THE LADY AND THE SNAKE

With “Mae Bia”, their second stage musical in less than a year, currently playing at M Theatre, and the third, “Hom Rong the Musical”, in the planning for next year, Index, Thailand’s top event organiser, has confirmed that their entry into the musical theatre industry is for real. 

We can call it an industry now: this year Thailand is the producer of the highest number of grand-scale musicals in the region, surpassing even Singapore and the Philippines. 

None of them will be exported anywhere anytime soon, though. It’s not OTOP (One Tambon, One Product), but more like OYOF–One Year, One Fad.

Now that Index’s musical is in a proper playhouse instead of a multi-purpose auditorium like the Thailand Cultural Centre where “Rak Ther Samer the Musical” was staged last year, the focus is less on the spectacle and more on the drama and the audiences is less bombasted with modern stage technology. The much-hyped erotic scenes are staged artfully and with deft use of technology — that can be said for the appearance of the cobra too, this stage musical is not “Anaconda”.

Adapted from widely read novel by the late SEA Write laureate Vanich Charungkitanan, this first musical theatre version of “Mae Bia”, which has previously been adapted into a stage play, a TV drama and a movie, is entertaining from start to finish and shows respect the playwright has for the novelist. 

The problem is that the script tries to explain too much, especially the symbolic meaning of the cobra, a main character that engages and mesmerises readers of the original novel. The epilogue in which Uncle Tim, our narrator, who also takes care of the traditional Thai house in Suphan Buri where most of the action takes place, sums up the play’s moral lesson for us was my least favourite scene. I felt like putting my two hands together, bowing my head slowly and saying “Amen”. 

The musical’s entertainment is also enhanced by the addition of a main character Waisaeng, Chanachon’s wife Mai Kaew’s best friend. However, that also weakens the character of Mai Kaew and their scenes, while comical, take on the look and sound of a TV soap, where the mia luang (legally wed first wife) seeks advice from her gay friend on how to fight with a mia noi (minor wife).

The script also spends, or loses, time on minor characters like villagers, instead of cutting them out and emphasising the relationships between Chanachol, Mai Kaew, Mekhala, Phot, Uncle Tim and the Cobra, in themselves already complex and stageworthy enough. After having watched musicals with a dozen or so of chorus performers running and dancing around, I wonder if it is possible for a grand-scale Thai musical to function only with main characters. It’s been possible for many years on Broadway and the West End.

Another setback is the coherence between the script and the songs, some of which sound out of place. One song has even been taken from the Thai pop charts and put into the mouth of Mai Kaew, so straightforwardly that one either feels like singing along, like in a jukebox musical, or wonders if the lyricist and composer couldn’t meet the production’s deadline. 

Just as Charas Fuengarom is effortlessly Uncle Tim, Ratha Phongam is immaculately Mekhala. The traditional and modern parts of her character are subtly balanced. Her appeal and inner conflicts are ever present without having to present them. Primrata Dej-udom’s Mai Kaew can match her, despite being occasionally outshone by Jakraphan Tantasuwanna’s Waisaeng—a reminder that a stage veteran can always steal a scene from a TV actress even when he’s not speaking or singing. No match for Mekhala, though, are Thapanat Sattayanurak‘s Chanachol and Techin Chayuti‘s Phot—both rising stars whose acting experience is too little for their stage debut.

“Mae Bia” shows considerable progress from “Rak Ther Samer” and we look forward to more musicals from Index.

 

 

Last chance for the lovers

 

“Mae Bia the Art Erotic Musical” continues until Sunday at M Theatre, New Phetchaburi Road, between Ekamai and Thonglor). Show times are 7:30pm, with 2pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday. 

 

English side titles are featured on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. 

 

Tickets are from Bt1,000 to Bt2,500 (students get 20-per-cet discount on tickets Bt1,500 and above), at ThaiTicketMajor. 

 

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