The dancing, singing 'Faithful Son'

“THE FAITHFUL SON”, the latest instalment in Somtow Sucharitkul’s epic 10-part classical-music drama series “The Ten Lives of the Buddha”, opens on Saturday – His Majesty the King’s birthday.
To be presented at the Suryadhep Music Sala, the new state-of-the-art theatre in Rangsit, it’s another episode from the Jataka tales so beloved among Buddhists all around the world.
This moving story of devotion and redemption is set in the Himavant, the magical forest, and has talking statues, giant poisonous serpents, gods and demons – and a mysterious child whose skin is pure gold.
When the series is completed, it will be the largest work in classical music, providing a challenge to Richard Wagner’s masterpiece, the Ring cycle. Opera Siam has been presenting the operas at the rate of one or two a year and the entire cycle will be performed at the first “Lives of the Buddha” festival in 2020.
Each of the Ten Lives is scored for a different instrumental combination and features an eclectic and popular mix of styles and liberal amounts of dance, each finding a different balance between opera, ballet and drama.
“The Faithful Son” stars Cassandra Black, whose recent performance in “Tosca” in the US city of Milwaukee was a sensation, as the Buddha’s guardian yakkini. The Zurich Opera’s Damian Whiteley plays King Piliyakka, the mad collector who bursts into the magical forest in a deranged quest for venison and trophies. Thailand’s leading countertenor, Jak Cholvijarn, reprises his role as the Bodhisattva.
The choreography is by Puwarate Wongatichat, who designed Somtow’s ballet “Suriyothai”, which was the most heavily attended classical-music event ever held at the Thailand Cultural Centre.
The design work is by Dean Shibuya, San Francisco designer behind “Reya: The Musical”, and the material for the costumes is specially created by leading fabric company Pasaya.
Trisdee na Patalung conducts two orchestras in this opera-ballet, which Somtow has scored for two simultaneous chamber orchestras, one on either side of the conductor. Reviews for Somtow’s series have been enthusiastic, with words like “amazing” and “timeless” frequently appearing.