Tiring Times

Well the show is finally over. It was great fun but truly exhausting and although I miss the people already I'll need to recover before I start missing the rehearsals! On the Tuesday night after the show we had an after party in Grappa's bar, which is in the bottom of Jardine House in Central and I had so much fun chatting to people that I didn't want to leave. Hopefully I'll meet up with some of them again in the next few months.

Some of the girls from Anything Goes... and a sailor!

I've been busy at school as usual as Rich is still off with his broken jaw. I got my English Ambassador team to make egg shaped clues to post around the school for an Egg Hunt on Wednesday and watched Freaky Friday (a Disney film) at lunchtimes with some of the 2nd year girls.

Hong Kong has had 3 school children die from flu related illnesses recently, so they've stepped up precautions and lots of schools are going on holiday early. My school hasn't closed yet (we're due to finish on Thursday anyway) but the morning reading period is now dedicated to taking every students' temperature and around half of my students are sporting delightful blue face masks to protect them from everyone else's germs. It may seem a bit crazy and over the top but Hong Kong suffered hugely with SARS and in a city where everyone lives so densely packed together it's better to be safe than sorry.

On Saturday night Scott decided to have an early birthday dinner, as everyone is jetting off on their Easter holidays before his actual birthday next weekend. We went to a Chinese restaurant on the top floor of the North Point Wet Market on Java Road. The food was standard Chinese restaurant stuff but I haven't been for a big group meal in ages and it was fun to share lots of dishes and drink Tsing Tao out of bowls! It was really nice to see some Chatteris people that I hadn't caught up with in a while (due mainly to show rehearsals) and I've even got some of them on video thanks to Ken's imagination and the spinny lazy susan on our table!

Bowls of beer

Hopefully, this shows people at Scott's birthday meal!

Only a few days of school left before the Easter break, when I'm taking a whirlwind trip back to Britain to go to a PGCE interview. Feeling a bit guilty about my giant carbon footprint but looking forward to real milk and bread and cheese.

On the other hand, I've recently become really pleased with the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables you get in Hong Kong. The other week I bought 4 passionfruits, 3 mangos and a green coconut (with a straw in it to drink the milk!) for less than a fiver. It's fabulous! And this evening I went out to the market and bought 5 tomatoes, still on their vine, for less than a pound. Shopping in Tesco's just wont be the same.

In the news...

The musical that I'm in was reviewed in the South China Morning Post. If you look closely at the picture you can see me in the middle of the stage, although not in the front row!

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CitySeen: Nine years on and just as strong, HK Singers are back in fine voice

Andrew Sun

Updated on Mar 07, 2008






They first did it nine years ago. Now, top community theatrical group the Hong Kong Singers are producing Cole Porter's depression-era romp Anything Goes once again. The musical opened last night at the City Hall theatre (and continues until Tuesday) with several cast members returning to roles they first performed in 1999, including one of the lead actresses, Shareen Hellen.



New director Tony Penny was a fan of the first production. "I wasn't involved, but I remember seeing it," Penny said. "It was excellent and I hope this one is even better. [Shareen] is a wonderful singer and she's recreating the same role. Now, she's even stronger and better than before."



For any theatrical director, working on a show that has been remounted and produced many times over can be daunting. However, Penny - a Hong Kong Singers veteran who has directed everything from Agatha Christie murder mysteries to My Fair Lady - suggests it's not all about the director. "I was asked before how, as a director, I put my stamp on things that have been done before, and I say it's essentially the cast that puts its stamp on it. Even if people have done the show before, they are still coming into a new production. Everyone works differently with different people. For this show, we're trying to make it more light, more fun."



For tickets to the show, contact Urbtix on 2734 9009.

Additional reporting by Clara Mak

Send tips, tickets and invitations to andrew.sun@scmp.com

Made it to March!

I haven't much time for blogging at the minute. I've been rehearsing with the Hong Kong singers 3 or 4 times a week, and as of tomorrow I'll be at City Hall every evening for 8 days straight. It's going to be exhausting but hopefully a lot of fun!



Since last time I wrote, the weather has warmed up a lot. Today it was warm enough for me to go out with a skirt and no tights on! I've not been doing much exploring though.



Me, Rachel and Scott found a new bar (well, new to me!) called Ned Kelly's last stand. It's in Tsim Sha Tsui and has a live jazz band that play every night. The bar is pretty crowded (we were there on a Friday) but the atmosphere is really fun and relaxed, which makes a change from the somewhat pretentious bars in Central where everyone seems to be trying to work out how much you spent on your outfit. The jazz band were really good too. We were dancing in our seats!

Inside Ned Kelly's... it's a bit dark but you can make out the band

At school we were getting musical too last week. We made AMAZING horns from plastic drinking straws with little funnels of paper stuck on the end. It takes a little while to get the knack of making the noise with them but once they work they're pretty loud! This week we're beginning our Easter celebrations by making little yellow pompom chicks.

Some of the girls from 1E with their horns

Celia and Jace with their pompom chicks

That's all for now folks!