Bring on 2011!

No posts recently, simply because I haven't seen anything lately. The Christmas holidays aren't exactly primetime for shows or events, and lack of $$ is also a contributing factor.

However, there's a few things coming up in 2011 that I'm excited about!

There's a few Blast from the Past acts coming through Sydney, including Neil Diamond in March and Barry Manilow in April.

Don McLean will be here on 15th Feb, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the old guy is holding up. Thrilled at the chance to hear "Castles in the Air" and "American Pie" live, and of course my absolute favourite, "Vincent". The event should have a great vibe as it will bring out the true fans and everybody will know all the songs. Of course the same can be said for both Neil and Barry, although as they're performing at larger venues (Syd Football Stadium / Acer Arena) it will lack the intimacy of the Don McLean performance which is at the Enmore.

Michael Buble is also around at the same time, but sadly I don't like my chances of scoring tickets to his show. Never mind - I expect he'll be around for many years to come!


On the musicals side, I'm still keen to get to Jersey Boys, plus check out Mary Poppins when it finally makes it's way to Sydney after an extended Melbourne run.

So that, plus plenty more to see in 2011!

Do It! But do it my way....

I was amused by the news story about Dick Smith and the Christmas grinches, which was plastered across all Australian news stations this week. In a nutshell, Dick sent letters to the bosses of four major Australian banks demanding that they donate 20% of their income to charity. Most ignored this clearly crackpot request, while one politely acknowledged by responding with a letter explaining that he donates privately to charity and won't be meeting the request.


Apparently being a billionaire makes you powerful - who knew? Unfortunately, Dick Smith appears to be under the impression that it makes you so powerful that you get to tell all of the millionaires how to spend their money. Sorry Dick, it just doesn't work like that.


This really made me think about power and philanthropy. I know so many wonderful people in this world who are goodhearted and have powerful visions for how the world should be. The problem occurs when they take their vision so far as to demand that others live their lives according to their determined idealism.


The scary thing is that we're not just talking about religious zealots here. In all walks of life you find people so passionate about what they believe in that they are convinced it should be mandatory. For example, I have a friend who cares so much for the environment that she believes a one child legal policy is the only way forward.


Of course, logic dictates that the problem with any kind of forced compliance is that it's always the will of one group over that of another. Somebody is being oppressed or forced to live their life incompatibly with their own personal beliefs. Which is why the only logical way is either to convince everybody honestly of the "right" way of thinking (good luck with that!) or to accept a society where differences are accepted, and we all get on with living our own lives the best way that we can. Exceptions being crime or other activity that infringes on the lives of others.


So Dick, while your intentions are good, and while we all love to hate the greedy fat cats, STFU. Seriously. It's really none of your business how they spend their money. Complain about it if you want, but trying to force people to comply with your own personal standard is unfair, and also very holier than thou.

Naked Ironing People

I work in the city, on Level 29 of a high-rise. Most of the time it's fairly easy to forget the view as we remain glued to our computer screens, every so often startled when a window cleaner abseils against the glass. However the city is not only offices, directly opposite the side of the building where my team sits there is a fancy apartment building. These apartments have full wall floor-to-ceiling windows, so the views from the higher floors must be spectacular. Yet the glass is definitely not tinted, and we can see everything. It's kind of like looking at a dolls house, all the different little tables and chairs, and layout of the various rooms.

Enter the Naked Ironing Couple. It doesn't take much for us to see them - in fact, it would be hard not to see them, because they choose to do their morning ironing right up against the window of their apartment, facing outwards. We never see them together, it's always one or the other.

Naked Ironing Lady likes to iron on the floor. She puts the ironing board on the ground with the legs down and kneels down on the floor in front of it. The fascinating aspect is that she'll spend literally 30minutes ironing one item of clothing. She seems very relaxed and peaceful, as if she's performing a beloved morning ritual.

