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!)
