Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

This is the best news since Dollhouse was announced!

"Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" is a three part supervillain musical written by Joss Whedon and starring Neil Patrick Harris & Nathan Fillion.

“It’s the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.”

It was concieved during the writer's strike and filmed in 6 days "on favors and waivers" using a crew of longtime Whedon loyalists.

It will be treamed for FREE on the official website for one week only.
The first part goes up on July 15th.

Dark Horse Comics have also released “Captain Hammer: be like me! Nemesis of Doctor Horrible”. You can read it here.

It will eventually be released on dvd with lots of extras "which are going to be the finest in all the land. We're actually going to do, in addition to the commentary, what we refer to as ‘commentary with an exclamation point'! A musical commentary that is a completely original musical, that is all commentary songs, and we're writing that now."

Not that is something I would love to own!

The Lion King

What an amazing, larger-than-life experience! I have been yearning to see this show ever since my first glimpse of it at the Tony Awards all those years ago. It has been well worth the wait.

Using a combination of masks, bunraku puppets, body paint and shadow puppetry, the splendour and diversity of an African savannah is created. It's brilliant and the visual animation on stage is truly the essence of the show.

Most of the lead actors have performed their roles before in productions all over the world and with the exception of Scar's Mark Rayment, all are South African.
The first few notes of Buyisile Zama's Rafiki literally sent shivers down my spine.

I enjoyed the local flavour. Shenzi has a Cape flats accent and Pumbaa uses more than a few Afrikaans words. Even little Nala got a huge laugh with a very well timed "Hey Wena!". This kind of thing is often used to gain a few more laughs in regional productions, but here it also helped to strengthen the diversity of the characters.

The wildebeest stampede was incredibly powerful, and with the exception of maybe the opening sequence and Simba's vision of Mufasa, my favourite in the whole show.

It's strange, the theatre itself feels small and intimate, but it seats over 1900 people! It is so well designed that there's basically not a bad seat in the house, since you are no further than 33m for the stage wherever you sit. I love the way the acoustic tiling inside the theatre is reminiscent of woven reeds - distinctly African, but not overbearing.

The best part? I'm going to see it again in July, this time from the front row, courtesy of my really, really cool boss.

We Will Rock You

“The year is 2023. Globalisation has taken its toll. All musical instruments are banned. Everywhere the kids watch the same movies, wear the same fashions and think the same thoughts. It's a safe, happy Ga Ga world. Unless you're a rebel. Unless you want to rock.”

We Will Rock You is a lavish rock musical featuring 32 of Queen's greatest hits as well as a spectacular all South African cast (many of them fresh from last year's Chicago).

Written by Ben Elton (writer of series like Blackadder and Thin Blue Line) , the plot might not be the best part of the show, but it is full of hilarious jabs at the music industry. Anyway, most of the audience didn't care too much about the plot, they were there to be dazzled by the sound and drama of Queen's music.

It is a visual feast with weird and fantastical costumes, frantic lighting and huge screens in the background whose constant animations and live feeds give life to this highly artificial and computerised world.

But what impressed me the most, was the quality of the cast. Vicky Sampson is great as the larger-than-life 'Killer Queen', but it was the vocal talents of Helen Burger as Scaramouche that really impressed me. Murray Todd (Britney) and Talia Kodesh (Oz) is also impressive with their spot-on comedic timing and a flamboyant, but highly confident, stage performance.

The all-local band supporting the actors are also top-notch and you won't be blamed if you think on occasion that they are using the original music for backing tracks. But it's all live.

Robbie Williams

It was so incredibly worth it!

Say what you like about him, but Robbie Williams is a master entertainer. From trying to break a few interesting 'World Records' to regaling the audience with his version of Blue Steel, the Horny Giraffe, he had the crowd of 61 000 at his finger tips, and he played them to perfection. (I just have to wonder how many people actually got the Zoolander reference.)

With a mix of old classics like Let Me Entertain You, Rock DJ and Angels and newer hits like Advertising Space and Come Undone, he could just do no wrong.

I was also really impressed with the sound of opening act Freshly Ground.

Rockin' Cinderella

If you are in Pretoria this weekend, go and check out Rockin' Cinderella - a brand new rock opera written by my brother and his best friend!

The Cinderella story is transformed into a sexy, cool production featuring a live band, singers and dancers. A 70's style “Cindy” (played by Shaia Wolf of Isidingo fame) encounters characters both cruel and comical as she progresses through a production packed with superb jazz and rock ‘n roll music written for the show.

They have been working on it for more than a year now, so it is great to finally see the finished product.

Holiday

I can't wait! In less than 4 days time I will be off to Capetown for a midweek break of 3 whole days. The past few weeks have been so hectic that I haven't even gotten around to doing any posts before now. But since the bonus I got for working all through the weekend is paying for this trip, I'm not complaining too much.

Still, I hate that feeling you get when you work really hard to finish a project with an extremely tight deadline, and you actually finish it with time to spare, when the client turns around and tells you that Mr. Whoever can't keep to the original schedule and the project will be extended indifinitely. But the client is always right, so what can a lowly designer do?
Anyway, enough ranting now.

I did get to see Phantom of the Opera in the State Theatre though. It was absolutely amazing! I never knew Andre Schwartz had such a powerful voice. As for the decor - it was some of the best scene changes I have ever seen. My favourite one was probably the whole transformation sequence where Christine sings 'Think of me'. Some of the visual imagery like the drapery falling down after the auction scene and of course the underground river left me sitting there with goosebumps crawling up my back.