Thursday, November 30, 2006
My Communications and New Media (CNM) lecturer/examiner is such a joker.
The CNM final exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions. Don’t gloat, because some of the choices were really close so it was “mee-nee-my-nee-mee-nee-mo”…
Anyway here are some “choices” spotted on the exam paper. Excuse my vague memory of the exact structure of the questions…
(A question asking about a certain concept and its definition…)
Choice (e): I received an SMS from my friend when the lecturer was explaining this concept so sorry, I don’t know!
(The ‘sequel’ to the above question…)
Choice (e): I was busy replying to my friend’s SMS when the lecturer was explaining this concept, so I don’t know!
(A question asking for an issue that is relevant to the given concept)
Choice (e): This is a totally “irrelevant” question!
* * *
Ken and I watch Immortality in the evening at the Esplanade Theatre.
Immortality is this grand Chinese musical that is built to impress. Already when we enter the theatre we are greeted by a stunning stage setup: extended from the usual stage floor is a shallow pool with three bridges spanning it. The stage has been designed for some forest setting: plants hang from the roof of the stage; rocks in the pool; plants beside it; plants all over the stairs to the stage…
The lighting was terrific too! There was a combination of multimedia projection, with lighting sourced from all over the theatre – from the ceiling to the back of the stage to the audience wings.
I’m not sure if the sound designer has installed speakers at the back of the auditorium, where the audience is sitting, or the Esplanade already had such a layout for their sound system. In any case, the sound designer seeks to achieve surround sound effect, which makes the audio aspect interesting.
Only the actor as the Jester and the actress playing Jin, the golden sunbird, are good. The supposed lead, Sha, is very weak in his low notes and constantly gets drowned out by the music accompaniment. The supporting actress who plays the Fish – the bird’s friend – tends to go sharp very easily. At one point this jarring effect sends me tingling in sickness – I just wish she stopped singing!
They have a huge cast, but the singing doesn’t come out. Most of the time we cannot hear what they are singing – either they do not have powerful vocals or the sound controller has upped the music too much.
Not sure if they have a live orchestra, or the music was pre-recorded as minus ones. I thought I saw music stand lights and bobbing heads at the back of the stage, behind the last row of lights.
The underscoring and orchestration are good, especially the music for the battle scenes. There are too many irritating ballads that do not have much uniqueness and are always scored in the same style – always opening with a piano. So when I hear the smooth-playing of the piano: “Oh no, here we go again…” Unfortunately there isn’t much distinction in the orchestration either – it failed to contribute the spreading of magic, which was successfully achieved in Wicked the musical.
The story is another thorn – Ken and I have no idea what is going on. We only know that the archaeologist Sha has lost his memory, and to invoke his remembrance of the past the Jester takes Sha, who is his master, back in time to experience all that has occurred, to the extent that Fish is killed during a battle brought back from time… till now that’s all I know about the story. What aids the confusion is that there is no sense of time in the staging – everything seems to happen in chronological sequence – we do not get the feeling that we are going back to see the past.
Nevertheless the scope of this musical is to be admired greatly – it shows the boundaries that the stage can be pushed (literally and metaphorically) to wow the audience, and Ken and I are really inspired to recreate the same scale for our musical about Insects in the future.
¶ 11/30/2006 11:18:00 pm The CNM final exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions. Don’t gloat, because some of the choices were really close so it was “mee-nee-my-nee-mee-nee-mo”…
Anyway here are some “choices” spotted on the exam paper. Excuse my vague memory of the exact structure of the questions…
(A question asking about a certain concept and its definition…)
Choice (e): I received an SMS from my friend when the lecturer was explaining this concept so sorry, I don’t know!
(The ‘sequel’ to the above question…)
Choice (e): I was busy replying to my friend’s SMS when the lecturer was explaining this concept, so I don’t know!
(A question asking for an issue that is relevant to the given concept)
Choice (e): This is a totally “irrelevant” question!
* * *
Ken and I watch Immortality in the evening at the Esplanade Theatre.
Immortality is this grand Chinese musical that is built to impress. Already when we enter the theatre we are greeted by a stunning stage setup: extended from the usual stage floor is a shallow pool with three bridges spanning it. The stage has been designed for some forest setting: plants hang from the roof of the stage; rocks in the pool; plants beside it; plants all over the stairs to the stage…
The lighting was terrific too! There was a combination of multimedia projection, with lighting sourced from all over the theatre – from the ceiling to the back of the stage to the audience wings.
I’m not sure if the sound designer has installed speakers at the back of the auditorium, where the audience is sitting, or the Esplanade already had such a layout for their sound system. In any case, the sound designer seeks to achieve surround sound effect, which makes the audio aspect interesting.
Only the actor as the Jester and the actress playing Jin, the golden sunbird, are good. The supposed lead, Sha, is very weak in his low notes and constantly gets drowned out by the music accompaniment. The supporting actress who plays the Fish – the bird’s friend – tends to go sharp very easily. At one point this jarring effect sends me tingling in sickness – I just wish she stopped singing!
They have a huge cast, but the singing doesn’t come out. Most of the time we cannot hear what they are singing – either they do not have powerful vocals or the sound controller has upped the music too much.
Not sure if they have a live orchestra, or the music was pre-recorded as minus ones. I thought I saw music stand lights and bobbing heads at the back of the stage, behind the last row of lights.
The underscoring and orchestration are good, especially the music for the battle scenes. There are too many irritating ballads that do not have much uniqueness and are always scored in the same style – always opening with a piano. So when I hear the smooth-playing of the piano: “Oh no, here we go again…” Unfortunately there isn’t much distinction in the orchestration either – it failed to contribute the spreading of magic, which was successfully achieved in Wicked the musical.
The story is another thorn – Ken and I have no idea what is going on. We only know that the archaeologist Sha has lost his memory, and to invoke his remembrance of the past the Jester takes Sha, who is his master, back in time to experience all that has occurred, to the extent that Fish is killed during a battle brought back from time… till now that’s all I know about the story. What aids the confusion is that there is no sense of time in the staging – everything seems to happen in chronological sequence – we do not get the feeling that we are going back to see the past.
Nevertheless the scope of this musical is to be admired greatly – it shows the boundaries that the stage can be pushed (literally and metaphorically) to wow the audience, and Ken and I are really inspired to recreate the same scale for our musical about Insects in the future.
