Coldplay - Don't Panic

We (Pepe, Pepe's niece Pepe, Gracie, Charlotte V and I) went to see Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida last night at the Shanghai Majestic Theatre (66 Jiang Ning Road, Shanghai; 上海市江宁路66号）. It was quite interesting... I'm going to give a brief review of it here.

The singing was excellent, although their articulation was either very poor or the music was turned up too loud. It took me a while to like Marja Harmon's (Aida) voice, but once the musical got into full gear, it really began to impress. Leah Allers's (Amneris) voice was extremely powerful, and she definitely showed the change in her character very clearly. Although in the plot, Casey Elliot's (Radames) character was caught between these two women, he supported himself very well. However, Vincent D'Elia (Zoser) annoyed me... Not only could I not hear what he was singing, but his voice was really nasal and almost whiney.

The music was a bit predictable, though... Let's just say it was very "pop" and screamed of Elton John's influence. You could just hear him bleeding through the melodies and piano riffs. Anyway, I daresay they could've used a big more strings... But what can I say? - I'm a violinist. (Or at least, I try to be.) Also, there's this one part where the slaves are singing, "Aida, Aida, Aida." It sounded suspiciously similar to the part in Evita where the Argentinean masses are singing, "Evita, Evita, Evita."

Of course, not that I'm accusing anyone of anything...

But there were some really good songs like The Gods Love Nubia (I nearly cried) and Elaborate Lives. So, yeah.

The orchestration was excellent. We later met the Musical Director and Conductor, Daniel Bailey. He was a really nice guy. He signed my program for me. (I'll admit that I'm a bit of an autograph hunter, but not in the obsessive sort of way... More of a sentimental thing.) Anyway, Charlotte got really happy because he said he used to play piano in church. (We weren't talking religion... He just asked if we wanted to come for the matinee today, which is the last performance, but we said we had church. That's how it came up. We're not freaky Jehovah Witness-esque Christians.) Anyway, he was awesome.

(Mr. Bailey, if you're reading this - you're awesome and the musicians in the pit are underappreciated.)

Now, the plot.

Personally, I didn't dislike the plot; it just wasn't the one for me. I prefer plots with lots of depth. (Think Les Miserables and Wicked.) Maybe because I couldn't hear the music, but I thought the plot was pretty... Predictable? But on the bright side, I did like the way Amneris's character transitioned from spoilt brat to next leader of Egypt. And the dialogue was quite clever. Overall, it wasn't a fluffy Mamma Mia! plot.

I bought the soundtrack, but it turns out that it wasn't the Original Broadway Cast or anything... At least it's got people like Tina Turner and Sting singing on it. But then I can't play it on my computer because my sound isn't working... I've been listening to my iPod nonstop.

Does anyone know what the heck an SPDIF interface is?