First day of the year

First of all, Happy New Year 2015 to everyone who has visited this blog before.

One of my resolutions for this year is to maintain this blog better, which means to write more often and to reflect more on my life and what happens around me, so that it can really be the world view from my eyes, as titled.

So, for the first day of the new year, we ushered it in with fireworks from the neighbourhood count down party. It was not bad at all, the crowd was less maddening than the one at the Bay, and we managed to get a very close view of the fireworks, so close that the lots of the confetti dropped on our heads and shoulders. It was a nice experience anyway, and due to the short distance, we managed to walk back home, which is a huge advantage as we did not have to squeeze for the public transport and wait in the super long queue.

The day proceeded quite normally, I did not go out, but spent the time relaxing at home and playing with my son. And we watched the musical Love Never Dies, by Lord Andrew Loyd Webber, again. It has been ages since we watched it the first time, and the first impression was quite bad, probably as we were too obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera, and found the sequel to lack in melody and chemistry, and low in song quality. Actually, we came to the conclusion too quickly, and did not give it the fair judgement it deserves. It is not bad at all. In fact, if there is chance it will come to Singapore, we will be going down to watch it in real life for sure 🙂

True to the spirit of the first musical, it was a continuation of the twisted story of the girl who got stretched between the love of her life and the safe choice that was traditional. The past was once again stirred up, the memories started surfacing, the secrets unearthed and difficult choices had to be made once again, the choice that would push everyone involved “past the point of no return”. It was a painful story, and told beautifully. In every note, every line, every word is the love, ultimate love, idolised love of the Phantom for Christie, and the pain that it caused to himself, his love and those who yearned for his attention but were ignored bitterly. The context changed, the location changed, but it was the same game played again between the Phantom and the Vicomte for the heart of the girl that they both loved. It was Beauty and The Beast met Romeo & Juliet, beautifully told by the magical music of the wizard of musicals. The set was elaborate and glamorous. Christine was angelic, especially in the last scene when she walked on stage to sing the best song of the musical. The Phantom was menacing yet charming and powerful, and the boy, Gustave, was simply so lovely. All the puzzles matched, and everything came together so perfectly to give an epic ending to the epic love story.

There are not so many hit songs as the first musical, but there are certainly some worth noting. By the way, they are not as easy to hear and to love at first sight as the songs in the first instalment, so it may take you some time to digest it, to take in and to fall in love with them, but trust me, once you get the spirit of those songs and love them, you will be addicted to them. Pass the point of no return and you will know what I mean 🙂