Naked Ironing Man is more of your traditional Aussie male. He irons standing up with the board in upright position, butt naked and using just one hand on the iron. Several of my coworkers have expressed concern re the obvious proximity of man-bits to hot iron. We've considered filing a health & safety notice with their building. Somebody should really do something about that.

The other morning Naked Ironing Lady was at it again. It's worth noting that my company provides all breakfast and lunch food for staff each day, and the area that I work in is near the staff kitchen. I was standing near the window with a coworker because we'd noticed a window cleaner on the wall of the apartment building and were discussing what might happen once they reached Naked Ironing Lady's window. Would they see her? Would she see them? What reactions would there be? As people came through the office from the kitchen they came over and joined in the conversation/observation. So before long we have our Sales Director standing there eating his cornflakes, a couple of guys from the Finance department with their toast, and various other people all in our cubicle staring out the window.

Suddenly I was struck by the absurdity and inappropriateness of what we were doing. Because it's one thing to have them doing it right in front of us and notice, but I can't see them from my own desk, and that's where I should be! So I got back to work, noting that we really were all quite perverted. The crowd dispersed.

The debate rages as to whether Naked Ironing Couple have any idea that we can see them. One of the Executive Assistants insists that they must know, and that it's deliberate voyeurism. But if that were the case I suspect they would glance up from time to time, curious as to whether they'd attracted an audience. They appear absorbed in their ironing, completely unaware of the world around them. I assume that our windows are tinted on the outside, so they can't see us even though we're very close by.

Oh, and FTR, she finished ironing and packed up before the window cleaners reached her level. So I guess we'll never know what might have happened....

There is a really cool view from our main office.

I don't *hate* Tuesdays

I have explained to my coworkers on many occasions that I don't have a problem with Monday. As stressful as it can be to get myself together on Sunday in preparation for the working week, there is an element of excitement in returning after a 2 day break and starting our working life anew. Seeing my coworkers and sharing stories of our weekends. Seeing what interesting new emails and dramas have entered my inbox since Friday*. (*due to my new resolution of never checking work email over the weekend. It makes it a very exciting experience on Monday to turn on my computer and see where the latest drama has arisen). There's things to do, people to talk to, plans to make for the week.

It's Tuesday that it really hits home. The weekend is now but a memory. The week still looms before us. Those plans that I made yesterday must now be actioned, and there's simply not enough time. The emails are starting to pile up, and my boss has just added 10 new items to my To-Do-List.

This, this is the day!!

There's no doubt about it. Tuesday makes every other day of the week look like paradise. Wednesday is at least hump day, there's a light at the end of the tunnel, we feel that we're about to hit a goal of sorts. And then Thursday arrives, with all of it's promise of late night shopping or perhaps a night out. Either way, it leads us to Friday, at which point we may as well be not working, given the fun we have. Yep, comparatively speaking, Tuesday is the devil.

So I googled "I hate Tuesdays" and promptly found numerous blog posts discussing this very point. Now I feel compelled to clarify: I most certainly do NOT hate Tuesdays. To commit to hating 14% of my life seems shortsighted and extremely drastic. I merely put forward that Tuesday is, in fact, the most stressful day of the week. There's a reason why it has long been the day that Shane cooks dinner while I take a nice bubblebath complete with iPod, magazine and glass of wine.

Tuesday is that little thing in life that gives us something to look forward to.... it says "hey, I'm your downer, but remember how good things can get?" ... it's highly necessary. And with that, I rest my case.

Ben Hur - Stadium SPECTACULAR (not)

So last night we took the special train to Olympic Park for the biggest theatrical event ever staged in Australia, the only event that makes the phrase bigger than Ben Hur pointless, Ben Hur. It was a fun night and I'm glad I went. I even managed to write most of the below review during the show without missing a single thing. (You'll see why shortly).

First let me get one thing off my chest: I'm sorry Australia, but "she'll be right mate" just doesn't cut it when you're playing a roman legionary. We expect precision and synchronization. Yes, I get that it's hard in such a large stadium, and often you're running not marching so that you can cover the space quickly enough, but you simply must rehearse it over and over until you get it right. From the stands we can see if you're spaced out at weird intervals and your heads are facing different directions, when you're supposedly in an orderly formation. Not good enough. It's not that hard to get something like that right, it's all about practice and caring about it.

