So, today is the last day of 2013 – and boy, am I glad of it. I always try to see the bright side of things rather than the negative side, and I've never labeled years as "good" or "bad" before, but there's no denying that 2013 for me has been a year of uncertainty, identity crisis and even tragedy.
Starting from the very beginning of this year, I had a creeping sense of maybe having lost my passion for the studies and the career I had been aiming for since graduation. In late spring, it really hit me: I totally don't want to study English anymore, and I want even less to become a teacher. Actually, I want to get out of Finland. Well, it took just a little too long for me to figure that out – by then, it was too late to apply to any universities. So I would have to stay one more year in Finland, not quite knowing how to make all that time worthwhile. I wasn't very excited about droning on with my English studies to begin with, and even less so when a most terrible thing happened on the 5th of August: Nuppu, our family dog, just 4 years 7 months old, was hit by a car and died minutes later. She was incredibly precious to me and it was the biggest shock of my life to lose her so unexpectedly.
But 2013 did also bring some very beautiful things with it, which makes up for some of the unsettling stuff above. The "career path identity crisis" actually has two sides to it. Yes, it gave me several sleepless nights and lots of panicking, but in the end it's been very uplifting to discover what I now really want to do with my life: I discovered I want to work in the world of theatre, as a writer and a director. And I want to do it in the English-speaking world. This resolution was only strengthened when I joined Tukkateatteri, an amateur theatre group. I hadn't been doing theatre since I graduated from high school, and now over the months of October to December when I met all those absolutely lovely people and got so much positive energy from just stepping inside the theatre, I decided once and for all that this was what I wanted to keep doing.
As for the loss of Nuppu... Well, of course the grief is still there. But so is a beautiful, new puppy, Mimi, who just turned six months old and who brings endless joy to everyone around her. When the worst shock of Nuppu's death was over, all of our family agreed that once a dog family, always a dog family – none of us could take it how quiet the house was without the sound of little paws. So little Mimi came into the house.
I'm not really a horoscope person, but I found out that 2014 will be the year of the Wood Horse in the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese new year begins in the 31st of January and it's supposed to be a year of long-lasting change for people who have the guts to jump for it. Since my plans for next year include relocating myself to some foreign country (I have my sight set on Ireland actually) to study theatre, I can't help but take this as a hopeful sign – especially as the Horse happens to be my Chinese horoscope sign! In addition to my Ireland-theatre-plans, I'm looking forward to doing some new stuff at the amateur theatre, and to finally committing myself to healthy eating habits and regular exercise. Are you expecting any changes in your life from the Wood Horse?
Well, whether or not you're looking forward to a year of life-changing,
As you can see, my Christmas calendar blogging failed massively... I'm finally back now and I can tell you why it failed! I think there are two reasons for it.
Reason number one: I think I mentioned somewhere that I got involved in amateur theatre. I've been part of a new Chekov-themed production there as an actor as well as a dramatist. We've been having performances over the first weeks of December, and our final (sold out!) performance takes place today! So my Christmas mood got sort of swept away by all the theatre rehearsals and performances.
Reason number two: When I posted those couple of Christmas posts in the beginning of December, I was in such a jolly holiday mood, but... then it mysteriously wore off. This has never happened before, Christmas has always been so important for me! Spending all that time at the theatre might be one reason for my tragic loss of Christmas spirit, but I think the weather is another. As a Finn I grew up with "White Christmases", and now all the beautiful snow that we had a couple of weeks ago has been swept away by warmer temperatures and some disgusting rain. And it looks like there won't be a proper winter weather in sight till January...
Fortunately, I think my "Christmas low" is slowly starting to turn upwards again. One big booster happened today, when I came across a wonderful new version of one of the most beautiful Christmas carols ever: O Holy Night by the amazing JOHN OWEN-JONES! If you've got Spotify, go find it there right now. Unfortunately the song doesn't exist in Youtube yet, so as the "song of the day" I'll feature the same carol, but by Christina Bianco... and all her spot-on famous diva voices! Enjoy!
Christmas posts coming up: My relationship with religious-themed Christmas carols (such as O Holy Night) and thoughts on Charles Dickens' legendary work called... A Christmas Carol, what else?
Just a quick Christmas post today, with a special guest appearance from our lovely neighbour, Sweden!
In case you didn't know, Finland and Sweden have a sort of friendly rivalry going on all the time, about everything. There are kazillions of Finnish jokes where a Swede does or says something funny, and the Swedes honour us in a similar fashion. Nothing lifts a Finn's heart more than bettering Sweden at anything, be that an ice hockey match or making a Guinness world record in something totally mad. And we love to make fun of each others' traditions, all in a friendly manner. That's what it was all about the other day on SVT News, right? Right?
SVT Nyheter took a special interest in a Finnish Christmas delicacy, which I can't translate any better than "Christmas cakes". These are made of puff pastry dough, filled with plum jam, and folded usually into the shape of four-pointed stars. SVT Nyheter, however, thought the cakes resembled something much more sinister than stars. Om du kan svenska, kan du läsa här. If you can't read Swedish, I'll just tell you what the link says.
