A Happier Note...

Managed to catch the last copy of Woman In White at HMV Citylink. Took me 3 hours to find a shop that stocked it... Crap. But it was worth it. I started searching at Orchard then slowly went down till I eventually reached City Hall. If I had only known, I would have gone to City Hall immediately instead. Anyway, it was the last copy on the shelf. That made me damn happy. Saw the $45 buck sticker on the album but I didn't blink twice. I swiped it off the shelf and happily paid for it. Stopped by Burger King at Raffles City, bought a meal, and I tore up the plastic covering in intense anticipation. It was a shocking discovery.

Encounters: A Diamond (Ok... So It's Not A Person This Time :P)

I think that this soundtrack is one of the best to come out of Andrew Lloyd Webber since Phantom of the Opera, and worth every single cent I spent on it. It has a lovely cd box case... It's black in colour with the distinctive Woman in White logo exactly like the one below.

The Cd cover has a nice smooth matte finish and I love its feel. The Cds too look awesome. One has the logo printed on it while the other has the words "Woman in White" printed on them. I just love the whole packaging. Very nice. It's nearly the whole show recorded on 2 Cds save for some lines of dialogue which are missing because the First Night's show was recorded from the stage and immortalized in these 2 cds. Wonderful through and through.

I'm not sure if I should tell you guys about the plot or not... Hmm... Maybe I'll tell a bit of it so as not to let too much of it away. The pretty Marian and extremely beautiful Laura are 2 half-sisters who are assigned a new drawing master (basically an art teacher) in the form of the rugged handsome Walter Hartright. Before Walter arrives at Limmeridge House (Marian & Laura's home), he encounters a Lady all dressed in white at the train station who tells him: "I have a secret... But can I trust you?" She gets him all spooked up about her secret and he endeavours to find out more from her and he meets her again in the graveyard. She tells him of a name to be wary of... a Sir Percival Glyde. Sir Percival Glyde then marries Laura because her late father had promised her hand to him before he died. In his hands, Laura suffers from her husband battering her daily and Marian feels at fault because it was her who pushed Laura to eventually accept Glyde and threw Walter out of the house for trying to stop the marriage. The rest of the show is the eventual discovery of the despicable secret which leads to someone's rightful death by something so extraordinary... It's kinda ingenious... I won't tell you :P

Anyway, everyone sounds absolutely gorgeous in this album. Maria Friedman as Marian Halcombe is superb. Her slightly raspy voice is in perfect tune with Marian's character, outstanding, and not afraid to stand up to men. A superwoman of her age and time. And she's a great belter though her soprano range requires a bit of training... A bit too shrill sometimes. Jill Paice as Laura has a pretty voice, suitable for her wide-eyed innocence and Angela Christian as the Woman in White has a unique voice with a unique accent. A bit of an Irish one I think. And she hits all the notes with a shrill, intended on her part to depict the frightened character of the Woman in White. She screams now and then out of fear for her life because she knows that something can happen to her before she gets to even reveal her secret. Her voice is always nice to look forward to. Martin Crewes as Walter Hartright is also perfect. Nice range. Nice tone. And he always puts in emotion in his voice... as is very evident in Evermore Without You where he laments not being able to be with Laura. Very sad and moving song. And finally Michael Crawford of Phantom fame is in this production as the Italian villain Fosco. He is perfectly in tune with his comic side as is evident in all his comedic songs... esp. in You Can Get Away With Anything where he gets the audience laughing like mad and plays with a mouse which runs up his right arm to end up on his left hand. Damn hilarious. Perfect casting.

If I have the time... I'll try and upload a song or two for you guys to sample. Then hopefully you'll go out out and buy this cast album. Support the production you guys... I love it to death. Now... I need to go and find the Phantom of the Opera movie soundtrack somewhere in town, the double disc one, whose cover is pink (blech... awful colour for Phantomy-stuff... why can't it be black?) and which has a pic of Emmy and Gerard in the classic Music of the Night pose. Will prob be costing me about $45 again.. but if any of you guys spot it anywhere, can you please tell me the location and its cost? I'm kinda busy this weekend and the whole of next week... so maybe won't be able to search for it for this whole week... Thanks for your help guys.