The advantage of being in a stadium rather than a theatre is that it's noisy and fun. So we could freely mock some of the sillier or poorly executed aspects of the performance. Unfortunately a stadium is big. Very big. So there were looooooong waits while they walked out across the stadium and started speaking. The whole production was very disjointed. Russell Crowe would deliver a monotonous introduction to the scene, completely destroying any sense of excitement or anticipation with his toneless presentation. Then we'd wait while the performers made their way out across the stadium while music played. By the time they started to speak we'd have practically forgotten what was happening. Then they'd play a scene, often stopping for more bland narration in the middle, before sllooowwwlllly exiting and then the whole rotation would begin again.

Messala's script apparently had a full-stop after each word, because every line was over-enunciated and came out as a disjointed sentence. If that wasn't amusing enough, he accompanied this dialogue with very over the top hand gestures - I'm sorry, I should say arm gestures - to the point that he appeared to be a comical robot. I'm fairly certain the show is pre-recorded and lip synched, although Shane thought it wasn't and was just a delay. But that would explain to me how they got so carried away with over acting along to the soundtrack. Nobody else stood out particularly as being any good. They just weren't as obviously bad.

The chariot race was clearly the highlight. Each chariot was driven by four horses, and they looked spectacular. Shane pointed out the blocks on Ben Hur's chariot, and explained that these would drop to make the chariot jump - a key scene in the movie, and one we'd seen previewed in the "making of". Sadly, when the blocks came out it didn't work and there wasn't even a lame bunny hop. That was a major disappointment. One thing they did get very right was the bad guy's chariot falling apart. Messala was dragged around the stadium behind his horses so effectively that many of us did start to wonder if it was a genuine accident, not a carefully performed stunt. It looked painful!

We took off at the end as they processed out for the cast presentation and legged it to the station. It just wasn't good enough that we were willing to wait behind 10,000 people to catch a train. I'm very comfortable with that decision, as we caught a train quickly and were home within the hour.



Highlights:
The horses did a splendid job.
The atmosphere! The crowd was great fun and I chatted to a lot of people before the show.
The fighting was fun. The different sides of the stadium had been given different coloured scarfs to wave - red or yellow - which matched the tunics worn by the gladiators. We had to cheer for our colours and wave them on. It was quite spectacular seeing a massive wall of colour cheering and screaming. Like a rugby game basically! And the gladiators would rip each other's tunics off - some of them had nice abs, yay! But yeah, not exactly high class theatre.

Lowlights:
The long, boring periods of nothing during which we forgot what was happening.
Russell Crowe.



What: Ben Hur
Where: ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park

Film: Made in Dagenham

The very fabulous Amanda emailed me about another SeeFilmFirst release, but unfortunately I couldn't re-use her activation code. So imagine my surprise earlier this week to suddenly receive an email from them with an invitation. Yay!

DH wanted to know what the film was before he committed to attending, but as per my usual policy I preferred to know as little as possible before seeing it. Nothing ruins the viewing of a film more than preconceptions of what it's about, or expecting something particular to happen.

So I didn't know that this was a British film, that it was about women's rights, and that it was going to be a light yet serious feel-good movie. I was excited to see Rosamund Pike's name in the opening credits. She is simply fabulous in every way, so would liven up even the dullest film. Fortunately that wasn't necessary, as this film can stand on it's own two feet.

The film was a little slow in places, but had enough entertaining moments to keep us interesting. And overall, it's hard not to feel the tug at your heartstrings at how marginalised these women were, in our very recent history. There's suddenly the sense that we've come a very, very long way in a very short period of time.

The theatre was only 80% full or so. But boy were they passionate! There were a number of women in the 40-60 age bracket who could not contain their excitement, breaking into spontaneous applause and cheers at various intervals. I guess they know what it's like to have a husband who expects the wife to work outside the home but still do all the cooking and cleaning...!

