Dragon’s wives and children

An award-winning novel by late National Artist Prabhassorn Sevikul, “Lot Lai Mangkon” narrates the life of a self-made Chinese business tycoon Liang Suephanit who started working in Thailand as a labourer and how his expanded family continued his business amidst problems, most of which he had to solve by himself. It was adapted into a critically acclaimed and highly popular TV drama series by Kantana Television in 1992 only a few years after it was published. Viewers my age and older can still recall being glued to the screen and its strong moral message won it awards in major categories. 
The same, however, cannot be said for X Act’s TV adaptation 10 years ago, and the first musical adaptation by Scenario that’s now onstage. The novel is more than 300-pages long and thus for any stage adaptation, the key is very much in the hands of the scriptwriters.
While managing to tell a story with many characters clearly even after dropping many others, the scriptwriters are part of the team who brought us the TV soap “Phit Sawat”. Unfortunately they seem to believe that TV and stage audiences want to see exactly the same kind of melodrama, albeit with the latter group paying considerably more for the privilege. And despite having Liang repeat his main theme song telling us that he would always keep his virtues no matter the outcome, the audience doesn’t have much chance to see how his virtues paid off in real life. His rise to the top was quite abrupt and based partly on luck, not just perseverance. Once he’s there, we only see how his children and grandchildren cause all kinds of trouble. And with three wives, all with children, those problems are abundant. The script focused on incest, among other themes, as his grandson Chanchai, from his first Chinese wife Mei Ling, mated with the Thai wife Niam’s youngest daughter Nanthana, the young man’s contemporary. 
And so in the end, the main message I could draw from this musical melodrama is that no matter how rich, powerful and successful you become, make sure that you always practise monogamy, learn about birth control and only father as many children as you can fully take care of. Don’t simply think that each one of them can be in charge of your corporation’s subsidiary; some may be better off away from your business you’ve spent your lifetime creating for them. Money does not bring up any child successfully –time and love do. The problem is many of us know this already and don’t need to watch a stage musical to be reminded.
In his meatiest role to date, pop rock singer Preeti “Bank” Barameeanant carried the show, credibly portrayed Liang from his oh-so-humble youth to his deathbed, a scene so grandly staged by director Takonkiet Viravan that it seemed like an emperor passing on his kingdom. While known for his vocal prowess in song, Bank’s speaking voice in this show has audiences wondering if he did his character research by watching dubbed Hong Kong TV series. Sinjai Plengpanich’s portrayal of Mei Ling is both delightful and surprising, despite being quite stereotypical.
There’s a scene so peculiarly staged that it’s worth a paragraph here. When his family went to Don Mueang airport to greet Chanchai, performed by Tanatat “Kang Som” Chaiat, the audience saw this reality TV music contest heartthrob make a grand entrance into the play by walking down the towable passenger stairs as if he were Donald Trump. An old lady next to me giggled, saying, “If this were ‘Bie’ Sukrit, we might have also seen an aeroplane onstage”. Her comment reminded me of how a minor character Bie performed in “Banlang Mek” was overhyped by the same director.
The true star, and without any extra hype, was Pijika “Lookwa” Jittaputta who truly immersed into her character of Niam with such art and subtlety that I didn’t recognise her at first. Likewise, Arnattaphol “R” Sirichoomsaeng, as Mei Ling’s son Andy, succeeded by showing that less is more in stage performance. Equally exemplary was Natthapat “Puifai” Wipatkornthrakul whose performance of Andy’s wife Peggy raised the roof and cemented her status as a professional actress with high skills in singing and acting. 
Our Ministry of Education – deservingly so – has put this novel on the recommended reading list for children and youth; its Culture counterpart – again deservingly so – would not do the same for this stage adaptation. 
THE DRAGON STILL SINGS
- “Lot Lai Mangkon: The Musical” continues from Thursday to Saturday at 7.30pm, Saturday and Sunday 2pm at Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre (MRT: Thailand Cultural Centre). It’s in Thai with Chinese surtitles.
-Tickets are from Bt500 to Bt3,000 (with discounts for seniors and students) at ThaiTicketMajor. 
- For more info, www.Rachadalai.com.
- Please note that the Thailand premiere of “Blue Man Group” 
originally scheduled for December 17 to 23 at the same venue has 
been cancelled.