Phantom of the Opera | Istana Budaya, KL | June 2019

I am pretty sure everyone is familiar with the well-known tale written by Gaston Leroux about the Opera Ghost, or so they say, falling in love with the beautiful singer, Christine Daae. A classic tale of love and beauty. There are a lot of trials in between and finally, they found love. Just not in the way you expect.

If this story is still unfamiliar to you then maybe you should actually pick up the book and have a read for yourself. Or maybe just watch the 2004, Phantom of the Opera movie which was good in its own way too. The soundtrack from the movie is just... Magical. I could listen to it over and over again without ever getting bored.

My very first introduction to the story was when I was in high school. I can't remember if I was in form 1, 2 or 3, but it was required of us to study the book for English Literature. Although we got the incredibly short & clipped version of the novel, I remember truly enjoying the story as a whole. I probably finished the book in less than a week.

From the novel, I moved on to watching the movie starring Gerard Butler. He did a pretty damn good job portraying the Phantom & singing the songs that I have listened to many times over and over again. Actually the entire soundtrack album composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber is amazing - so fitting for the story and every scene in the movie.

With my already existing fascination for the story and my adoration for the songs, I had told myself that someday (when I am not as poor), I will make sure I will watch the Musical Live in London. This seemed like quite the pipe dream to be honest especially with how depressing our current currency rate is at.

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Imagine my surprise when it was advertised that the Phantom of the Opera performed by the Broadway Casts would be showing at Istana Budaya. I was beyond excited. With me being the instant-gratification seeker immediately went browsing through the ticketing website.

Now, imagine the shock on my face the first time I checked out the price of the tickets. Shit my life.

The cheapest & also the farthest seats costs at least RM 300. I think my heart just a little bit because to be very honest, sitting so far from the stage with my shitty eyesight and also height, I might as well not be able to see anything at all. Anything closer to the stage would be in the RM 500 - RM 600 range which in truth, was expensive as butt.

Why so expensive. Why I not rich. 

I think I waited till forever before I, bravely, made up my mind (with lots of convincing from a friend) to just YOLO it and bought myself a ticket to watch the Broadway performance. The reason was that I should not be missing an experience of a lifetime just because I do not want to spend the money.

But honestly, despite how long it took me to finally push myself to click on the 'purchase' button, I am glad that I did. I had unknowingly bought myself one of the best nights of my year.

With my ticket bought, I waited excitedly for the day where I would take myself to Istana Budaya to watch one of my favourite musicals to have ever been written. And when I say 'take myself' I really do mean me bringing myself on a date because I would be watching the musical all on my own. Which might seem a little odd to you but I was looking forward to the experience

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Finally the 26th of June (also happens to be the day before my sister's birthday) has arrived and I was excited beyond words. Not even realising what a magical day I was about to have.

Although my show would only start at 8.30pm, I decided to make use of my replacement leave and took the day off to just have a slow but satisfying day. Because, as a friend of mine always says, why not?

So I took myself to lunch at Pinch Bistro at Jalan Bangkung and had the awesome Bacon Aglio Olio. For some reason I was massively craving for some pasta & this was definitely good enough to satiate whatever cravings I had for the time being. And I cleared the entire plate by myself, it was that good. 

At the same time I took that brief moment of solace to enjoy my cup of coffee while reading on my Kindle. Also brought along my laptop for some music (maybe to write even) and chilled at my favourite place.

These are the very few things that could keep me very very happy even if I was seated at a restaurant on my own. Though my company that joined me a little after I was done with my meal was not all too bad either.

And just like that, the first half of my day was good. Then before the usual traffic rush, I made my way home to get ready for my date night (with myself).

Not wanting to drive myself there and worry about looking for a parking, I asked my mom to send me to Istana Budaya. And yes I am that spoiled lazy. 

And another picture for the album - why not.

Throughout the short journey there I was shaking with excitement and my nerves were going completely off the walls too.

I had a feeling that I would probably be the only girl, or person really, that will be attending the festivities on my own. As much as that thought made me really nervous because I know some people will probably give me odd looks and whisper among themselves, wondering who is this weirdo here on her own, but I was still looking forward to the whole new experience.

When I walked into the halls of Istana Budaya for the very first time, I was greeted by these massive banners hanging at the lobby and I stood staring at it for a good while. If I had not been excited before then I was definitely was standing in front of these pictures. Still I had no idea just what a dream I would be walking into. 

