Mozart Musical 모차르트 뮤지컬 (Info + how to buy tickets)

I have never watched a single musical because I am not a literature kind of person and thought I am bound to fall asleep. I don't think I will appreciate the very exaggerated way of expressing storylines. I am interested in music but am very selective when it comes to what kind of music. All in all, musical is nowhere near my to-do list.

Then I came across We Kid, a Korean variety show that features kids singing. It introduced me to this song "황금별" or better known as Gold Von den Sternen from the musical Mozart. Although it's a German production, this musical was repeatedly shown in Korea. Just this one song and it got me interested in musical. I was deciding whether to watch Les Miserables or Wicked which will be showing in Singapore. The songs from both musicals were not to my liking although I know that they are kind of popular. And then... I guess I was in luck to find out that it Mozart will be shown in Korea again in 2016!

So the decision is clear, no need for me to deliberate between the two anymore. I am going to watch Mozart due to that one song. But wait, doesn't sound right to go through a 175min musical just for one song. I tried to watch the Mozart musical concert which featured JYJ Junsu and fell in love with a few more songs. I must say that the songs from Mozart are superb. It got me interested in the life of Mozart (ashamed to say this because I grew up learning piano).

From Ticketmonster website

Mozart is played by three different actors namely Lee Ji Hoon, Jeon Dong Suk and Super Junior's Kyuhyun. Of the three, I only know Kyuhyun so I thought I should attend his session as I like his singing. After reading reviews, it seems like most people are recommending Jeon Dong Suk. I can't find much information about him, only know that he is a musical actor, born in 1988, served as marine corps and has not failed a single audition. His singing skill is superb, you can listen to this. Not bad looking too. So far I enjoyed Junsu's version but heard from reviews that Park Eun Tae and Park Hyo Shin's one might be the best ones so far.

With regards to the musical this time round, saw some reviews which labelled it as disappointing mainly due to storyline (they did some changes), poor harmony by the ensemble, orchestra being too loud, poor performance by 홍록기 etc. There are also good reviews for it. Nevertheless, still determined that this will be my first ever musical due to the songs, which many agreed that this is one big plus for this musical.

For those who are interested, you can purchase tickets online at here (English version). Tickets are selling from ₩50,000 to ₩140,000. It is held at Sejong Center (nearest subway station is Gwanghwamun) from 10 Jun till 7 Aug 2016. There will be discounts if you are purchasing tickets for weekday afternoon, Sunday night or for more than 3 tickets. Ticketmonster is also offering the Cat A seats at 2 for ₩70,000 (50% discount, only for certain dates, all other dates at 40% discount). For more info click here (in Korean).

This is the casting schedule taken from Interpark website. The second column states the actor for Mozart. (이지훈 = Lee Ji Hoon, 전동숙 = Jeon Dong Suk, 규현 = Kyuhyun) The schedule is subject to changes without prior notice.

If you are just interested in meeting the artistes, you can wait outside the venue either before or after the musical. They are bound to appear.

Update: I went to watch Jeon Dong Suk's performance and it was really amazing. Would definitely want to watch this musical again.

Korean Boyfriend Comes to Visit Singapore

I have been really busy for the entire month of May. Early May my boyfriend came to visit for a week and mid May onwards, I was busy with two business trips.

I had a hard time planning where to bring my bf since it wasn't his first time here. His last visit was in 2014.

Hotel
Hotel is the most challenging of them all. My bf does have high expectation of hotels, not that it has to be high end but it has definitely got to be clean, quiet and come with comfortable bed. We also enjoy hotel breakfast as well as the swimming pool. After considering all the above, along with price, I have settled for Park Royal Hotel Pickering Street.

Comfortable bed - checked

Great swimming experience - checked

Nice hotel buffet breakfast - checked

Read online that Lime restaurant in Park Royal Pickering is highly acclaimed. The food was good but we have had better ones in Korea. It fell a little below my expectation but nevertheless, nice environment.

Nice gesture from the hotel

Informed the hotel that it was our anniversary when booking through Agoda and was heartened that they really did send up an anniversary cake (came with a card). Definitely good customer service.

Welcome drink

Hotel also provides welcome drink (lime drink) for their guests when the check-in queue got too long. We were actually checking out on that day and didn't notice the fast check-out box placed opposite the counters. We went to queue instead and got ourselves the welcome drink (not a bad deal).

Food
My parents treated us to Jumbo seafood at riverwalk. The food was really good and these cost us around SGD300 for a table of 5.

We also visited Imperial Treasure for the dim sum. This is a must visit restaurant for my bf because dim sum is so expensive in Korea, not only that, it is also hard to find nice ones there. I don't have any photo for this though. We are quite amazed by the taste of the pork bun (crispy ones).

Another surprise planned was buffet lunch at Shangri-la hotel. The day we went, the hotel was hosting some conferences thus it got really crowded. We love the oyster, satay and dessert.

When you make reservation online, it will entitle you to 15% discount. You can also select the occasion that you are celebrating and the restaurant will present you will a complimentary cake. Although it's nice of them to delight customers with complimentary cake, considering that this is already a buffet, it seems quite unnecessary. It would have been good if they can offer something different from what is already available in the buffet spread.

We also went to Clifford Pier, my favourite place, not only for the food but also the ambience. They have live band starting at around 8pm if I am not wrong.

My usual at Clifford Pier will be the lobster roll (S$32), love the truffle fries.

Do check with them on credit card discounts when paying the bill.

After dinner at Clifford Pier, we had a nice walk along the river to Esplanade.

As we were staying in Park Royal, it was a short walk to Satay Club at Lau Pa Sat. Another hot spot for Koreans.

Astons is another of our favourite. I am sure no introduction is required as all Singaporeans should know where to find this cheap and good restaurant.

I don't usually eat fish but I was feeling sick on that day

Last but not least, my bf's favourite will be the Bah Kut Teh. We spotted lots of Koreans, apparently Song Fa Bah Kut Teh is highly raved in Korea so remember to bring your beau there. My bf actually bought back the bottled Song Fa brand dark sauce. This place is just beside Park Royal hotel.

Crazy queue

Attractions
I had complimentary tickets to River Safari and it was something that he is also interested in so we spent an entire morning at River Safari. Most of the time, we were at the panda enclosure lol. We were able to breeze through River Safari by going on a weekday.

So cute, he/she stole the limelight

For the sake of photos but it tasted not too bad too

The tickets came with free river cruise which was a complete waste of time.