Svenska Dagbladet, a Swedish widely-read newspaper (I think?) published a recipe for the Finnish Christmas cakes. Then SVT Nyheter called the paper asking them why they had pictures of cakes shaped like... swastikas. Really. A representative of the paper insisted that the cakes have long traditions and that any resemblance to swastikas didn't cross anybody's mind. I guess the SVT interviewer thought they were being extremely funny when they then asked if the recipe originated from the 1930s.
This is what a Christmas cake, or joulutorttu, looks like when it's folded into the star shape:
Okay, I'm not going to press any point on whether or not our Finnish Christmas cakes look like Nazi symbols. Neither am I going to guess whether or not SVT was being completely serious. I'm going to shrug, smile a little, and quietly say "Oh those funny Swedes". And when I'm having guests on Thursday, I'm going to buy some puff pastry dough and plum jam and fold up some cakes, because they are the most DELICIOUS Christmas thing ever and I truly feel sorry for anyone who can't enjoy them because they might possibly remotely bring to mind some symbol.
Have a tasty Christmas everyone, whatever you're preparing, and since Sweden insisted on bringing Germany into the discussion, for today's song I'm giving you O Tannenbaum by Nat King Cole (one of my many favourite singers whose voice absolutely melts my heart... What do you think about his German? I never studied it so I wouldn't know.)
So, from the fact that I'm prepared to do 24 blog posts devoted to Christmas, you can probably decipher that I'm a pretty big Christmas junkie. Every year, I wait anxiously for the day that I can start playing Christmas music without other people rolling their eyes and shouting "NOT YET!", and I was literally shocked when my mum told me she wasn't going to put up Christmas decorations in her and dad's apartment. Mostly, people regard my Christmas hype as nothing too unusual, but there have been a few who feel the need to ask me either
"Why is Christmas such a big thing to you – doesn't it bother you what a disgustingly commercialized spending spree it has become?"
or
"Why is Christmas such a big thing to you – you're not religious!"
My answer to the first question is pretty simple: I'm so soaked up on the positive things about Christmas that all the consumerism hype kind of passes over my head. Yes, maybe it's a bit early for all the shops and malls to be playing Christmas carols and putting up tinsels in mid-November, but is it such a big deal to fret and complain about? And frankly, I think that people who complain about all the stress and the crowds when they go Christmas shopping mostly bring it on themselves. How about planning things a little in advance and looking at the positive side of things? Can't people look at all the beautiful Christmas lights and feel the joy in their hearts when they're getting gifts for their family and friends?
As for the question about religion, I find it a little ironic. After all, Christmas has been around longer than Christianity, though with slightly different customs and another name. Weren't most Christian holidays (think about Easter and All Hallows' Eve for example) purposefully placed in the calendar to coincide with already existing pagan celebrations? Even today, our Christmas traditions are actually a mixture of Christian elements and those of Winter solstice celebrations. So while I admit I don't celebrate Christmas for the Christian reasons, there's still a lot about the season to be appreciated!
Here follows a list of What Christmas Means To Me:
Light. As I've mentioned before somewhere in this blog, the days get pretty dark up here when autumn rolls on. Today, the sun rose at quarter past nine and set at quarter past three, and by the time we reach winter solstice, we'll have a whopping amount of about five hours of daylight. So it's really great to have a celebration with candles and Christmas lights – for me, Christmas time has always been like a great big torch in the dark winter season!
Joy. In addition to bringing actual light, I think Christmas is a time to light up your heart. Forgetting about petty arguments and staying positive.
Caring and sharing. For some people, the whole gift-giving tradition now only serves to feed the consuming frenzy, but for me it has always been a beautiful representation of how we can get joy out of giving something for others, whether it be something material or not.
Peace. Christmas should provide a break from everyday obligations and stress. Get some time for yourself and the people who are important to you.
Beauty. Admittedly, there have been years when the Christmas weather was not like out of those snowy greeting cards, but generally I think everything looks incredibly beautiful at this time of the year. I like sunshine and green trees and all that, but what really moves my heart is a beautiful, easy snowfall. Actually, I think really violent blizzards are nice to look at as well, I just want to be safe indoors when they happen. Not on a bus stop waiting for a bus that is half an hour late. Anyway, landscapes covered in snow never fail to catch my eye, they look stunning both in the dark of night and when the sun shines on them and makes them sparkle.
What do you celebrate about Christmas? (or Yule, or Winter solstice, or Hanukkah, whatever you want to call it.) Give it a thought while listening to this uplifting Christmas tune by my favourite man Stevie Wonder, and leave me a comment!
Dear readers, Merry Christmas anticipation to you all and welcome to count down the days with me as I turn Music & My Mind into a Christmas calendar blog from this day till the 24th!
As Christmas is by far my favourite holiday – I usually start expecting it in September already – I knew that I wanted to some Christmas blogging in the Advent calendar style. One post for each day, that is to say. My initial idea was to share one of my favourite Christmas songs each day, but then it expanded as I wanted also to write about the things that I see and celebrate in the Christmas season. So I'm going to do both: for 24 days, I'm going to share a song and my thoughts. I'll make some effort to have the song match with the theme of the post, but if it doesn't, I won't sweat about it.
