Tix, whose real name is Petter Vabog. He was a professional Scandinavian horn player before becoming a “clownductor”. He started as a clown in 1981, with his first children’s concert in 1984.

He has performed this concert for almost 25 years and the great thing is he really know how to get children interested in classical music. He was the conductor who became a clown. Since children cant stay focus for a long time, Vabog kept the pace fast and fun as Melvin, with lots of variation in the show to keep the children amused and make sure they can keep concentrating.

He started off the concert with a lively introduction to the different sections of the orchestra.

Impressively, Petter is also a balloon-making genius. He did a few balloon shapes and some juggling and then a few minutes of music and go back to some magic and some more music.

During the show, he also performed brass solos on a mini trumpet, trombone, piccolo horn, the xylophone and a hose with a mouthpiece and a funnel, as well as conduct the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

MPO transform themselves into weird and wonderful animals with the piece "Old MacDonald had a Farm".

He got the children to stand up and sit down and even conducted the orchestra.

There were lots of laughter in the concert hall. The concert lasted about an hour without intervals. Jared enjoyed the concert and I'm glad that the concert had education elements in it too.

After the concert, we walked around KLCC. There was F1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix 2009 at the Concourse of KLCC.

BMW cars were on displayed too. Nice car!

Mamma Mia!

Songwriters: Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson

Writer: Catherine Johnson

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

A mother, A daughter, 3 possible dads!

MAMMA MIA! is the global phenomenon based on ABBA's timeless songs. 22 of ABBA's biggest hits are woven throughout the story.

MAMMA MIA! tells the story of a mother and daughter on the eve of the daughter's wedding. The sunny, funny tale unfolds on a Greek island paradise. The fun starts when, unknown to the mother, the daughter's quest to discover the identity of her father invites the three men who could be her father, from her mother's past back to the Greek island paradise they last visited 20 years ago, to her wedding.

The official website of Mamma Mia! http://www.mamma-mia.com/

I first attended a Mamma Mia! musical in Melbourne on Oct 2001. Hubby (my fiance then) and I were visiting Sydney and Melbourne. It was my first visit to Australia and also first time meeting hubby's brother, Jin and family.

Jin booked the musical tickets for us. The musical was held at Princess Theatre in Melbourne.

http://www.marrinertheatres.com.au/venue_princess.jsp

Jin bought the corporate package tickets which were inclusive of dinner (pre-show) with coffee and cake during intermission at the in-house restaurant at the theatre. It was a very good dinner with free-flow of Australian wine and good company. Before the show started, the waitress took our dessert order for intermission.

Just before the musical started, the waitress who attended to us ushered us to our seats. No queueing, no waiting time. The moment we sat now, the musical started. We got very good seats, 6th row from the stage.

During intermission we adjourned back to our table at the restaurant where our coffee (mocha, latte, etc) and cakes were ready on our tables. That was great! Hubby and I were very impressed with them. Even Jin was surprised. The entire evening was so well planned.

Hubby bought the above CD (AUD30 each) during the intermission. One for Jin's family and one for us.

When Jin was in KL last month, he bought the movie soundtrack for us. Now, I have the above 2 CDs of Mamma Mia!

It was a great evening ... good food, good musical with good company. Till today, hubby and I still remember that evening and as they said ... that was the best night out and musical that we've ever had!

I was thrilled when I heard about the Mamma Mia movie.

• Amanda Seyfried - the bride
• Meryl Streep - the mother of the bride
• Pierce Brosnan - the father of the bride
• Colin Firth - the father of the bride
• Stellan Skarsgard - the father of the bride
  
  

My sister, Annie watched it 3 times at the cinema. According to her, it was a great atmosphere in the cinema and most of the people sang along the songs.

Yesterday, I watched the movie on DVD at home together with hubby and Aunty YC. I turned on the subtitles and sing along too. The feeling was great.

The Mamma Mia! musical will be here in KL! They will be performing at Istana Budaya from 17 Dec 08 to 1 Jan 09. I heard only limited tickets are available. My company bought 2 tickets of RM1,000 each for the opening night, which is also the Charity Night. Wonder who will be going for the musical.

http://thestar.com.my/mammamia/

MAMMA MIA! the ultimate feel-good show!

High School Musical 3

Mon, 27 Oct 08

My niece from Singapore, Qi Wen was in town over the Deepavali holiday.

Except for Jared, all my nieces and nephews are fans of High School Musical. My sister arranged for a movie together. Jared and I went along for the movie as we would like to spend some time with them.

As expected, Jared did not enjoy the show. During the show, he kept on asking me "Why so long?".

Anyway, the show is disappointing. According to my sisters, nieces and nephew, its not as nice as the last 2 seasons.

On the way home, I was asking my sister "When was the last time we watched a movie together?". I guess the last movie together was when we were single and did not have any boyfriends then.

My love will get you home

I first heard of this song "My love will get you home" when I was watching Astro Wah Lai Toi TV show "Heart of Greed".

I like this song very much. The song is sang by Christine Glass and it is a very soothing song and it goes so well with this romantic TV show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0Frjer2drU

Last Saturday, I finally bought the CD at Popular at RM26.50 (less 10% discount for member). I've been listening to the CD since then. The funny thing is Jared doesnt like this song. He always say "Mommy, please dont play that sad song".

This CD by Sony BMG http://www.sonybmg.com.my/getyouhome.html has 18 favourite TV drama inspired songs:

1. My Love Will Get You Home - Christine Glass The reason I bought this CD
2. Because of You - Kelly Clarkson My other favourite
3. Purest Of Pain - Son by Four
4. Everytime - Daniel Lee
5. No Promises - Shayne Ward
6. Superwoman - Jacyln Victor Jacyln is so talented, I like her verson of Superwoman
7. True Colors – Cyndi Lauper Known by most people, you surely sing along with Cyndi
8. Angels Brought Me Here - Guy Sebastian
9. Only Love - Trademark
10. Without You - Same Same featuring Jaclyn Victor
11. Shape of my Heart - Backstreet Boys
12. I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman - Britney Spears
13. Before I Fall In Love - Coco Lee
14. Valentine - Jim Brickman & Martina McBride
15. Angel – Sarah McLachlan
16. Heaven Knows - Daniel Lee
17. Truly Madly Deeply – Savage Garden Favourite song for wedding
18. Bonus Track, Vincent (Live) – Don McLean - Another song often played in "Heart of Greed" show but I didn't quite like this version of it