Beauty and the Beast

I was lucky enough to get some free tickets to the performance of Beauty and the Beast at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. It was an excellent show, even if there were some awfully cheesy parts.

All the main actors had really wonderful singing voices. Belle's voice was crystal clear. She wore some gorgeous costumes too. The beast was pretty well outfitted too, and the transformation from beast to prince was pretty cool. However, his constant roaring was a bit much for me. I kinda sat there like, "Really? That's what you're going to do?" The actor playing Gaston was so good.

What stole the show were the large set pieces that involved the entire cast. My favorite number was "Be Our Guest." The choreography was great; costumes just sparkled. Even the set for this number was amazing.

Speaking of sets, I sat there in awe of all the things they could do. I cannot even remember how many times the set decorations changed. It was cool how a slight change in lighting or a twist of a house could create an entirely new environment. So cool!

I definitely recommend this show, especially if you have kids. I didn't really notice an overwhelming number of them at my show. But, a lot of the slapstick humor and comedy routines were definitely targeted at them.

My friends and I found parking on the road (score!) so I didn't have to drop any dough on parking. While the auditorium was fairly full, I did see many empty seats. I went midweek though, so I'm sure the weekend showings are packed.

Shaolin Warriors, Blaisdell Concert Hall

I just got back from the opening night of the Shaolin Warriors performance at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. The show started at 7:30 p.m. and ran till about 9:30 p.m. There was a 15 minute intermission at about the halfway point.

Overall, I thought the show as interesting but not terribly original. If you've seen a kung fu-like performance by Chinese acrobats before, it'll probably be okay if you skip this show. While there were moments that were extremely jaw-dropping, those moments were few and far between. There was a lot of focus on the technical elements and not enough tricks.

I realize that the form and function of their martial art is a very important aspect of learning the artform. However, as a layperson, I found it to be quite boring. Give me the showmanship and the "wow" factor. It could just be that I'm from the YouTube generation, but I found myself thinking that I could be at home and have watched this entire performance condensed to a nine minute video and be perfectly happy. All the good stuff would've been captured in a video clip and the acrobatics would've been just as good . . . or maybe even better. Oh well, it was a good experience anyway.

Finance Expo Recap

I spent this weekend at the Blaisdell at the 2009 Personal Finance Expo, the first of its kind for Hawaii. Boy, oh boy, was it slow. Who was the genius who thought to schedule it the same weekend as Bayfest? What a winner!

It was estimated that about 16,000 people would be in attendance according to the organizers. I think they'd be lucky if 2,000 showed up to Saturday and Sunday combined. What a waste of time and man hours. Thank god it's all over.

Despite the hours of intense boredom, the staff who volunteered to come down and help did liven things up a bit. I forgot what it was like to enjoy people around you. Obviously, I don't enjoy my boss' company. It was good to interact with people from other departments. We laughed and joked around like normal people. Jesus, what a fricken concept! People who have a good time together. You can tell I'm terribly deprived of this on a regular basis. Still, it was too much to hope for that my boss wouldn't pull his childish act or snap at someone during this event. He did both today.

I cannot understand how anyone can work alongside this guy and yet I am forced to do so. The guy is a total ass whether he wants to admit it or not. I think it's better when these assholes just embrace it and don't try to hide it. I can almost respect them for standing their ground and just fully living it up. Not my boss. There are moments when I think he believes himself to be sincere and caring, and he tries to pull off the nice guy act. But these childish tantrums that he throws every once in a while just blow his act to hell.

My boss is a grown-ass man and I bet he'd love to just throw himself down on the floor and roll around crying like this kid. At least there's hope that this kid will eventually grow out of it. If not, well then at least he's a cute-looking kid.

Sing a Song of Sixpence

Wow, I just noticed that we have a bunch of pretty big-name concerts coming to this little island of ours.

Already on sale are the No Doubt and Pussycat Dolls shows. I just caught the breaking news on The Advertiser site that John Legend will be at the Maui Arts & Culture Center and the Blaisdell Concert Hall come September too.

Then, of course, there are all the concerts popping off at other locations - Erykah Badu, Ladytron, Third Eye Blind and Go Jimmy Go.

Is this the year of the live shows or what? Somehow, I don't seem to remember other years being jammed pack with such a musical buffet.

Best to pick up your tickets before they're gone.

Oh Mamma Mia!

Just got back from watching Mamma Mia! at the Blaisdell Concert Hall and I had a fab time. Went with two of my friends and we all really enjoyed it. The singing and music were great (even though I can't honestly say I'm an ABBA fan).

I'd love to give credit to the actors, but prior to the show they mentioned some stand-ins. I'm not sure who was part of the the original cast and who was an understudy. In any case, it was a fun night out and everyone did a great job.

The dances were just as lively on stage as they were in the movie. It's amazing how many scenes can be constructed using two rotating building/wall structures. The costumes were outrageous . . . so they were wonderful. The lighting was over-the-top disco or mood enhancing. Loved it.

Like in the movie, Donna's two friends are wonderful. They steal the show every time. Donna had a wonderful voice. The only bad part was that it was difficult to hear when she got into the really low or high octaves. Sophie's voice was purely magic.

The guy who played Sam (aka Pierce Brosnan in the movie version) did a much better job than Brosnan did. In fact, his singing was almost angelic. If there was one negative about the film version, it was Brosnan's singing. With this stage version though there were no problems in that area.

I noticed that there were a ton of open seats and the parking lot was pretty empty. This is the last week that Mamma Mia!'s in Hawaii, so if you haven't seen the show yet definitely try to make it out. The last number is so fun and gets the crowd pumped up. This isn't your ordinary musical.

Here's a clip from the Broadway performance:

Wicked Memories

I finally got around to scanning my Wicked playbill, ticket and flier. Again, this is a definite must-see if it ever comes to Hawaii or if you're planning to be in San Francisco. Also check out their tour dates for other cities. It was magically delicious, to steal the Lucky Charms slogan.

Also, I just purchased tickets to Mamma Mia! at the Blaisdell for later this month. I can't wait. While I'm not a huge ABBA fan, I enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would. I figure this show will be just as good. Can't be any worse than Pierce Brosnan's singing, right?

My Jungle Fantasy

Tonight my family and I went to see Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy at the Blaisdell Center Concert Hall. We had great tickets (second row balcony) for only $50. (It'd be double that in Vegas.) It was pretty fun and interesting for the little kids - very colorful, lots of moving parts and super artistic. The jungle theme was very cute, and I especially liked the emus and frogs. While the performance was still abstract like a lot of the cirque-type shows, this one was a lot more understandable and recognizable and I'm thankful.

On the flip side though, I was a little disappointed in the acrobatics and circus tricks. I'd seen many of the tricks before in some fashion or other . . . for FREE! For instance, one acrobat used metal objects of various shapes and juggled/spun them. You can catch something similiar at the Rio in Vegas.

Another similar act was the strong man duo. You know, one big buff dude and one smaller buff dude do amazing balancing and strength acts on each other. It's a thin line between strength and being, dare I say it, sort of a sissy. I mean, how can these buff dudes be expected to prance around to the music? They're just not graceful like the bendy acrobats and dancers. But, these guys did, toe pointing, wrist flicking and all.

Even the guy in the adult-sized hamster wheel is a trick that's been done before. Still, the artistry and talent of the performers can't be denied. If you enjoy ooohing and aaahing over circus acts, you'll definitely have a great time. Personally though, I prefer "La Reve," which is at The Wynn in Vegas.

Here's a sneak peek of Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy, courtesy of Cirque Dreams on YouTube.


Here's a snippet of the La Reve show, courtesy of TfZh on YouTube.