I'm going to start off with a fun Christmas tag! Feel free to fill in the tag yourself, either in a comment or, even better, in your own blog.
1. What's your favourite holiday movie? Love, Actually without a doubt, though I have to say I don't really know many other Christmas movies... RENT is a close second; I guess RENT it's not "officially" a Christmas thing, but the story does begin and end on Christmas Eve, and the "appreciate each day you have" message goes very well with the Christmas season don't you think?
2. What are your favourite Christmas colours?
The silver and white of snow, the green of spruce and the brown of gingerbreads.
3. Do you like to stay in your PJs or dress up for Christmas?
I like to dress up nicely on Christmas Eve (because for some bizarre reason, in the Nordic countries we do most of the actual celebrating on the Eve) but change into pyjamas when we start to open the presents, which happens in the evening after the Christmas dinner.
4. If you could only buy one person a present this year who would it be?
That would be Mimi, my little puppy! She's only five months old so this will be her first Christmas and I know she'll be so very excited about the wrapped-up presents and will make us all happy.
Little Mimi! Isn't she lovely? Picture taken by me
5. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning?
On Christmas Eve, the Christmas morning isn't really a thing in the Nordic countries. 6. Have you ever built a ginger-bread house?
My sister and I did it a couple of times when we were kids, though we used ready-made pieces that we just decorated and glued together with the sugar stuff.
7. What do you like to do on your Christmas break?
Listen to lots and lots of Christmas music, just walk around and soak up the lovely atmosphere, read good books with something warm to drink, spend time with family and friends, light candles...
8. Any Christmas wishes?
I wish for snow and a chance to get to sing Christmas carols. 9. Favourite Christmas smell?
Fresh spruce needles. 10. Favourite Christmas meal or treat?
There's a traditional, warm Christmas drink up here in the north which doesn't have its own word in English but is sometimes translated as mulled wine. It's not exactly the same thing though. Anyway, it's red, warm and spicy, and can be alcoholic or not (I prefer the non-alcoholic alternative). In Finnish it's called glögi and the word derives from the Swedish glödgat, heated wine.
I'm getting the Christmas feeling in my fingers while writing this... So let's finish off the first calendar post with the song of the day: Christmas Is All Around from the lovely film Love, Actually.
Tomorrow's post will be about the things that I celebrate about Christmas, so welcome back then!
I've been thinking whether I should blog about movies in addition to books, theatre and music. Well, obviously I've reviewed a couple of movie musicals already, but that's because they're, you know, musicals. So far, I've decided that I might at least talk about movies that are based on books! I won't change the sub-heading to "my thoughts on music, theatre, literature & films" though – that would look a bit clumsy, don't you think?
Today, however, I'm going to talk about some trailers instead of actual films. There's two films coming up that I can't wait to see!
More trailers of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug have come up after this first teaser, but it's still my favourite from all of them. I think the main reason for this is King Thranduil, played by Lee Pace! When he appeared in the trailer, I stopped breathing for a while. I promise you I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that Thranduil in the film looks exactly as I've always imagined him – the presence, the voice, every little detail in his face, and that crown, which is pure awesomeness. Seeing Thranduil like he was picked straight out of my mind has seriously made me wonder if any of my grandmother's ancestors who were burned as witches in the Middle Ages passed some of that witch blood (and the gift of foresight) to me...
King Thranduil, brought to material reality by Lee Pace, first imagined by Mizzie-Me
Besides Thranduil, Elf-King of Amazingness, it looks like this middle part of the trilogy will include all of my favourite parts from the book: Beorn, Bilbo kicking some giant spider butt, the Silvan Elves, and Lake Town. It would also seem that we get to see Smaug already, and oh my, what a dragon voice! I think they did a seriously good job with that – it's clearly inhuman, but not overdone.
However, one thing which probably will be as overdone in this film as was in the last, is the fight/action sequences. I was always okay with all the battle stuff in the Lord of the Rings films, but frankly, I got bored when in the first Hobbit film, the escape from the goblins under the mountain went on and on and on. And there are some not-in-the-book fight scenes coming up in the new film, which isn't entirely bad – I know I'm going to like all the Gandalf bits that were never shown in the book. However, I'm very suspicious about the scene where he elves are stalking Bilbo and the dwarves who float in open barrels for all the world to see, for goodness' sake! In the book, Bilbo came up with a genius plan that a) got the dwarves out of the dungeons without anyone ever seeing them, and b) made sure nobody would drown in the process. In the film, they don't seem to think any of this matters.
Speaking of changes and additions to the book, I'm actually very open-minded about the Legolas/Tauriel subplot, whatever it's going to be. I don't have a problem at all with Legolas being present since there's no reason to doubt he actually was there (he's Thranduil's son after all), and I'm really liking Evangeline Lilly as an elf. I'm really interested to see what these two characters will be up to. Luckily, the movie will premiere in Finland on December 11th already and not months after the official premiere (which sadly happens here to every movie that isn't expected to be a huge box office seller). I can't wait, there's so much to see!
