The Phantom of the Opera at MBS MasterCard Theatres

My love for musicals began when I was a teenager, with the Phantom of the Opera. 

 I remember being utterly enthralled with the famous lake scene (you have to watch it if you don't know what I'm talking about!), the soaring high notes, the beautiful duets that dipped and rose together with the live orchestra in haunting harmony. The final scene.. It's so heart-wrenching and poignant with despair and loss, sorrow and despondency. So glad that I got to watch this a second time in my life, and even had an opportunity to meet and speak to the creative team and cast in person! 

If you have never experienced the magic of the Phantom of the Opera before, you are missing out on an incredible show!

Melissa and I attended the media call together (our first time!) and got first dibs on a sneak preview of the show, as well as getting to speak to the creative team and cast in person! It was a wonderful privilege and experience, and we had a really insightful session!

While the rest of the media were busy snapping pictures of the performances and speeches... Yup, here we are taking selcas :D #shamelessbloggers

That's not to say we didn't take any photos of the show! I don't want to spoil the show for you if you'll be watching it, but here are a few shots of my favourite scenes! The die-hard Phantom fans will certainly recognise every scene!

We listened in while Brad Little (The Phantom), Claire Lyon (Christine Daae) and Anthony Downing (Raoul) were being interviewed by various media personnel, and it was a really interesting session!

Anthony Downing, who plays Raoul, Christine's passionate lover.

Beautiful Claire Lyon who plays Christine, she did an incredible job!

Here's some Phantom trivia for you:

*22 containers were shipped into Singapore for The Phantom of the Opera: that's how huge the production is!

*A large number of the orchestra musicians you hear performing the beautiful music of the Phantom are all our very own local talents, who auditioned for the parts when the creative team flew in a few months ago! I'm so proud of our local musicians! :)

*Brad Little (who plays the Phantom) actually used to play Raoul on Broadway, but has starred in over 2200 performances in the travelling tour of The Phantom of the Opera as the Phantom, and this is his second time playing the Phantom in Singapore!

*The musical is based on a novel "Le Fantome De L’Opera" written by Gaston Leroux in 1909, and was popularised by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1986, that makes the Phantom over a century old! (I actually read the novel a long time ago after watching the musical in 2007, and I re-read it again a few days ago!)

*Claire Lyon is one of the few Christines to be involved in both The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies (the sequel to Phantom), but ironically, she first performed the role of Christine in Love Never Dies, and not Phantom.

You can find tonnes more of Phanton trivia on fan sites all over the internet, so I'm not gonna bore you out if you haven't yet been inducted into the cult of the Phantom! *cue evil laughter*

***

After the media call in the afternoon, Mel and I popped over to City Plaza for lunch: my favourite ban mian!! (Walao, ever since then, I've been having MAJOR ban mian cravings =__=) And then we went back home to freshen up, before heading back to the MasterCard Theatres in the evening again for the Gala Show of The Phantom of the Opera!

Mel and I both changed into long dresses for the evening: the theme was "Black Tie" and what better chance to dress up than the gala opening of such a celebrated musical?

I was very excited because it was YZ's first time watching The Phantom of the Opera, he had other plans that evening initially but I wheedled and persuaded him to come watch the musical with me, and I'm so glad I did because he enjoyed it thoroughly as well!

The show was spectacular, even better than what I remembered, honestly! And if you are fond of the Phantom and its music, trust me, you will definitely enjoy the brilliance of the live singing and music, my skin was literally prickling with goosebumps the moment the opening interlude started!

I loved the huge singing acts and humour in the show, they brought liveliness and comic relief to set off the intimate and quieter scenes with stanza after stanza of heartfelt singing. Claire Lyon really shone as Christine, and I was blown away with her voice and how well she portrayed the part.

The chemistry between the Phantom and Christine was simply amazing as well, I was almost brought to tears by the raw emotions of the Phantom, and how he turned from the fear-evoking antagonist to a broken, desolate creature who only longs to be loved.. :'( The final scene is just so heartbreaking! I was glued to the edge of my seat, rapt with attention, as the scene unfolded.