I found myself angry at the unions. Shouldn't they be about grass-roots passion, run by the workers for the workers? Too frequently they have their own agenda, with union officials having a conflict of interest. After all, if they were good at their job they'd be out of a job. You'll see what I mean when you see the film. A union should be a for a specific purpose or goal, not just generally to impede the employment process.

Verdict: See this film. It's important not to forget about things like this, and the film itself is entertaining enough that you won't be frustrated. It's not a preachy history lesson, more of a funny British flick.

7/10.

Village People!

Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved the Village People. Let's face it, they really should be a children's show - the costumes, the fun yet simple dance moves, the catchy jingles.

So I was thrilled to attend their performance at the Enmore Theatre on 16th October. There are 3 original members in the group, so it's still an authentic VP experience despite the decades that have passed since YMCA first hit our playlists.

The vibe was fantastic - very relaxed, and quite a few audience members in costume. We went with disco hats and funky sunglasses to get our groove on, and there were several cowboys and police officers making an appearance. Although you can get good seats at the Enmore, we went with standing tickets, which are located behind the seating right at the back of the theatre. However, as the Enmore is a really small venue you still get a great view. The area is also elevated slightly, so even when the seated audience got into the groove and started dancing we could still see over their heads without any difficulty. Also, the area is conveniently located right near the bar, from where you could also see the stage. So getting drinks was quick, easy and not disruptive to the experience - BONUS!

The show was great fun, they clearly love what they're doing. The guys have great vocals, and still pull off the dance moves with flair. A good balance was strike between the big hits and the lesser known songs, and they gave us a YMCA dance tutorial before performing it as the finale. This meant the entire audience knew the moves correctly and performed in synch, which was an awesome experience.

Great night out, and I wouldn't hesitate to go again next time they head over this way!


What: The Village People concert
Where: Enmore Theatre
When: 16th October, 2010

http://www.officialvillagepeople.com

Wicked!

When I first went to see Wicked the Musical, I pulled out my notebook and wrote a review during intermission. I have no idea what I did with that notebook, but I know I enjoyed the experience.

I remain extremely glad that I experienced Wicked when the show first moved to Sydney and the original cast was intact. It's given me a great base to compare the subsequent changes and evolution since then. The production has been polished up considerably as of my last visit, presumably in preparation for the move to Brisbane. The dancers have new costumes, the set has been spruced up, and there is a renewed energy in the performances. From the moment the map starts to glisten and the dragon roars, the production springs into life and I was mesmerized.

This was without a doubt the best overall experience. The audience were fantastic - nobody arrived late, there was not a single noise or word out of place, and everybody clapped and laughed heartily at the appropriate points. We were all in this together and hanging off every moment.

Our reward came at the end of curtain call when Lucy Durack signaled for the orchestra to stop, and Bert Newton addressed the audience. He thanked us all and relayed that they had commented backstage that we were the best audience they have had so far. He also took the opportunity to speak about the Rob Guest foundation and ask for donations.

As I headed across the street amongst the crowd I heard a girl saying to her parents "But do they say that everytime?" I couldn't resist setting her straight. "I've been three times, and this is the first time they've ever said anything." “Oh! Do they always say that it’s the best audience?” “Nope, just this time.” She seemed pretty happy about that.

So, after my 3 trips to Wicked, here's the verdict:

Best Elphaba: Amanda Harrison. Jemma Rix does an admirable job but doesn’t quite nail the characterisation. Amanda got laughs out of some of the throwaway lines which Jemma missed, and she had a great rapport with Rob Mills.

Pippa Grandiose played a very different Elphaba, more of the loner geek than the prickly witch, but while interesting it just wasn’t as effective. I’m sure there’s a reason why her contract wasn’t renewed and she was just a “temp” after Amanda left.

