Phantom of the Opera @Spore Esplanade - An ergonomic nightmare

I had watched the Phantom of the Opera about 2 weeks ago. It's currently showing at the Singapore Esplanade. Well, I have never watched a play or an opera before. I never was a big fan of Western artistic culture. I like their pop culture a lot more.

So when my company was handing out free tickets, I put my hand up. I reckoned what the heck... how bad can it be? I've heard some of the songs on CD, and I genuinely enjoy a few of them. In any case, air conditioning... soft, comfy seats... if it stinks, what better place to take a nap?

I'm not the artsy fartsy, haute couture kinda guy. I'm all t-shirt, short pants and bad manners. So to me, when you've seen one gwailo "tuk-tuk chiang" (white man's Chinese opera), you've seen them all. Some of the more contemporary songs were really good though. The rest... well, suffice it to say I won't watch it if I had to pay for the ticket myself (like I said, this was a freebie).

My biggest complaint though was NOT the play itself, but the seating.

Good merciful god... the Circle 4 seats on level 4 (refer graphic) that I was in were BY FAR, WITHOUT DOUBT NOR RESERVATION, THE WORST SEATS I'VE EVER SAT IN, IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!! And this includes all manner of seating like benches at the park, stone slabs, planks on stacked bricks, airplane seats, bas kilang seats, toilet seats, foot stools and a folded newspaper on the floor.

The seats were padded, but there was NO ROOM. None for my well-endowed ass, gangly elbows and no head rest for my oversized head. The worst bit was that there was no leg room. NONE at all. The seat in front is about 2 feet lower and guess what, the back of the seat is right in front of your feet.

For 2 hours, I had to sit motionless, bolt upright while blood pooled in my trapped feet and the shrill voices of the singers drained what was left from my head. I can safely say the part of the play I enjoyed the most by far, was the 15 minute intermission. The sensation of pins and needles when circulation resumed to my lower extremities is my only lingering memory of that night.

My takeaway... Singapore Esplanade, never, ever again. Well, not in those seats anyway.