What about this next new film, who's going to see it?
I'm really interested in this film because of its setting. I'm obviously a fan of the film Mary Poppins, and Saving Mr Banks is about the making of that film – the main focus being, it seems, on how Walt Disney managed to get the film-making rights from P.L. Travers (the author of the Mary Poppins books). I think both Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson will be superb in their roles as Mr Disney and Ms Travers, but the film is in a rather tricky position to tell the story it intends to tell. It is widely known that the working relationship between Disney and Travers was incredibly strained, and Travers was very displeased with the film Mary Poppins. So how is Saving Mr Banks, produced by Walt Disney Pictures (yes, really), featuring the father/hero/god figure behind that very same enterprise, going to handle a story where, in real life, someone (Travers) very vocally expressed how they disapproved of something Walt Disney did? Something tells me the film is not going to show P.L. Travers' negative reaction to Mary Poppins, and I think even people who don't have Medieval witch genes can agree with me. So there are a couple of other options.
1) Portray P.L. Travers as an unreasonably critical kill-joy and Walt Disney as the good guy who makes people's dreams come true. This way, the film can justify the fact that Ms Travers hated the Mary Poppins film by "well, she was just a cranky British lady who couldn't be pleased no matter what you tried to do."
or
2) Just take some artistic liberties and make it so that in the end P.L. Travers loves the outcome of Mary Poppins and Walt Disney gets to be the hero who convinced the cranky British lady.
So yes, I'm a bit skeptical about the accuracy of Saving Mr Banks, but I'm sure it will be fun to watch otherwise. It's got two leading actors that I respect very much, the music in the soundtrack is great, and the bits with the Sherman brothers (the two guys behind the piano who made the songs for Mary Poppins) are very funny. The film is officially released in December, but it looks like the Finnish premiere will be near the end of February (see what I told you about Finnish movie release dates?)
Anyone who has taken a glimpse at my Miss Saigon Week posts knows how excited I've been about the upcoming West End revival of that show. When Miss Saigon opens at Prince Edward Theatre in May 2014, it will be 25 years from its original opening, which starred a now-iconic cast – headed by Lea Salonga, to whom Kim was the first of many notable musical roles. Just like with the original production, the Kim hunt required a long time and some very distant locations – auditions were held in Manila as well as in New York. The whole process was conducted with such secrecy that absolutely nothing of an affirmative nature – just a couple of names thrown here and there – leaked through till the final decision was made. Today, however, I finally get to do what I've been aching to do for months: list all the main cast and try to predict how well they will do their jobs next year.
Alright, let's get the most talked-about, the most difficult, the most mystery-shrouded, and of course the most important part done first: the actress who will play Kim!
Eva Noblezada as Kim
The production team wanted an unknown talent to play Kim from the very beginning, and I'm glad they stuck with that decision. Kim's portrayal requires youthfulness and innocence in both looks and presence, and I don't think any big-name stars have that kind of a quality. Kim's actress also needed a strong, beautiful voice and Asian origins. Many interesting names were thrown around, especially those of Filipina singers – that country seems to produce fantastic female singers like Finland produces pine cones. Rachelle Ann Go was one of the most popular Kim candidates, but the part eventually went to Eva Noblezada, a 17-year-old American with Filipino origins (unsurprisingly). Based on the one performance that is available on Youtube, I'm happy to say she will probably nail her part. Just like Lea Salonga back then, she's young, sings extremely confidently for her age (and even if you don't consider her age she still sounds amazing) and seems able to express emotions through song. Coincidentally, her aunt was a Kim understudy in the original London production. See her for yourselves – the video embedding thing refuses to work again, so I'll give you a link.
Jon Jon Briones as the Engineer
I have to confess I had never even heard of this man before I read this Broadwayworld.com article about the new cast. Turns out he's played the role before and he totally rocks it! I found a kind of trailer on another Miss Saigon production which starred him as the Engineer and Kerry Ellis as Ellen, to mention a few. Briones appears in the beginning wearing a purple jacket, and from 3:33 and 4:52 onwards wearing red. Can you guess which country he comes from? It begins with Ph... They barely pulled off (white actor) Jonathan Pryce with facial prosthetics in '89, but it would be impossible nowadays. I think there was a rumour going around at some point that Pryce would return as the Engineer in the revival, but I'm glad it didn't happen. He's much too old, and incurably Caucasian, let's face it.
(Just a sidenote, what on Earth happened to Kim's face in I'd Give My Life For You???) Alistair Brammer as Chris
So my only wish concerning the Miss Saigon cast didn't come true... We won't see Gareth Gates as Chris yet. But I'm not as sad as I thought I would be, because Alistair Brammer is a WONDERFUL alternative. Every Les Mis fan out there knows him, and probably adores him. You've seen his face as Jean Prouvaire, un Ami de l'ABC, in both the 25th Anniversary Concert and the Tom Hooper film of Les Misérables. He has also played Marius. I can definitely see him as a romantic GI, and his voice will go very nicely with Why God Why? Oh no. Now that I started imagining those two elements combined, I can't wait to hear it, and goodness knows how long I will have to wait!