Best Fiyero: Rob Mills. I know, I know, Australia Idol wannabe who hooked up with Paris Hilton, I'm as surprised as you are. While I believe Tim Campbell is the superior performer, he just wasn't right for this role. For one thing, he’s too tall and towers over all of his costars. He is also a little bit older and doesn’t pull off the transition from high-school student to adult. Having said that, both were great and got the cheekiness and charm down pat.

Highlights: The clever social commentary woven into a visually spectacular and humorous story based on the Wizard of Oz. What's not to love?

Lowlights: Bert Newton. Seriously, that guy sucks, and the Australians *adore* him. They cheer whenever they see him. Honestly, it's ridiculous. I found his role irritating, and not sure if it's just him or if it's the character itself. But I'm sure the Wizard can't be that annoying in every production of this show. I think it's the way he delivers his lines and his general inability to act.

This show: 10/10

This production: 9/10 (they lose a point for Bert Newton, but fortunately his scenes are limited).

See it if you can!!!

Sidenote:

A massive thank you to Ticketmaster NZ, Ticketmaster Australia, Capitol Theatre and the Wicked production team for being so accommodating. My ticket was for Wednesday 22nd, but I was unexpectedly in New Zealand for my grandmother's funeral. On the Tuesday I flicked a quick email to the NZ customer service address as I couldn't find any contact details for Australia. I honestly didn't think of it any further, being somewhat preoccuped. But they contacted customer service in Australia who contacted the theatre. When I got back to Australia I had an email saying that if I wanted to show up at the theatre that night there would be a ticket waiting for me. Not only was it a ticket, it was the best seat in the house, dead centre. I was impressed by the service and very happy that I was able to see the production one final time before they moved on.

http://www.wickedthemusical.com/

Swan Lake on Ice

Several years back, when we saw Swan Lake on Ice in Auckland, we were in the front row at the Civic and it was a truly magical experience. Skaters performed remarkable feats to the magnificent Tchaikovsky, we saw skates flying above our heads, ice landed in our laps. I've said many times that it was one of my favourite shows of all time. It's worth noting that I received free tickets to their production of Cinderella on Ice the following year, and although enjoyable and amazing it simply didn't compare.

So when I saw the show advertised in Sydney my heart leaped... they were back with my favourite all time performance!! At first I didn't consider going, because I'd already been. But it took just a couple of drinks one night after payday for me to relent and purchase tickets online. I also told DH he had to come again, just as he had in Auckland. After all, it was at the casino, and he'd get to have buffet dinner first. (He's a big fan).

In my previous encounters with the Imperial Ice Stars, Vadim Yarkov has always performed the role of tall dark & handsome prince. There's been a bit of a cast reshuffle with some performers retiring, and in Swan Lake he is now playing the dark, evil and sinister Count von Rothbart. He adjusts to this role well, and I would say comparing his performances that he has come into his own in this role. He was always strong, but the "bad guy" role brings out a great deal of expression that was previously repressed. This, of course, leaves the starring role vacant. Consequently the shorter, blonde and utterly adorable Andrei Penkine is now playing the prince.

Lest you think I disagree with this casting, let me assure you that Andrei deserves this role and performs it admirably. He is exceptionally talented. However, having seen him in his previous role in this story, it's hard not to miss him in that capacity. Andrei played the role of Benno (the Prince's best friend) so exquisitely. He had the cheekiness, the sweet naivety and slight cockiness with the ladies that made his attempts to charm the Prince out of his lethargy quite appealing. He owned the role. So although he's a very talented skater and certainly performs Prince Siegfreid impressively, both Shane and I missed him in his previous role. The new Benno is taller (which just looks weird - the sidekick should always be taller than the Prince!) and doesn't have that cuteness about him.

In summary: Good Guy (Prince) is now the Bad Guy (Sorcerer), Sidekick (Benno) is now the Good Guy (Prince). Got it?