To my surprise, despite how I was about an hour early, there already was a growing number of people flocking about getting as many pictures as they can with the banners and few photo walls that had been set up. Some are flocking to the souvenir booth where they can buy up memorabilia of the events like key chains, t-shirts and the likes.

And me being the kind that likes collecting little trinkets as a memory souvenir to keep went straight to the booth where they were selling all the memorabilia to browse for things that I can bring home with me. Honestly I was not too surprised by the price of some of the items - it is always that way with such merchandises.

Still, that did not stop me from buying a thing or two. I have already spent a good amount of money on the ticket for the night so what is a little bit more?

Moving on from my mini shopping moment would be to take pictures for memory sakes. And also, I dreaded having to do this more than anything else in the world because I knew that I'd need to be asking strangers for help since I was there on my own. Taking selfie would obviously be the worst idea ever.

For anyone that knows me, you will know just how painful it is for me to even think of speaking to a stranger. What more now I would be asking for help. I mean, I already hate having to call someone on the phone for work.

So having to speak to strangers and having to do it while I am all on my own in a completely unfamiliar setting is bad enough. But needing to ask them for help to take a photo of me, I would have rather chosen death.

At the risk of not having any pictures with the beautiful decoration specially done just for the Broadway show, I plucked up what little courage that I had and asked a stranger to take a few photos for me.

And because I was beyond embarrassed to have asked, I quickly offered to take photos for them too. Which they seemed to be quite surprised by. Do I look like I was just going to say 'thank you' and walk off? 

Fast forward and many flights of stairs later, I found my way to my balcony seat. I had chosen this particular spot because I preferred a top-view and this way, I get to be all the way in front without having to spend a thousand bucks. To me that was perfect.

Excited for my very first opera experience. 

I cannot even begin to explain the excitement I felt while I was in my seat, waiting for the show to start. I also could not stop looking around me and just taking in the architecture of Istana Budaya; it was after all my first time there. Not gonna lie, it is nowhere as beautiful as the photos of the actual Paris Opera House but this one has its own charms too.

To my slight dismay, my neighbour (both to my left and right) were rather chatty. In actual fact the male sat to my left who was there with his girlfriend would not stop humming (or singing) along - terribly too might I add. It took all sorts of self control to not turn to him just to tell him to shut the hell up.

Also, let's not forget the girls (I presume they are probably in college) just talking cattily amongst themselves almost any chance they got. One of them actually said, verbatim and I swears, she actually said "Wow. This place is so culture". I tried SO HARD to not laugh or react when she said that. Then at one point I heard one of them saying something about how sad that I was there on my own and how my shoes were 'cheap' looking. 

To her credit, the shoes were actually cheap because I bought them from Zara on sale haha. Pretty as they were, they were also so painful to wear for long periods of time. But I love them. 

Intermission. 

If you're familiar with the Phantom story then you will know which part this is where the play allowed for a 15 minutes break. At this point I was just.... I was in absolute awe.

Having watched the Royal Opera House 25th Anniversary version starring Ramin Karimloo (i love him) and Sierra Borgess, I already had high expectations. But OMG actually seeing it for myself in person, although with a different cast, I can't even begin to explain. I mean of course I would have been so much more excited if it was Ramin Karimloo that was playing the Phantom, but this cast was great too!

The costumes were amazing, of course. And then the set design is just.... Each scene was different & honestly just out of this world. The engineering of the animatronics behind it all is beyond anything that I could ever comprehend. I never ever thought it would be possible to have it look the way it did in Istana Budaya. 

A quick toilet break and I was back in my seat, waiting excitedly for the second part of the play.

Grand Finale.

Despite by annoyance at my seat neighbour's annoyingly terrible singing that he just could not seem to control, I was completely floored by how magnificent the entire play was. The Broadway casts truly did an amazing job and the technicians of the set, costume designers and all the hardworking crews behind the scene has truly made my night a magical one. 

Safe to say that, despite how many times I have watched the Phantom of the Opera (film and the Ramin's version), I was in tears by the end of it. That ending....... Ugh my heart broke for the Phantom. His final 'Christine, I love you...........' just brought on more tears. 

Centrestage. 

Who knows when I would be able to be standing in front of something so beautiful. So I am truly grateful for the two girls that offered to take a photo for me even though I never asked. And mainly because I was too shy to even ask because I was still far too emotional over the ending to even think straight. 

Now I can't wait for the Love Never Dies World Tour. If it is ever happening and they make a stop in Malaysia, I am definitely going again.

With amore,