Hugh Maynard as John
Another unknown name for me. He was in X-Factor with a male group called Tenors of Rock. He has also played the part of John before, as you can see on the video. I've never regarded John as a very interesting character, but I think Maynard could make it so, judging by his performance here!
Tamsin Carroll as Ellen
I don't know this actress either, but she seems a little old to be playing 25-year-old Alistair Brammer's wife! Or does the hairdo and the mature voice just make her seem older than she really is? Carroll has played Nancy in Oliver! and various other musical roles. I couldn't find a video that would properly display her voice. So far, I don't think I'm entirely warming up to her as Ellen. (She's the blonde woman in the video below.)
Rachelle Ann Go as Gigi
So Rachelle Ann Go didn't land the lead role, but she did get a pretty good one! Gigi may not have a lot of stage time, but The Movie In My Mind is a great, great song. As I mentioned before, a lot of people rooted for Go to play Kim, and while I agree that she has a beautiful, powerful voice, I personally never detected the kind of "Kim presence" in her.
All in all, this seems like a (mostly) promising main cast for one of my favourite musicals! I will definitely be following all the Miss Saigon gossip in the future, and share my thoughts here if something interesting comes up. What do you think about the cast? Are you going to see this show in London?
Some minutes after I first published this post, the official Miss Saigon Youtube channel posted a video about the new cast, there's audition clips and other footage of all the performers listed here, and Sir Cameron's comments on them!
Hi everyone! My blogging has been scarce for the last month, but there's a good reason for it: I joined an amateur theatre and I've been happily busy with the production us "newbies" are putting up. I'm both acting and writing in it, and... I think I'll say more about it in the future, in a proper post. There will also be a proper post on the awesome improvisation workshop day we recently had at that same theatre.
But today, I would just like to share with you some really great stuff I found on Youtube. Perhaps you've already heard about Improv Everywhere? No? Well, there's a bunch of people in America and they go to all sorts of public places and – well, have a look at the videos to see what they do!
Ghost Busters
The Mute Button
Carousel Horse Race
Gotta Share! The Musical
Amazing and hilarious, right? Anything like those things above would totally make my day. I can't believe people are accusing Improv Everywhere of harassing and being a nuisance to serious people who would rather crouch over their laptops and scowl all day. I mean, yes, they are doing all this in public places, but people should lighten up a little. Your laptop and Ecxel sheets won't go anywhere even if a bunch of funny people come in to spice up your day for a couple of minutes.
How do you feel about performances like the ones Improv Everywhere does? Is it purely, positively entertaining, or would you rather live your life in peace?
(PS. There are loads more of Improv Everywhere videos in Youtube for you to dig up if you liked the ones I shared here!)
Well hello there! I did mention something about my blog's six-month anniversary coming up, didn't I? Actually, that day was yesterday – I didn't have time to blog then, but no worries, I have something special for today. If you read my Announcement post a few weeks ago, you'll know what it is: Yes, dear readers, I'm kindly asking you to consider all the (hopefully numerous) times you've visited my blog and to review Music & My Mind! It won't take you an awful lot of time because I've prepared some questions for you, and you can post your review whenever you like – if you're reading this a year from now, you're still welcome to participate! And it doesn't matter if you've been commenting regularly or if you've never said anything at all, everyone's reviews are welcome! I'm only asking you to do this because I want to improve as a blogger :)
So if you just answer these questions and drop in a comment, thank you very much!
How did you find out about this blog? (You don't have to answer if I asked you for a visit myself)
On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best score), how would you rate this blog's language? (Additional comments would be nice) On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best score again), how would you rate this blog's content? (Same thing about additional comments as in the previous question) What has been the most interesting post in your opinion? Choose three words to describe my blog. Any suggestions what I could write about next? Anything else you want to say? THANK YOU!
There's no other way to say it: I HATE Autumn from the bottom of my heart. I find absolutely nothing to celebrate about the fact that the days get shorter, everything outside is grey and ugly and the weather sucks. Probably the main reason to my passionate hate of this season is the fact that I'm one of those people whose energy level is immensely dependent on the amount of sunlight – in the summer, when the sun is up nearly all the time here in the North, I don't feel like sleeping at all, and now that it's getting darker and darker until there's just a couple of hours of daylight left in December, I feel like sleeping all the time! I found out that the only way to survive October and November was eating chocolate and getting into Christmas mode. Oh, and taking Vitamin D.
I also dug out this 30 Days of Music tag from Kristallikettu's blog to add some fun to this depressing month called October. What it means is that for each day this month I choose one song according to the directions of this tag. It would be pointless to create separate posts to all 30 song choices so I'll just edit them all into this same post.
Let's get started...
Day 1: My Favourite Song
It annoys me immensely when this question pops up... I mean, how is it possible for any person to have just ONE favourite song?! I know I have at least a hundred! Okay if I have to pick one... I guess it could be Stand By Me by Ben E. King. I adore the double bass intro and the video is somehow really cute. And, of course Mr King's voice, like no other on the planet. I even feel a tiny bit more positive about facing the horrors of October after listening through this song.
