StraitsTimes Life!
12 Sept 2006
SITNews: Dragon lady declawed
by Hong Xinyi
THEATRE
FORBIDDEN CITY: PORTRAIT OF AN EMPRESS
Singapore Repertory Theatre
Esplanade Theatre
Last SaturdayTHIS musical begins with a promising premise. An American painter, Kate Carl (a feisty Leigh McDonald), has come to Beijing to paint the portrait of Empress Dowager Cixi. To begin, the intrepid Kate tells the aged dowager that the two must engage in a give-and-take process – Cixi’s life story in exchange for Kate’s technique.
The premise is one of perception – the perception of a ruler by her subjects and the story of a Chinese icon told through Western conventions.
Forbidden City largely measures up to the standards of a mainstream musical. It is well-produced and offers remarkable moments of visual splendour with a gracefully minimalist (relatively speaking) set.
In one scene, for example, the set is lit in such a way that white latticed screens and the black backdrop of the stage form a starkly monochromatic background against which the burnished gold tincture of the imperial throne gleams with vivid intensity. The allure of power is palpable.
The music by local composer Dick Lee is also serviceable enough, although it is a bit heavy on the sentimental tug-at-heartstrings ballads. Moments where Lee toys with traditional Chinese instrumentation in his score skilfully skirt the edge between grandeur and kitschy exotica, and one would have liked to see more of such playfulness.
Hossan Leong and Sebastian Tan also entertain in their roles as court scribes, impishly mischevious Tweedledee and Tweedledum who make the most of their comic relief moments on stage.
The main drawback of the musical lies in its lack of character development. The book, by Stephen Clark and Lee, races through the highlights of Cixi’s life without pausing to let the audience get to know her a little better.
Furthermore, in trying to portray the kinder side of a misunderstood historical figure, the Dragon Lady is declawed so much that she becomes a tad insipid.
Kit Chan, who plays the young Cixi, is forever pining after one emperor or another, whether it is her husband, her son or her nephew; weaving plaintive songs of yearning with her velvety falsetto.
We do not get to see her doing any actual ruling of her empire and her weak attempts at political strategising make it rather incomprehensible how such a woman survived so long in a cut-throat environment.
Sheila Francisco’s old Cixi is a much more imposing, majestic presence but there is little continuity between Chan’s pliable younger role and Francisco’s battle-weary older version.
The eventual portrait that emerges is that of an empress who is the hapless victim of her circumstances. It’s a pity that the musical gives her a softer side without also letting the character kick a little ass.
Forbidden City is on until Sept 30 at the Esplanade Theatre at 8pm, with 3pm weekend matinees. Tickets from $30 to $150 are available at Sistic ( www.sistic.com.sg , tel; 6348-5555).
Source: StraitsTimes Life
Thanks Shuhui!
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12 Sept 2006
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TodayOnline
11 Sept 2006
Not ready for export
Show needs to engage audience if it’s to make grand debut abroad
WHAT: Forbidden City
WHEN: Until Sept 30
WHERE: Esplanade Theatre.
Tickets from SisticTHIS may be the third staging of the Singapore Repertory Theatre’s best-known production of the past four years, but the brains behind Forbidden City have some work to do if this is meant to be a dry run before the musical is taken abroad.Forbidden City recounts the life of China’s Empress Dowager Cixi (Kit Chan plays the young empress, Sheila Francisco the older one) through the eyes of a sympathetic American portrait painter (Leigh McDonald) who wants to get at the true story behind the reclusive and misunderstood dragon lady.
Recounting the tumultuous period of the empress’ late 19th century reign, the musical does succeed in creating a suitably exotic atmosphere through its use of lights, sound and set design.
The overall quality of the singing during Saturday afternoon’s matinee performance was also encouraging, even if Kit’s voice faltered at times.
Where the musical falls short is in its ability to get the audience involved in the story.
Trying to cover too much of the history in a three-hour musical (with intermission) only makes the production seem rushed, the storytelling seem linear and predictable and the characters come across as flat and underdeveloped.
Sadly, it’s hard to summon much of a response to Kit Chan’s show-stopping number Why Dream of Love when everything that came before seems to have rushed right past.
Judging from past reviews of the musical, the core of the production remains unchanged and is thus open to the same sorts of criticism.
The difference is that, this time, the musical is being prepared to tour the world, making it more important than ever to re-evaluate the script.Source: TodayOnline
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