The Empress awaits

 One of the  most famous women rulers of the East, the story of the Empress Dowager Cixi has been told in countless books, films and TV series.

Now she’s arriving on stage in a musical that’s based on the late MR Kukrit Pramoj’s novel “Susi Thai Hao”, a transliteration of her name derived from the Hokkien dialect.

“Susi Thai Hao the Musical” tells the story of Yehenala, a powerful and charismatic women of the Manchu clan who was selected as an imperial concubine for the Xianfeng Emperor during her adolescence and rose in status when she gave a son to the Emperor. With Xianfeng’s death in 1861, the boy became the Emperor and she became Empress Dowager, controlling the dynasty for 47 years and challenging her enemies from within.

The director of the musical, Kriengsak “Victor” Silakong, says that Thais have long been enthralled by both Cixi’s personal life and the role she played in Chinese history. 

Both small- and large-screen dramas have invariably depicted the Empress as a cruel woman quite willing to kill to protect her own interests.

However, this portrayal in historically incorrect, Victor says, and he’s therefore chosen not to demonise her nor let her vicious character dominate the story. His Cixi is a smart woman with supreme power who had no choice but to eliminate her enemy.

“She tried to revolutionise the country in many ways and wanted women to have more freedom. Cixi doesn’t need to be the witch like in the other versions. I see her as a woman in a tough situation who just wanted to enjoy her life and needed someone to love her,” he says.

Though Victor is of course familiar with the TV and film versions of Cixi’s story, since starting the project he has put these accounts to the back of his mind.

“I want this version to be different. I’ve also told my actors and actress not to watch other versions,” he says.

Kanda Witthayanuparpyuenyong, who played the lead role in 2012’s “Miss Saigon” portrays Cixi. Victor says Kanda’s powerful singing voice, acting abilities as well as a charisma that isn’t in the least wicked make her perfect for the role.

“She’s also worked very to be the Cixi we want,” agrees producer, songwriter, scriptwriter and actor Suruj Tipakoraseni

Although there are no superstars in the cast, the actors all have the vocal prowess to make the show a success. They include Suveera “Q Flure” Boonrod in the role of the Emperor Hsien Feng who falls for Cixi and accepts her as a concubine and Pudit Khunchanasongkhram who plays Cixi’s lover and her aide-de-camp Rong Lu, 

The special guest actress is Her Royal Highness Princess Somsawali, who plays Cixi’s mother.

Suruj came up with the idea for the project five years ago after reading MR Kukrit’s novel and was so inspired by the story that he wrote “Soo Fah Nua Banlang Mangkorn”, the song that has been picked as the theme for the musical.

He also started writing the storyline and script but it wasn’t until couple of years ago that he decided the time was right to bring it to the stage.

At that time, Suruj and Victor had just finished “Reya the Musical” and Suruj had little trouble convincing “Reya” actor Sudapim Bodhipakti to join him in producing “Susi Thai Hao”.

“I believe that the project will surpass the break- even point and anything we make on top of that will be donated to the Princess Pa Foundation,” says Suruj.

Suruj has worked with the Princess before and says she was interested in the project even before she accepted to be part of it. The Princess, who has a solo in the show and also sings with other members of the cast on two other songs, has accommodated her schedule so as to be able to attend as many rehearsals as possible. She will also appear in every performance. 

Suruj has written and scored all 17 songs in the 150-minute musical, drawing on his experience with “Reya” and “Shanghai the Musical”.

“But this is the first time I have gone solo on the musical score,” he says, adding that working alone has helped the music to have more unity and a better flow.

Victor adds that with only a few partners with whom to confer, the working process has been smooth and the decision-making trouble-free.

The most recent version of Cixi’s story, a big budget TV series co-produced by mainland China and Japan, has come under fire for casting a Japanese actress, Yuko Tanaka, in the dowager’s role.

 

 A HEAD FOR HISTORY