Day 2: My Least Favourite Song
This is a tricky one as well, because whenever I come across an atrocious song I like to avoid it, so it doesn't really stick in my mind. I'm going to go with Nicki Minaj's Stupid Hoe because no matter which way I try to listen to it, even given the option that Minaj isn't even taking herself seriously here, I can't think of it as anything else but an unbelievable waste of time, energy, vocal chords and Youtube space. Sorry Minaj fans...
Day 3: A Song That Makes Me Happy
There's something irresistibly positive about Ain't No Mountain High Enough, sung by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
Day 4: A Song That Makes Me Sad
Garou's Que l'Amour Est Violent was playing at our house after our family's first dog was put to sleep and even after five years I always remember that day when I listen to this. Hear it out even if you can't understand a word of French, it's really beautiful and that man has a voice like no one else.
Day 5: A Song That Reminds Me Of Someone
Ever since Midsummer celebrations of 2013, Psy's Gentleman reminds me of one of my lovely cousins who wore a hilarious costume. Oh my that was so much fun...
Day 6: A Song That Reminds Me Of Somewhere We Are Young by fun. reminds me of the wonderful week I spent in Glasgow visiting a friend.
Day 7: A Song That Reminds Me Of An Event
This one reminds me of another cousin's wedding: Tapani Kansa's R-A-K-A-S which you hear all the time unless you know how to avoid certain radio stations and dance events. For those of you who don't know Finnish, it's basically about wanting to marry your L-O-V-E in the countryside.
Day 8: A Song That I Know All Of The Words To
Learning song lyrics has sort of become a new hobby of mine so Somewhere from the musical West Side Story is just one example.
Day 9: A Song I Can Dance To
In Finnish high schools there's an optional dance course (mostly to get ready for the school dance called "Wanhojen tanssit") and we did salsa with Juanes' La Camisa Negra :D
Day 10: A Song I Fall Asleep To
I'm a really picky sleeper. One thing that I absolutely require in order to fall asleep is that everything must be QUIET. If there's a loud concert at the indoor ice rink some hundreds of meters away, my sleep is ruined. So yeah, I don't really play music when I want to sleep. But... there's one song that I play in my head when I feel too restless to sleep, and it always works! It's A Little Fall of Rain from, of course, Les Misérables. Is it weird that I use a death song as a lullaby?
Day 11: A Song From My Favourite Band
Just like I don't have one favourite song, I don't have one favourite band. But I have been a tiny bit obsessed with Fleetwood Mac for quite a long time now. Here's some Second Hand News for ya.
Day 12: A Song From A Band I Hate
What's with all the "hate" questions here? I don't want to share things I dislike to my readers! Not to mention I have to rummage my head for all my worst music-related memories which I've been doing my best to forget. Alright, here's a song that was constantly playing in the radio for a while and it drove me insane: Suudellaan (= Let's kiss) by the Finnish band Lauri Tähkä & Elonkerjuu (nowadays just Elonkerjuu). I don't know exactly what annoys me so much about this band!
Day 13: A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure
As I explained in this post, I don't really have any "guilty pleasures" in music because I don't have a problem telling people what I like. But if I did believe in the idea, I think this recent find would fit the description. Some weeks ago I listened to One Night In Bangkok from the musical Chess (composed, by the way, by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus aka the ABBA guys) and now I can't stop... It's so ridiculous and SO AWESOME.
Day 14: A Song That No-one Would Expect Me To Like
What an interesting question. I actually have no idea what other people think about my taste in music! I like so many different types of music that I don't know if I could really surprise people with anything. I guess, maybe those people who know I'm not religious at all could be surprised to know that I adore Amazing Grace. This version is by Celtic Woman.
Day 15: A Song That Describes Me
That would have to be Paloma Faith's Upside Down, there is no other option!
Day 16: A Song I Used To Like But Now Hate
I generally don't change my opinions about music. If I start to like a song, I'll like it forever, no matter how much other people think it's "overplayed"! But if I think really hard, there's this one song that I, for some mysterious reason, listened to a lot when I was smaller (like ten, maybe) – Try To Say I'm Sorry by Princessa. WHY? That voice is terriblyannoying and the singer looks like an emaciated Kristen Stewart.
Day 17: A Song I Always Hear On The Radio
I never listen to the radio at home, but it's nice to put it on in the car. My mum and I usually choose Groove FM, and that channel likes to play Adele's Set Fire To The Rain
Day 18: A Song I Wish I Heard On The Radio
As I'm usually in the car when I listen to the radio, I would love to hear Michael Jackson's Speed Demon! Isn't that just a perfect car driving song?
Day 19: A Song From My Favourite Album
The Dreamgirls film soundtrack is definitely one of my favourite albums. It's the perfect mix of great, groovy tunes and character-building ballads bursting with soul and emotion. Steppin' To The Bad Side is on the groovy side, I simply can't stay still when they get the saxophones going there.
Day 20: A Song I Listen To When I'm Angry
I do realize I already featured Michael Jackson a short while ago, but there just isn't a more ideal anger song for me than They Don't Care About Us.
