The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Singapore Arts Festival 2012

Amazing! It was like watching a Murakami masterpiece come to life. More performance art than stage play. The gorgeous set designs and innovative use of modern technology and ancient puppetry served effectively to translate Murakami's surrealistic/magical realism world to life. A definite treat for Murakami fans. For non-fans, it's a brilliant display of virtuoso storytelling and stage performance. Also, not to mention, was the absolutely pitch-perfect aural experience. The music and soundscape were very reflective of the mood and theme of the show (and book). Of course, a 2 hour play is not going to be able to fit the scope of Murakami's masterpiece, but the creators did a valiant job to summarise and even add in additional scenes which fits smoothly. Translation of certain scenes, especially the hallways scenes, to stage were very well executed. It was a good call not to have an intermission to break the flow of storytelling, as was to keep certain scenes in the original, poetic Japanese prose. This shows grabs you from the prologue and sucks you into the magical world created by Murakami, and only spitting you out when it's done with you. Now, somebody need to do the same for 1Q84!