Apart from the wonderful storytelling and music, the show itself is so visually stunning! You'd find yourself sucked right into the world of the Opera Populaire and the Phantom, with the elaborate attention to detail in the props, costumes and stage settings! It was a feast for all of my senses!

My words are rather inadequate, so please, watch it for yourself instead!

With some other gorgeous ladies, Claire, Sophie and Mel at the After Party!

Fabulous canapes after the great show, and we got to mingle with the cast too!

With my hansum partner! ❤

The Phantom Of The Opera season in Singapore will close on Sept 1, with shows running daily at prices starting from S$55 to S$230, excluding booking fee. More information can be found at (baseentertainmentasia.com) or (marinabaysands.com) or by calling +65 6688 8826.

***

Outfit details:
Diane Peekaboo Maxi in White
Courtney Box Clutch in White

Love the full white ensemble, including my pair of white platform heels! Teehee.

And my look of the day, with YSL Chromatics eyeshadow palette! I used it wet and the intensity was super love! ❤ Pray ignore mine unsightly Roaccutane-ed peely lips.

Also on the face:

Lancome Mat Miracle Liquid Foundation
Shiseido Maquillage True Cheek RD321
Shu Uemura Hard Formula Brow Pencil
Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara
Amazing Cosmetics Cream Concealer

Did a simple gradient smoky eye with a winged tip.

:D :D :D

Listening to the 25th Anniversary OST of Phantom as I'm writing this and the music is so timeless and wonderful. I love it! My family is so annoyed by my non-stop singing of the Phantom songs. They are all like, 你干嘛，鬼叫啊?! but I don't care!

Another week beckons, so I wish everyone a blessed week ahead!
Thank you for reading this space :)

xoxo

at pizzeria mozza

work has been taking a lot out of me lately, and i haven't been seeing friends for so long, i feel like a hermit :( the only people i've been seeing are my fellow blogshop laobanniangs, minions, suppliers & my boyfriend! sounds quite depressing right :( you'd never think that so much time and work goes into running a small online business. shan't elaborate, some day when i have a lot of free time, i'll sit down and maybe write a long long blog post on TVD.. how it started and how i ended up doing what i'm doing now! haha. freaking long grandmother story.

neways.. finally got to meet my three girls for dinner, it's been eons since our last dinner! like some time in May lor... pre-Poland. lol. which also reminds me that i'm only halfway through my Poland travelogues. i am so so so so slow. i've been seeing Fish a lot now that she's working for LRH, but Woon & Aini are also busy with work, finally managed to find a night that everyone could take time off to have our dinner date!

this time round, we went to MBS.. so atas right! bwahaha.

to an Italian joint called Pizzeria Mozza! :)

just for your info, the whole menu is in Italian okay. so it's probably better to consult a waiter to decipher it for you. haha.

they served these cheese crackers thingy, i like!

all their pizzas are made-to-order, and the waiting time is like 45 minutes! super worth the wait though!!

Woon & Aini

Fish & me!

i still had to launch on the day of the dinner, omg, had to do up the entry with LJ's new freaking annoying entry editor in like half an hour! *panic mode* fortunately managed to launch on time, the girls had to wait for me while i wrapped up the launch before we could concentrate on dinner! love my macbook air cos it's so awesome, i carry it around all the time and don't feel the weight at all!

on to the food! we waited quite a while before they started serving the food, and the restaurant was extremely crowded! shows how popular it is.

calamari. why i mentioned you should consult the waiter before ordering, cos smart alecks us just saw the word "calamari" and interpreted it as deep fried squid rings, lol but we were presented with this whole squid on sticks! it was very yummy though! well marinated and tender, not too chewy or rubbery!

and i just have to rave about the pizzas. they are sooo sooo good!!! the crust isn't doughy and thick, it's a little chewy, thin and so damn good i had to resist from finishing it all up! :X diet plan, you see. can't take too much carbs :P

magherita pizza, just tomato and cheese goodness. the tomato was very tangy and it tasted awesome! the fresh herbs complemented the pizza well and super not jelat unlike some other pizzas i've had. VERY GOOD.

and my LOVE. al funghi pizza omg omg omg look at it it's covered in mushrooms!!! super not stingy with the mushrooms, and they were so juicy and tasty! dammit. salivating already. imma super big fan of mushrooms in my food! definitely must try. every bite is mushroom heaven.

we also tried the bone marrow anti pasti, this one was interesting! first time trying bone marrow, lol suaku much. it just tasted very oily to me.. must have came from a very well fed cow! Fish couldn't really stomach it though. hahaha. she said she couldn't stop imagining the poor cow while looking at the bone...

camwhoring through out, but the lighting's quite dim in the restaurant so it's not really a good place to camwhore!

