Sunday, March 25, 2012

Wicked, Singapore


We finally made it to Singapore to watch Wicked, our second show which we didn’t know the plot, storyline or characters (the first was We Will Rock You). All we knew it was something to do with a green witch and the Wizard of Oz.

I travelled to Singapore with a friend early Saturday morning as KS was already there due to work. I booked us a pretty boutique hotel in China Town called The Inn at Temple Street due to budget purposes and food location. I find that with my recent trips to Singapore, I’m finding out new pockets of Singapore I’ve never set foot into. A discovery of Singapore all over again despite going there for years!

The hotel was very nice, clean and most importantly, near food and the Chinatown MRT station! It’s still a little bit pricy and there’s no free wifi otherwise this would be THE place I’d stay the next time I go.


Anyway, back to the show, it was supposed to start at 7:30pm. I wanted to eat at this place called Astons in Little India (cheap and good food!) but had factored in only 15 minutes for travelling time. And I forgot that almost everywhere in Singapore, you’d have to queue. Still, I thought at 6pm, there wouldn’t be much of a queue but I was wrong. We waited 15 minutes (which isn’t long in Singapore standards I guess) before we were seated at 6:15pm. Ate quickly and went off at 6:45pm. It looked like we had plenty of time to reach Marina Bay Sands Theatre didn’t we?

Nope. By 7:15pm, after running all over the Doby Ghaut MRT station looking for the correct line to take, we were still on our way. My friend who had reached there earlier called to say she couldn’t collect the tickets because they needed to see the credit card that had made the purchase of the tickets. And if we don’t collect the tickets by 7:30pm, they will shut the counter and we would have to miss the show.

By 7:20pm plus, we arrived at the new MRT station (Bayfront) that opened into MBS (thank God!). I looked at KS and said, “See you at the theatre” and I ran for my life, calling out to anyone who looked like they worked there “WHERE IS THE THEATRE?!” to guide my sprint. Felt like I was in some Amazing Race but I didn't care anymore at that point.

All ended well as I managed to get the tickets in mere minutes before the counter closed. It took me almost the first half of the show to recover from my run.

As for the show, I truly enjoyed it. Sure, the costumes weren’t as fantastic as Lion King but I liked the story. Few things that stood out for me was the conversation between the Wizard of Oz and Elphaba, about changing the historical documents so that eventually the lies will be believed as truth and the sadness of Galinda on the things she had to do due to her chosen life of being a public figure. And the song, Defying Gravity. :)

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