http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/21960/1/.html
Singapore News
At the interior of the concert hall
First created :
16 October 2002 1746 hrs (SST) 0946 hrs (GMT)
Last modified :
16 October 2002 1746 hrs (SST) 0946 hrs (GMT)
Musical on China's Empress Dowager staged at the Esplanade
By Farah Abdul Rahim
The Singapore Repertory Theatre's tale of China's last Empress Dowager
Cixi will come to life at the Esplanade -Theatres on the Bay from Thursday
as part of its opening festival.
Staging the musical 'Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress' at the new
performing arts centre on October 17 to 19 helped the theatre save some
$200,000.
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"She's the witch of China". Much has been said about the legendary Chinese
Empress Dowager Cixi, also known as Yehenara.
The musical, which takes the audience into the Forbidden City, shows her
as a woman, wife and mother rather than just an empress.
And in showing her softer side, it is also trying to debunk the myth that
Cixi was "the witch of China".
Singer Kit Chan takes centrestage as the young Yehenara, while Honolulu-born
Blossom Lau plays the Dowager.
Some 100 cast and production members started rehearsals as early as August.
The Singapore Repertory Theatre said the musical costs between $1 million
and $2 million to produce.
But it said staging its world premiere at the Esplanade provided substantial
cost savings.
Gaurav Kripalani, Artistic and Managing Director of the Singapore Repertory
Theatre, said: "All the musicals we've done at Victoria Theatre and Kallang,
we've had to spend up to $200,000 just renting sounds, light, equipment.
That was a huge chunk of the budget.
"The beauty of working with the Esplanade is the hundreds of moving lights,
radio microphones all in-house."
So what else can audiences look forward to when the curtain rises on the
Forbidden City from Thursday?
Composer Dick Lee said: "Many Westerners who came to the rehearsals - they
came expecting to hear "chinky-chong" music because Chinese, Empress,
Imperial - because a lot of the musicals and operas about Asia are written
by Westerners - we refused to be chinky-chong, and wanted it as uncliched
as possible."
Those who can't catch the sold-out performances this time round will have
to wait till at least the end of next year, when Forbidden City will kick
off its Asian tour at the Esplanade before hitting cities like Hong Kong,
Seoul and Taipei.
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