Ghost!
I haven't written in my LJ since Ohno's birthday. 
So, I thought it was high time I updated it with something.
On Friday, April 26th, I went with T-san (the director of my "Mezamashi-Arashi debut") to see the brand new Broadway musical, Ghost.
First, we went to Ayza - Wine and Chocolate Bar. We had a light dinner there, first sharing an appetizer - white truffle pizza.
It was SOOO good. Then, we each ordered a panini - I had a BBQ pulled pork, and she had a prosciutto di parma. They were mostly OK. But while we ate dinner, I also ordered an almond chocolate martini.
Holy freakin' cow, that was AMAZING! It came with a chocolate and peanut butter truffle, but I was much more impressed with the drink.
Afterwards, we headed to the theatre. It was literally freezing!! Even though it's supposed to be spring, the temperature dropped to nearly 32 degrees F - freezing point! We ended up grabbing a cab to get to the theatre on time.
The musical is based on the original movie with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. I remember thinking the movie was "okay" and I wasn't interested in seeing the musical based on it, except that they were going to use magicians in order to create some of the ghost-like effects, and I was intrigued by that.
A quick summary for those who've never seen the movie: Molly and Sam are living together in Brooklyn. She's an artist and he's a banker. They share a mutual best friend, Carl, who is also a banker. Unbeknownst to them, Carl has been laundering money through their bank for drug dealers. Sam finds discrepancies and wants to investigate them, so Carl sends a "mugger" to kill him. Sam is shot and dies. But Molly is in danger because she has Sam's notebook which contains his passcodes for the bank and Carl wants it. Through a series of events, Sam finds a charlatan psychic by the name of Oda Mae who can actually hear him. Using her, he is able to cause the original mugger to die (car accident), as well as Carl (accidental shooting) and saves Molly. He can then "go to heaven" since his time on Earth is done.
Overall, the musical was nice. It followed the movie pretty closely, with some key dialogue pieces kept from the original script. "Ditto" was one of the more important ones. But I have to admit - the same things that blew me away in the musical were at the same time disappointing.
For example, much of the stage sets were digitally created. The walls of the stage were screens on which they would recreate Times Square, and Little Italy, and Brooklyn. They were quite stunning, but to be honest, I felt like I was watching a movie, but a live-action-in-real-life one. There's a certain magic lost when you do it that way. It ended up feeling too technical.
But then, on the other hand, I was absolutely FLOORED by the subway train sequence. Sam needs to learn how to move items in the real world, even though he's a ghost. A ghost rapper in the train somehow "slows down time" as he throws these psychic bursts at Sam. The whole scene is incredible, how the actors playing the subway passengers use their bodies so acrobatically that you think they are hovering in mid-air! And the way the subway seats would be first, side by side, so it looks like you're looking in the train from the side, but then then would fold inward, and when they faced each other, it looked like you were looking inside the train from the back window. Very effective.
Also, all the ghost effects were fun to watch. Like when folks died, and their "spirit" would stumble, as if out of their body, and suddenly, their body WAS dead behind them! Then they did the "walk through a wall" trick as well, and it was very effective, and I'm still not sure how they did it.
However, despite everything, my FAVORITE person in the show was Da'vine Joy Randolph, the actress who played Oda Mae. She was beyond amazing. I think she did a better job than Whoopi Goldberg, who originated the role. Her singing voice was incredibly powerful, and her acting was spot-on. Pretty much, she received the loudest standing ovation - and it was well deserved.
So overall, it was an enjoyable experience, and T-san loved it too. In fact, we were both kinda drooling over the very buff Sam in the first act (his arms were amazing!!) If you're into a true NYC Broadway experience, this wasn't it. But if you're into a show with lots of bells and whistles, then this is it.
So, I thought it was high time I updated it with something.
On Friday, April 26th, I went with T-san (the director of my "Mezamashi-Arashi debut") to see the brand new Broadway musical, Ghost.
First, we went to Ayza - Wine and Chocolate Bar. We had a light dinner there, first sharing an appetizer - white truffle pizza.
It was SOOO good. Then, we each ordered a panini - I had a BBQ pulled pork, and she had a prosciutto di parma. They were mostly OK. But while we ate dinner, I also ordered an almond chocolate martini.
Holy freakin' cow, that was AMAZING! It came with a chocolate and peanut butter truffle, but I was much more impressed with the drink.
Afterwards, we headed to the theatre. It was literally freezing!! Even though it's supposed to be spring, the temperature dropped to nearly 32 degrees F - freezing point! We ended up grabbing a cab to get to the theatre on time.
The musical is based on the original movie with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. I remember thinking the movie was "okay" and I wasn't interested in seeing the musical based on it, except that they were going to use magicians in order to create some of the ghost-like effects, and I was intrigued by that.
A quick summary for those who've never seen the movie: Molly and Sam are living together in Brooklyn. She's an artist and he's a banker. They share a mutual best friend, Carl, who is also a banker. Unbeknownst to them, Carl has been laundering money through their bank for drug dealers. Sam finds discrepancies and wants to investigate them, so Carl sends a "mugger" to kill him. Sam is shot and dies. But Molly is in danger because she has Sam's notebook which contains his passcodes for the bank and Carl wants it. Through a series of events, Sam finds a charlatan psychic by the name of Oda Mae who can actually hear him. Using her, he is able to cause the original mugger to die (car accident), as well as Carl (accidental shooting) and saves Molly. He can then "go to heaven" since his time on Earth is done.
Overall, the musical was nice. It followed the movie pretty closely, with some key dialogue pieces kept from the original script. "Ditto" was one of the more important ones. But I have to admit - the same things that blew me away in the musical were at the same time disappointing.
For example, much of the stage sets were digitally created. The walls of the stage were screens on which they would recreate Times Square, and Little Italy, and Brooklyn. They were quite stunning, but to be honest, I felt like I was watching a movie, but a live-action-in-real-life one. There's a certain magic lost when you do it that way. It ended up feeling too technical.
But then, on the other hand, I was absolutely FLOORED by the subway train sequence. Sam needs to learn how to move items in the real world, even though he's a ghost. A ghost rapper in the train somehow "slows down time" as he throws these psychic bursts at Sam. The whole scene is incredible, how the actors playing the subway passengers use their bodies so acrobatically that you think they are hovering in mid-air! And the way the subway seats would be first, side by side, so it looks like you're looking in the train from the side, but then then would fold inward, and when they faced each other, it looked like you were looking inside the train from the back window. Very effective.
Also, all the ghost effects were fun to watch. Like when folks died, and their "spirit" would stumble, as if out of their body, and suddenly, their body WAS dead behind them! Then they did the "walk through a wall" trick as well, and it was very effective, and I'm still not sure how they did it.
However, despite everything, my FAVORITE person in the show was Da'vine Joy Randolph, the actress who played Oda Mae. She was beyond amazing. I think she did a better job than Whoopi Goldberg, who originated the role. Her singing voice was incredibly powerful, and her acting was spot-on. Pretty much, she received the loudest standing ovation - and it was well deserved.
So overall, it was an enjoyable experience, and T-san loved it too. In fact, we were both kinda drooling over the very buff Sam in the first act (his arms were amazing!!) If you're into a true NYC Broadway experience, this wasn't it. But if you're into a show with lots of bells and whistles, then this is it.