Day 21: A Song I Listen To When I'm Happy Today 4 U from the musical RENT, because Angel is awesome.
Day 22: A Song I Listen To When I'm Sad
There's a LOT of songs I could choose from, but I'll pick Madonna's The Power Of Good-Bye.
Day 23: A Song To Play At My Wedding Seasons of Love, a.k.a the most moving anthem about life, from the wonderful musical RENT!
Day 24: A Song To Play At My Funeral
Wow, I haven't really thought about this... Seasons of Love would suit this occasion perfectly as well, but it would be lame to use the same song twice. Madonna's I'll Remember would be a possibility. Glee's Chris Colfer introduced me to this song and I've loved loved loved it ever since – specifically, his version of it.
Day 25: A Song That Makes Me Laugh
I'm glad there's something cheerful here after those funeral contemplations! I know I shared this song in my Mary Poppins post already, but there is no other song in the world that makes me laugh out loud like I Love To Laugh from Mary Poppins! I've never managed to listen through it silently!
Day 26: A Song I Can Play On An Instrument
I played the flute for seven years so I can play a fair amount of stuff on it, but my favourite song to play is Danny Boy. (Actually, the melody is called Londonderry Air in my music books, the Danny Boy lyrics were made later.) I want to present this version sung by the wonderful Celtic Thunder.
PS there's an other video in Youtube where these same guys sing this same song in the open air wearing kilts and it's even more awesome, but Blogger won't let me add it here for some reason...
Day 27: A Song I Wish I Could Play
One of these days I'm seriously going to dig out the sheet music for I'm A Doun For Lack O'Johnnie (there's about 11 different ways to spell the song title and none of them seems to be the official, "right" one...). It's a part of the Scottish Fantasy composition by Max Bruch, made famous by the violinist Vanessa Mae. This melody is usually played with the violin, but no doubt it would sound great with the flute as well!
Day 28: A Song That Makes Me Feel Guilty
I don't exactly know what this question is about because songs rarely make me feel guilty, but I guess the nearest hit would be Whistle While You Work from Disney's Snow White. It might disturb me a little when it happens to pop into my head and my apartment is looking like a hurricane went through... I'm going to present the Finnish version Ain laulain työtäs tee, because of course I watched all the Disney films dubbed in Finnish when I was a kid (and even as a grown-up I swear the Finnish voices suit the characters much better than the original ones). And it will be a fun listen to all the non-Finns.
Day 29: A Song From My Childhood
Yep, Disney films belonged to my childhood as they do to practically everyone's, but I bet not everyone can say they knew the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein songs in The Sound Of Music at age five. My absolute favourite scene in the film was Liesl and Rolf's duet Sixteen Going On Seventeen. Liesl was my number one childhood heroine – she had such a pretty pink dress and a boy who sang with her. Plus, when my sister and I were smaller our mum would always stop the film right after Maria and Georg got married, and it came as a complete surprise to me later that the film actually continued from there. So for many years I didn't know that Rolf would become a bad guy!
Day 30: My Favourite Song Last Year
Okay this is hard, because like I said on Day 1 I have tons of favourite songs and I can't possibly keep track exactly when I started liking all of them. I recall listening to Lady Gaga's Born This Way a lot, and I still do – especially on the rare occasion when I make myself do work-out at home. I need a good beat for that, and Gaga has it.
BONUS Day 31: A Song That Is Really Insane
The original tag only covers 30 days but I made up this tiny addition myself because, as we all know, there are 31 days in October. There's always some sort of a "crazy, funny song" phenomenon going on in the wide world of the Internet. Stuff like Gangnam Style, Harlem Shake or... What Does The Fox Say by Ylvis! My apologies if you're already sick of this insanity... And this is officially the end of the 30 Days of Music challenge! Feel free to take up this tag on your blog!
I love quizzes, so I decided to make one where you can test your knowledge of Miss Saigon! I'll be posting the right answers on Saturday, when Celebrate Musicals Week comes to an end. Till then, you can send your answers through this post's comments! Well, of course I can't stop you from keeping your answers to yourself, but all bloggers love to see comments on their posts! And on Saturday, the one who reached the highest score will get... An honorary mention and eternal glory. (I'm sorry, were you expecting to get tickets to the show?) There won't be much point in quizzing if you all go and Google the answers, so please play nice :) However, checking out my previous Miss Saigon posts for possible hints is by all means allowed!
Now go and have fun with the quiz little dears – I will go "engineer"...
1. Where did Claude-Michel Schönberg get the inspiration to create Miss Saigon?
a) He met an old Vietnamese woman who shared her memories of the Vietnam War.
b) He saw a picture of a Vietnamese mother leaving her child with an American GI.
c) He made a trip to Ho Chi Minh City.
