I believe that the broadcast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th Birthday Celebrations concert has been truncated.
When I read about it on the Internet after the show, I realise that several numbers fail to make their appearance. I don't see "Love Changes Everything" from "Aspects of Love"; neither does "Pie Jesu" from the "Requiem" appear; neither does the dance of the Jellicles from "CATS".
Nevertheless it's splendid to show on a Boxing Day and on a day before I'm about to go for my MDC re-audition. You know, for relaxing purposes and to ease out the stresses of practising.
Almost everybody whom I message about the show laps it up with enthusiasm, promptly switching channels, or powering up their television sets.
Which musical buff can afford to miss "The Essential Andrew Lloyd Webber" or "The Andrew Lloyd Webber Anthology" in full colour, in sight and sound, with all those little black bean sprouts coming to life?
I am frantically hurrying my brother to get the darn PlayStation out of the way so that I can watch it. Damn, it's already ten minutes or so into the show! By the time I tune in, I've missed the "Sunset Boulevard" segment. I want to see Glenn Close dressed up as that eccentric and egoistic movie star Norma Desmond, whose quirky figure I've encountered in photographs in the CD and sheet music. The first thing I see when the telly comes to life is Tina Turner belting out this rock ballad that has a very nice chord that makes me fall in love with it at first hearing. It's an A-major chord over a D-pedal - the song is in D-major. At that instance, I have no idea what that song is; later I learn that this is "Whistle Down the Wind", one of the newer Lloyd Webber musicals.
And apparently the pop song "No Matter What" comes from there as well. It's presented by Boyzone on the same concert. I don't even know it's Boyzone. I see five young guys standing there, all dressed in white, and I'm thinking, okay, this is Westlife. No, N'Sync. Or what is that group that has Justin Timberlake in it? Wait . . . can it be Michael Learns to Rock? A1? What the hell is it? See! The problem with boy bands! They look so alike that it takes a (smattering insufficient) knowledge of their works and their characteristics to spot the difference. There's always the blonde kid with the boyish face, and the Latino with the neck-length hair complete with moustache and beard.
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Antonio Banderas can sing! I only know him from "The Mask of Zorro" - correct me if I'm wrong. He takes the role of a-character-whose-name-I-do-not-know in "Evita" and the role of the Phantom in - obviously - the Phantom of the Opera. Well, for the latter, at least he sings better than Gerard Butler, the fellow playing the same Dark Knight - err, Genius, to be exact - in the "overtrimmed turkey" (quote Life!) currently being screened in theatres now. Still, Michael Crawford would have done it better. He was, after all, THE PHANTOM.
Sarah Brightman returns to her original role in Phantom, but she dresses more like Mortisha Addams than the young and sweet thing whom we all know as Christine Daae. In fact, it looks like she ditched Raoul and married the Phantom - a contradiction to the journey of her real-life marriage to the fellow who wrote the "Music of the Night" and their eventual separation. She looks plumper. Maybe it's the dress? At the first glimpse you just have to wonder: is this Sarah Brightman?
She sings the title song with Antonio Banderas. She sings it easy. You don't see the look of pressure on her face. She sings as if she could have done it while vacuuming the floor. Her operatic voice dazzles in "All I Ask Of You" and "Music of the Night", the latter which she solos in. You may be shocked that a female delivers something that has been written for the male voice crooning to the one that he loves. Brightman does it better than any man could have done it. She puts Sly to shame. Come on, Sly shouldn't sing these types of songs. The last time on some Channel Eight variety or charity show, there was this fellow from the Far East singing "Memory", and I'd say his rendition was 100% horrendous. He sang it like how William Hung would sing "She Bangs". I'd rather William sing "Comedy Tonight". And then the audience will die laughing in their seats. Anyway, Antonio can't sing "Music of the Night" either - the audience that night at the Royal Albert Hall would have died from an overdose of croaking.
Lloyd Webber's take on Paganini's Caprice is simply superb! The soloist is none other than Andrew's brother, Julian, wearing a football jersey. It's said that the composition came out as a result of a lost bet on a soccer team between the two brothers. The loser, you bet, was Andrew. This work is totally refreshing and inspiring, combining the worlds of art and rock music. It's a cello concerto with rock elements in it. Such an interesting conclusion to the segment being presented on the show! Julian plays a descending scale. It doesn't stop when it reaches the lowest note on the cello. How does he descend the depths of the scale further? Simple! By turning the tuning knobs on the instrument and bowing at the same time. The cello almost sounds like a double bass! So fun!
Michael Reed, the conductor, is damn fun to watch too. He's always bouncing away with the music. I keep my eyes on his back more than the singer at the front. No wonder the orchestra plays with such aplomb. What I mean is that, what should sound brash, like the rock song "Tyre Tracks and Broken Hearts" - that comes with a Harley Davidson on the stage - really sounds like it's going on overdrive. Reed really drives the orchestra along (literally).
The most interesting scene that has got to do with the orchestra takes place during the Overture to the Phantom of the Opera. With a burst of the Phantom's leitmotif, the curtains behind the orchestra draw back to reveal the organ of the Royal Albert Hall, bathed in lights of red, green and purple. As the camera zooms in on the controls, you see the organist playing the instrument as one would normally do, depressing the keys and pulling the stops. However, he's dressed in a long black coat, a hat and - GASP! - the Phantom's mask! At least he's playing a mighty instrument in a grand dame of a hall, not some pathetic piss in an equally pathetic hideout.
Why can't they extend the time slot so that they can play the whole programme from the front to the back? After that it's closing time, and the National Anthem comes on. So what if they work overtime for about fifteen minutes? It's MediaCock - I mean, MediaCorp - that loses out, because it has to pay them more.
