Hills infested with sound of music
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It's starting to look like this year will produce a bumper crop of stage musicals, possibly in record-breaking numbers.
The full schedule is still being finalised, but the singing-dancing fun begins with “Prissana” at the M Thai Theatre, based on Wor Nor Pramuanmark’s classic novel, which has already had movie and TV versions.
Then comes “Mae Bia”, produced by veteran actor-director Marut Sarowat, and Exact-Scenario’s rendition of “Miss Saigon”.
Nation Multimedia Group’s Mango TV is preparing its first stage presentation, “Reya: The Musical”, in cooperation with Taitao and Somtow Sucharitkul. And Suwanwadee “Ling” Chakraworawut is going to direct “Evita”.
So that’s five musicals on the menu for 2012 thus far, and next year BEC- Tero is bringing the Broadway hit “Phantom of the Opera”.
Thailand has had booms in musicals before, but Ling says it’s different this time. “People prefer going to musicals because they enjoy the beautiful songs and the stories are easy to understand.”
Not sheer escapism, then. That would have been our guess.
“It’s a very promising sign,” adds “Reya: The Musical” director Kriangsak “Victor” Silakong. “Who needs to go to Singapore to see imported shows now when we can enjoy local productions here?”
There certainly doesn’t appear to be any problem casting the shows. We’ve got television talent shows absolutely churning out eager wannabes.
Shirt stays on
What is singer Sukrit “Bie” Wisetkaew doing on the latest cover of the gay magazine Attitude? “I just thought I could do it and Exact [his agency] screened the work for me,” he says. “It’s a GMM Grammy publication too.”
But he admits he toned down the sexiness for the cover shoot. That doesn’t happen at Bie’s concerts. Usually the fans tear his clothes off. We’ve seen that bare chest plenty of times.
“But it’s different for a fashion shoot,” he says. “I still have to care about the majority of my fans who are family people, including seniors and young kids. I don’t want to shock them!”