Fish trying very hard to dissect her pizza crust.

me devouring pizza. YUM YUM YUM.

i ran into an old friend, J at the restaurant too! :) from church. we were wearing the same shade of blue! coincidence coincidence.

our meal for four came up to about 80 dollars or less? i can't remember, but the pizzas cost like $20 over ish per pizza, so it was pretty affordable! :) i googled online and read a few reviews, it's supposed to be one of the best pizza places in singapore, and apparently you'd need to make reservations for the weekends! highly recommended for pizza/italian food lovers.

Osteria & Pizzeria Mozza
2 Bayfront Ave #B1-42/46
The Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands Singapore
Tel: +65 6688 8522

***

the above photos are all taken with leme cam, i think! cos a reader was asking about it in the previous entry! :)

so we decided not to take dessert at the restaurant, and ended up wandering aimlessly around for a bit.. we walked to the river side and the view was really pretty!

Fish & I posing with the LV window display. i looove LV's window display! so whimsical and pretty. Fish is wearing LRH's upcoming skirt & i'm wearing TVD's cape toga romper! both pieces are mad love! :D

awesome cityscape

two insane girls. hey Woon is in full TVD too! weekender skinny trousers & checkered shirt from TVD hehehehe.

a nice bokeh shot of Aini taking a picture of the view. whee. still taken with my E-P1 btw cos this was before i bought the E-P3! :P

in the end, we cabbed down to the only place that was probably still open with desserts: 2AM dessert bar at Holland Village!

they have really awesome cushy seats, and i haven't been there for ever cos Holland Village is so out of the way. but once the Circle Line is fully open, it'd be a lot more accessible to me! woohoo.

definitely maxed out my calories that night. we ordered four different desserts to share zomg! all very good. especially the chocolate tart with strawberry ice cream!!! great place to pig out over desserts and chillax. went home at 1am, full (guilty) stomachs and happy hearts.

:)

absolutely adore girl dates. sighhh. thank you girls :) love you all long time!

i love my BF and our boy/girl dates too also okay. just to clarify, if not later YZ'll get jealous :P

BUT.

everyone knows that girl dates without the men are always much fun-ner, what's better if you get to unleash your inner shopaholic coupled with champagne, canapés and giggles right! :P

if you don't already know, Les Affaires is a French-inspired sleepwear label for women, and it has just launched its Fall/Holiday 2011 collection which includes gorgeous new designs made with lush, organic fabrics that are perfect for the tropics.

Les Affaires has kindly invited myself and three of my readers, to a Les Affaires’ Girls’ Night In, at its boutique store at Wisma Atria, so be prepared for a fun girly night with champagne & canapés all ready for you! we'll get to look at the wonderful new Fall'11 collection, try on every single piece if you wish, or just relax and sip champagne! :)

if you'd like to join me this Friday evening, 23 September at

Les Affaires Boutique

@ Wisma Atria #03-09

from 7-9PM,

simply send in an email to ask.yina@gmail.com,

with the subject header: Les Affaires’ Girls’ Night In,

and provide me with the following information:

Name:

Mobile number:

Tell me why you wanna come!

by Thursday 22nd September, 12 noon and i'd be picking three readers to join me on Friday night! :) what's more, each reader will get to pick out and take home a piece (worth $60 or less) from the new collection, courtesy of Les Affaires! sounds fantastic alreadyyyy i can't wait!!! :D come come come and join me!!

find out more about Les Affaires via their Facebook page here!

***

it's already past 3AM! gonna go head off to bed now! have a slew of appointments this week, very eggcited! :D gonna do my hair, and going for a slimming treatment. LOL. this slimming thing is never gonna work if i don't control my appetite. TSK!

good nightttt!!!