蔡老師の賞味特區

百老匯音樂劇之夜！Night for Broadway Musicals!!

從小我就很愛看百老匯音樂劇，每次媽咪到紐約來看我的時候就會帶我去看一兩齣音樂劇。從The King and I, Miss Saigon, La Miserabe, Phantom 這些經典音樂劇到像 Rent, 42nd Street, Kiss me Kate, Thoroghly Modern Milly, Contact, Lion King.  其中有些音樂劇我太喜歡了，還看過至少兩遍以上！近年回紐約時也看了一些新的音樂劇，像是 Mary Poppins, How to succeed in business without really trying, Everything Goes.  

Broadway Musicals have always been one of my passions.  Since I was young and living in New York, Mom always would take me to see a show or two whenever she visited the city.  From some classic musicals like The King and I, Miss Saigon, La Miserabe, Phantom to more monder productions such as Rent, 42nd Street, Kiss me Kate, Thoroghly Modern Milly, Contact, Lion King.  I have to say 42nd Street and Thoroghly Modern Milly have been my all time favorites, I still listen to the original Broadway cast albums even now! 

In recent years, I've also seen Mary Poppins, How to succeed in business without really trying, Everything Goes.  I have to say, Mary Poppins really wans't for adults over 20 years old if you don't go with children, then you shouldn't choose it!

以前愛音樂劇的程度甚至透過在紐約當演員的朋友介紹我去找音樂劇老師學習音樂劇演唱方式。那時一小時$70美金，我一整個星期的零用錢只有$100美金，為了上課我省吃儉用控制在$30美金以內才能去上一堂課，哈哈～現在想起來真有意思。

我還記得我的老師Mr. Garlem住在Upper West Side 的那種很古典又很美輪美奐的的建築物裡，那棟大樓有螺旋式樓梯的樓梯通往每一層。他當時應該有七十幾歲了，他教過很多有名的百老匯演員唱歌！Mr. Garlem家裡好大啊，我想像那樣的老式建築至少都有八個房間！他養了一隻雪納瑞叫Kiki, 他說因為"Ki"是日文的"能量", 所以叫牠Kiki。其實就是我們中文字的"氣"呦～

每次到上課時我就會站在Mr. Garlem的咖啡色三角鋼琴前，他談我唱，然後他教我發聲、怎麼使用及控制喉嚨肌肉！一開始唱真的覺得很不好意思，第一次這樣大聲地唱出聲音來！但為了我辛苦存的$70美金，我也得拼了！

每一次上課Mr. Garlem都有幫我錄音，那時用得還是卷卷是的卡夾。我想我應該還留著吧some where, 可能放在公司大倉庫某個很裡面角落的箱子裡！如果找出來聽聽20年前的歌聲我可能會當場笑道昏厥過去！

I still remember that I love musicals so much, through an actor friend, I started taking singing lessons with this instructor Mr. Garlem.  He lived on Upper West Side on the 70's street.  The first time I enter his building and his home I was speechless, it was a gorgous historical building, I know it's still there I just don't remember which and they have bunch of those buildings on Upper West.  The spiral stair case, the iron cast handle and his apartment had like 8 rooms, gosh~

In each class, I would stand right in front of Mr. Garlem's piano, he played I sang.  He tought me how to use muscels in my throat and how to sign from belly, from lung and up to thraot!  He recorded every session and I got to keep the tapes.  

He had a Schnauzer named Kiki, he told me "Ki" means energy in Japanes, and since Kiki was a energetic dog, he decided to gave him that name!

Anyway, 跟20年前比百老匯的票當然漲了不少，以前一張 Orchestra(離舞台最近的區域)的票最貴一張$95美金，現在從$150~$375。所以省錢的方式就是想去看秀的當天下午三點開始，在時代廣場47街/七大道的地方有個tkts, 是以50%的價格販售當日還沒有賣出去的票。一個人的座位比較好買到不錯的位子。當有兩個人以上就很難可以做在一起了，或是位子會很偏。

我當天選了"Once"是一齣最今才出來的百老匯音樂劇，有別於其搭百老匯音樂劇樂團在舞台正下方，指揮會一邊看著舞台上的故事節奏一邊指揮舞台下方的樂團; Once是所有的演員都自己彈奏樂器，邊演邊唱(好省喔，哈!) 不過真的不容易喔，很厲害！

Once還有一個噱頭，因為故事場景是在酒吧裡發生，所以舞台就是以酒吧作為背景，在中場休息的時候現場觀眾歡迎到舞台上喝一杯，哈哈哈～

Of course, tickets for Broadway musicals have gone up so much.  Before, a tick for Orchastra cost for USD $95, nowadays depends on a show it can range from $150-$375 per ticket.  Such as Wicked, can cost over $400, it's insane~~~ To spend less, you can go to tkts at 3pm in the afternoon and check out all the show of that day to get a 50% off ticket.  It's on 47th Street near 7th Avenue. If you'd like to get tickets for 2 and above, most likely you'll get tickets with seperate seatings.

有礙於劇院內不得拍照的規定，所以我就無法呈現內部照片，只有拍拍外面的實況囉！

其實我覺得是還滿好看的，但我是在到紐約第二個晚上去看的，所以邊看邊要很用力很用力的支撐我的眼皮。中間有好幾個橋段我已經印象模糊了，還好最後依照習慣，我都會買張CD回去，再複習一下！

百老匯音樂劇的原創CD是在網路上找不到也無法Download的呦～

I picked Tony Award Wining musical "Once", it was a beautiful story of the encounter of a musician and a girl.  It was lovely yet I was fighting so hard with my jet lag and honestly, can't remember some part of the story, lol~ But I managed to get a CD to bring home with me.  BTW, do you know you can't find Broadway musical Original Cast CD on internet nor you can download it from iTunes.

奇怪，坐地鐵回家的路上又清醒了起來，是怎樣！On the way home taking the train, miraculously, I'm awake again!

每次看百老匯的秀都會拿到一本Playbill, 裡面介紹這齣戲的演員、工作人員，還有一些時代廣場餐廳Hotel等等的廣告，有人會收集這些Playbill, 我都是直接扔到垃圾桶。今天精神不濟看音樂劇，回到家睡不著實在氣死人！

You'll get a Playbill with each of the show you watch, it has all the names of the actors in the show, brief introductions on leading actors and actressess, with additional information on places to go in Time Square and some advertising.  Some people do collect playbills!

Oh, that's me being wide awake pass midnight, and being upset about dozing off in the theatre!