But that wasn't the only difference that we noted. The cast is older, they've been touring for many years now. I did feel that in some ways the production was somewhat tired. The performers spun around to the pre-recorded soundtrack, and it gave me a sense of tragedy, that they had lost the glamour that they deserved and sold their souls to commercialism. The costumes and sets throughout the show are beautiful and stunning, but they are the same sets and costumes as 5 years ago. The female skaters are still in the same roles, and still utterly brilliant. Their athleticism is astounding. It seems sad that they're touring the world year after year in the same roles. They are extremely talented, but it feels wasted on us, as though there should be something more for them after all of this time.

One of the most notable differences between the Russian skaters and basically *any* Australian production I've been to is the encore. The best part of the show is actually after it finishes, where they bow again and again, and then perform jumps and tricks while the crowd grows increasingly excited. This was the same as ever. It's the moment that they come into their own, and looking at them you cannot doubt that this is their life, their passion. They thrive on applause, and connect with the audience on a unique level. Their enthusiasm is contagious as the energy increases and they show off every jump and acrobatic trick in their repertoire.


If you ever have the chance to see the Imperial Ice Stars I thoroughly recommend you take the opportunity. They are passionate, talented performers who clearly love what they do.


Highlights:
I still adore Andrei Penkine. :-) And he DOES always smile at me. Then again, Shane refers to him as "smiley guy" so his smiles certainly aren't exclusive.

Lowlights:
Shane was disappointed that the skater on 6ft stilts was no longer part of the cast. The "tall guy" was part of the Count's evil posse and added an extra bit of drama. They still had the ring of fire where they light the stage up and other awesome moments, but the stilt guy was pretty cool!


What: Swan Lake on Ice
When: 1st September, 2010
Where: Lyric Theatre, SkyCity

http://www.imperialicestars.com

Film: Boy

If I'm looking a little teary-eyed today, put it down to nostalgia.

I enjoyed a preview of the film "Boy", which is an immediate kiwi classic for it's constant references to popsicles if for nothing else. (Seriously, popsicles were the awesome 50c dairy treat of all of our childhood...).

Apparently it's a smash hit in New Zealand, which didn't surprise me much seeing New Zealand typically produces one mainstream film per year, if that. Not a lot of competition going on. But the bright side of that is that when they do make a big movie they can capture plenty of raw, untapped and genuine talent. So Boy is actually good, well-written and meaningful viewing. There's drama, humour, sex, violence, innocence, family dynamics and basically anything else you could look for in a film. There's even a taste of glamour and wealth thanks to the very active imagination of our protagonist.

This film is a true kiwi film from A to Z. My very Aussie friend, Amanda, admitted that it wasn't until at least halfway through before she finally realised they were calling each other "eggs" because the accent was a little hard to understand. I had no problem with the accent, but when I first heard "egg" it was a moment before the word registered for me. And then it came flooding back - egg!! You're such an egg. And that word conveyed such meaning. That's what we used to say, before we learnt the F-word or other dirty words, or at least before we had the guts to use them. So this film absolutely hit home with me in a silly way. And it was fun - if for nothing else, the Maori version of Thriller performed during the closing credits makes this movie absolutely worth watching.

My only concern with this film is the perception it creates on the world stage. Yes, the film is funny and very realistic. But it's funny because we relate to it as the way our society was, not the way it is now. I would hate for anybody to believe that we haven't made progress in the past 25 years in terms of domestic violence, caring for children, and general quality of life. This is almost an in-joke. It's the life that we all relate to on some level, but it's not a modern depiction of New Zealand today. That's not to say the modern NZ is a sugar-coated paradise, but it's advanced further both for the good and for the bad. The issues we face now are deeper and more serious. Likewise, the good has increased, there have been improvements in many areas. That may seem ridiculously obvious, but my interactions with people from across the world consistently tell me that their exposure to us is minimal, and therefore they do take whatever they see rather seriously. So let's hope they see this for what it is - a clever indie classic, not a picture of the life of every Kiwi kid.

When: 18th August, 2010

Where: Event Cinemas, George St

Verdict: Entertaining.

Thanks to SeeFilmFirst for the free tickets!

