Cinderella Musical December 21, 2008
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Tik and I bought tickets to see Cinderella at Muangthai Ratchadalai Theatre at the Esplanade Shopping Mall.
We chose to buy tickets because our favorite musical singer Lea Salonga carried the lead part. Lea was the original Miss Saigon in London, has played Eponine in Les Miserables, sang the music for Lion king and has the kind of voice that made us pay 2,000 baht per ticket to see her. I had actually said years ago that if Miss Saigon (The musical) ever returned to Asia, I’d fly out to see it, so seeing this, as a compromise, saved me quite a bit of money.
Sadly, the show was pretty naff. Despite the high price and the fact that they banned children under five from attending, this didn’t have much to offer adults. It was pretty much a pantomime and the jokes were lame, the musical score mundane and monotonous.
Our lovely Lea didn’t really manage to save it. That said, we still enjoyed the opportunity to try something different. We did enjoy a few of Lea’s solo numbers and it got us into the Christmas spirit a little bit.
On leaving, we were also informed that the musical of ‘Chicago’ is also coming to Bangkok next February. We rushed to get the best possible tickets we could for the Valentines day Matinee performance. We’re both really looking forward to this, having seen the movie at least four times.
Michael Learns to Rock Concert November 26, 2008
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Tik and I got tickets to see Michael Learns To Rock at Impact Arena, Meung Thong Thani.
We’re not really big fans of this Danish group but it’s always exciting to see concerts.
This concert was pretty badly organized though. We didn’t have great seats, the sound system was terrible and I’ve never seen so many people just walk out during a show before. Tik had a suspicion that perhaps a lot of people were given free tickets and only attended for that reason.
Their music was good though. When they left the stage at the end of the show, they presumably expected an encore. Instead though, about half the audience just left the hall.
Valiantly, they returned to perform about 6 more songs for the remaining people and we managed to walk to within a few meters of the stage at that point and enjoyed the atmosphere of the singing and dancing fans who were with us ’till the lights went down.
Kylie Minogue Concert November 23, 2008
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We rounded off our action-packed weekend with tickets for Kylie Minogue in Bangkok.
As neither Tik nor I are huge Kylie fans we opted for 4,000 baht tickets rather than the most expensive 8,000 baht ones. This meant we were about half way back in the audience and had to reply on the large video screens because the tiny little madam looked only an inch tall from our viewpoint.
The atmosphere at the concert was great and we were really pleased to have gone.
Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Play ‘Music of The Night” November 21, 2008
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As I went to book tickets for the Borg and Mcenroe tennis match on Saturday I noticed that, for one night only, a duo of west-end singers were performing songs from our favorite musicals at the Thailand Cultural center.
A little excited that the show was only a few hours away I booked the best tickets in the house (center of ‘A’ row) at 3,000 baht each.
It was a nightmare getting to Thailand Cultural center on time but we eventually found it with a few minutes to spare.
THe concert lasted two hours and was accompanied by the entire Bangkok Symphony Orchestra who we had the pleasure of seeing up close. The two singers were John Owen-Jones and Janet Mooney – both of whom have played major roles in most musicals they sang songs from.
Most of the songs were from Les Miserables, Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and the odd song from Joseph and from Aspects of Love.
We left the evening on a high, having the songs in our head for many days afterwards. The evening also triggered the start of our best-week-ever, as for the next few days we’ve got so many great events planned.
A Review of ‘Music of the Night’ by the Bangkok Post can be found here.
We Will Rock You July 21, 2008
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Tik and I went to see ‘We Will Rock You’ last Thursday at the Muang Thai Rachadalai Theatre in Bangkok.
This was a live musical with the international traveling cast. The theater is, from what I understand, Thailand newest (and possibly only) proper theater and opened less than 12 months ago. It was clean, modern and very impressive, by both Thai and Western Standards.
There have been a number of big-name shows in Bangkok over the last 18 months including ‘West Side Story’ (regrettably missed that one), ‘Cats’ (glad not to have seen that) and now this.
‘We Will Rock You’ takes you through a well-staged display of famous Queen songs through a badly-written script by Ben Elton. Script aside, if you like Queen songs the show delivered over 2 hours of talented singing, ok dancing and some great staging and special effects.
Quite thoughtfully this live musical actually came with Thai subtitles that were displayed on 4 TV screens at the sides of the stage in realtime.
It ws sad that the theater was perhaps only one-third full. At over 1,000 for the cheapest seats this type of entertainment is just not practical for most Thai couples. If the theater realized that a live musical is a greater experience for the cast and audience if the seats are full then perhaps they could make efforts to reduce ticket prices and make shows accessible to the masses.
A write-up of ‘We Will Rock You’ can be found here.
Maroon 5 – Live in Bangkok March 4, 2008
Posted by Martin in : Leisure , add a commentFor our 1st Wedding Anniversary Tik and I booked tickets to see my first ever live concert in Thailand.
Both of us are Maroon 5 fans and by the date of our concert Tik knew the song lyrics as well as the band. The concert was in
The concert was at Impact Arena – basically a large sports hall with seats.
We treated ourselves to central B row seats at 4,000 baht each and were within spitting distance of Adam Cohen – the lead singer. Although the concert was for one night only, the expensive seats were maybe a third full – most Thais opted for the more economical 500 baht seats further back.
The experience for us both was great and we’ll be keeping our eyes open for similar concerts or shows to treat ourselves too.