2. Which opera is Miss Saigon based on?
a) La Bohème
b) Carmen
c) Madame Butterfly 3. Which character sings If You Want To Die In Bed?
a) the Engineer
b) John
c) Kim
4. In which West End theatre did Miss Saigon originally play?
a) Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
b) Prince Edward Theatre
c) Apollo Theatre
5. The Last Night of the World is
a) a solo
b) a duet
c) an ensemble number
6. In 2014 when Miss Saigon returns to London, how many years will it have been since its first opening?
a) 15 years
b) 20 years
c) 25 years
7. Lea Salonga first auditioned for Miss Saigon in
a) Los Angeles
b) London
c) Manila
8. Monique Wilson was an understudy for Kim and also played the role of the bar girl
a) Mimi
b) Gigi
c) Yvette
9. What is the name of Kim's cousin whom she was supposed to marry?
a) Tam
b) Thuy
c) Tranh
10. What locations does Miss Saigon take place in?
a) Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok
b) Bankok and Singapore
c) Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi
11. How many characters die on stage in Miss Saigon?
a) One
b) Two
c) Four
12. There is a song in Miss Saigon called The Morning of the...
a) Phoenix
b) Battle
c) Dragon
13. Who was elected Miss Saigon at the Engineer's night club?
a) Gigi
b) Yvonne
c) Kim
14. What is the Engineer's night club at the beginning of Miss Saigon called?
a) American Dream
b) Dreamland
c) Saigon Ladies
15. The Engineer is half Vietnamese and half...
a) Dutch
b) American
c) French
16. Fill in the lyrics: "Vietnam, hey look I mean you no offence. But why..."
a) does everything make sense
b) does nothing here make sense
c) does no-one here have sense
17. The lyrics from the previous question are from
a) Why God Why?
b) The Heat Is On In Saigon
c) Now That I've Seen Her 18. What is Chris' vocal range?
a) tenor
b) baritenor
c) baritone
19. In the new production there will be a song called Maybe, sung by
a) Ellen
b) Chris
c) Kim
20. Which of these can be seen on stage in Miss Saigon?
a) a train
b) a truck
c) a helicopter
Miss Saigon is full of wonderful music and moving lyrics, but on today's post I will share my absolute favourite songs and try to explain why I like them so much. I didn't put them in order of preference because it would be impossible for me to rank them – they are listed in the order where they appear in the show. Please remember what I said about the questionable language in the Miss Saigon lyrics!
The Movie In My Mind
This song takes place near the beginning of the show at the Dreamland club. Gigi, one of the bar girls, starts to sing about her impossible dream of escaping Vietnam and living the American Dream. Kim joins in, making it a wonderful female duet where Gigi's deep, dark voice contrasts with Kim's bright, youthful one. Female duets are much rarer in musical theatre than the traditional male-female ones, and I tend to like them as a rule.
Why God Why?
Chris has just realized he's in love with Kim and boy does he sing a beautiful song about his overpowering feelings! I chose to present a video with Gareth Gates singing, because I did mention how much I would love him to play Chris' part! I think his voice was made to sing this song. Blogger wouldn't let me put the video in like I did with the other songs, but I'll give you a link:
This Money Is Yours
Chris asks Kim to tell him more about herself. While it's terrible to hear what happened to Kim's parents, I like this song because Lea Salonga delivers it with such deep emotion and maturity of voice that it's impossible to believe she is just 17 years old here.
Sun and Moon
This is Kim and Chris' first love duet (yes, they have two of those). I love the imagery in the lyrics, how it compares Kim and Chris' unlikely romance to the sun and the moon meeting in the sky.
Dju Vui Vai
I've cried at every real wedding I've attended, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry when I get to see this performance on stage. The girls' chorus is like from another world, and the atmosphere of hope and promise really reaches your heart, which is much more important than having an authority figure to make the marriage official.
The Last Night of the World
Chris and Kim sing another duet after their unofficial wedding, and this is my favourite out of the two. The arrangements for the two voices are wonderful and the melody is so memorable it's constantly playing in head.
The Morning of the Dragon
One of the many ensemble numbers in this musical which correspond to the word EPIC. The Viet-Cong takes over in determined song. The harmonica is quite interesting here, but I actually think it sounds good.
You Will Not Touch Him/Thuy's Death/This Is The Hour
These three are always grouped a little differently depending on which album they're in – sometimes This Is The Hour is a separate track, sometimes it's put together with Thuy's Death and isn't mentioned by name at all. Anyway, they happen one right after the other, I think they're all great and clumping them all together means I've got more room in my Top 10 list, so they're going to be one item in this list. The story gets to one of its highest points here when Kim shows that she really will do anything to protect her little boy when Thuy comes back and threatens him. After this comes This Is The Hour, another ensemble number that sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it, and features what I think are honestly the best harmonies in the universe of musical theatre. Yes, I'm really going to make such a huge statement!
Bui-Doi
The ensemble sings again, led by John. John has become such a different person than what he was in Act I – in a positive sense! Once again, I love the melody and the harmonies...
Now That I've Seen Her
This is Ellen's solo which will no longer be heard in the revival. Ellen gets a lot of dirty looks from fans because of how they interpret these lyrics, but like I stated in my earlier post, I can't see what there is to hate about her. She has to go through a lot emotionally, suddenly hearing that her husband basically has another family in Vietnam!