West Side Story - Lyric Theatre

My theatrical outing on the night of August 4th was exceptional for one reason - I was accompanied by my lovely husband. This show was on at the casino and therefore a slightly further and more interesting excursion than usual. So it seemed appropriate to go together and make an evening of it. Sadly, there was nothing else particularly exceptional about the evening. It was enjoyable, but nothing to write home about.

To be fair, our West Side Story experience was nearly a disaster before it began. At approximately 11am I popped onto my email to double-check the show's start time as I couldn't remember whether it was 8pm or 8:30. To my horror I discovered that I had mistakenly purchased matinee tickets, with the show commencing at noon, and proceeded to have a minor freakout in the office. It took 30min on the phone to ticketmaster, a portion of that on hold while they spoke to the production manager, but they very kindly resolved it for me. Instead of front row and centre we were 20 rows back on the side, but better than nothing. So that evening after a tram ride and a quick feed at the casino buffet we headed down to the theatre. It was a full house (possibly due to the short run of the production) and started promptly.

A coworker of mine had complained that the set was too sparse. While this is true, it's hard to do anything elaborate with sets and costumes when the story is set in a harsh, poverty stricken environment. I do believe the backdrop and lighting could have been used more effectively, as it was very minimalistic and didn't have the impact I would expect. One day I will hopefully be able to compare to a Broadway rendition and find out whether this is a production fault or actually the way the play is supposed to be presented.

The vocal performances were acceptable, although the augmented fourths were a little dicey even to a poor musical ear such as mine. The dancing was a pleasure to watch, but honestly this was due more to the fabulous choreography than to any standout effort from the cast.

Overall, while there was nothing particular to fault about the production, neither was there anything to write home about. Usually when I see a show there'll be at least one performer who stands out, where I'll find myself wondering about their past and future work - checking out their wikipedia page the following day - and knowing that this is a name to watch out for. Nobody in this production had that impact. It was a pleasant evening, but I didn't feel the level of emotional tug that this story should

So, how do I rate West Side Story?

The show:

8/10. The story is a classic, and the score is fantastic. One Hand, One Heart just tears at my heartstrings and has me wringing all two of my hands with glee at the beauty of it.

This production:

6/10. They did ok. It didn't quite have the impact I would hope, and the overall feel of the production was sparse and rushed.

The crowd:

Fairly good. The ladies next to me whispered for awhile but a few carefully timed glares shut them up. There was a group at the front who missed the lock-out and were let in after a couple of scenes, which was particularly disruptive as there were nearly a dozen of them. Rude people!! Get your act together and show some respect. If you can't arrive punctually, then don't come at all.

Highlights:

• Officer Krupke. The boys did a good job, and performed this song in the hilarious and ironic way it should be presented. It's back on top of my playlist again. :-)
• During the very emotional, dramatic ballet scene a slight "oops" occurred. Specifically, one of the female performer's top came entirely undone and fell down, exposing her bra. She handled it very professionally, managing to finish the scene while acting as nonchalant as possible, and waiting to exit in a graceful and deliberate manner once the rest of the cast had returned to the stage and she could do so with subtly.

Lowlights:

The crowd. Certain members of the audience tittered like a football crowd when the aforementioned incident occurred. Seriously people, her undergarments were a full built-in section of the dress, there was nothing titillating or inappropriate. And it's seriously uncool to mock somebody just because things haven't gone as planned. Grow up.

Reality show exit lines

Best exit comments from a reality show ever:

"My king-sized bed! I'm gonna romp around in there. I've missed it so much, I think I'll just hang out there for days."

Those were (roughly) the final words from Australian Masterchef contestant Alvin who left us tonight.

Most contestants tell us how grateful they are for the opportunity, how happy they'll be to see their family or friends, how much they've learnt and what they'll be taking away with them. Blah, blah, blah.

This is the truth that we want to hear! Who doesn't long for the comforts of home when in a strange situation? Sharing a dorm-room with a stranger, tv cameras shoved in your face 24/7. Of course you miss your bed. Good for you Alvin!