Cast

Kate Carl - Leigh McDonald
Curator - Cynthia Lee MacQuarrie
George Morrison - Hal Fowler
Empress Dowager - Sheila Feancisco
Grand Eunuch - Richard Chia
Yehenara - Kit Chang
Emperor - Oliver Pang
Record Keeper 1 - Hossan Leong
Record Keeper 2 - Sebastian Tan
Prince Tun - George Chan
Prince Tuan - R J Rosales

Tung Chih (4 years old) - Presslee Chng/ Jovan Lee/ Joel Ng
Tung Chih - Kaylen Chan
Kuang Hsu (9 years old) - Ng Kit Chong/ Dillon Ong/ Russell Marino Soh
Kuang Hsu (15 years old) - Luke Kwek
Kuang Hsu - Dwayne Tan
Yehanara Alternate - Celine Rosa Tan

Director - Steven Dexter
Choreographer - Nick Winston
Music Director - Sydney Tan
Set Designer - Francis O'Connor

Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress Esplanade Theatre, Singapore
Choreographed by Nick Winston

From the 8th September to 30th September 2006

A historical retelling of the story of China's Empress Dowager, the story is seen from the eyes of an American painter, Kate Carl, who is commissioned to paint the Empress's portrait. The Empress recounts her amazing journey from a young imperial concubine to become the Empress of China and the pressures she faced.

The musical explores the myths surrounding her reign, from the controversial death of her only son to her ambitious tussle for power. Having played to 60,000 people in 2003, Forbidden City is Singapore's most successful musical to date. Starring Asian sensation Kit Chan.


Blood In The Streets

Take an exclusive look at one of the production numbers from Forbidden City, edited together from rehearsal footage.

14th September 2006 The Business Times Online (Singapore)

Forbidden City: Getting better with time

AS with all productions, the test of a classic show is whether it bears repeat viewing. Even though the Singapore Repertory Theatre's Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress first premiered four years ago, and was presented again in 2003, it's as luminous as it was when Singaporeans first saw it. In fact, the musical about the legendary Cixi has aged well - with sharper choreography and music arrangements, and more lavish costumes this time.

The main reason for this is Stephen Clark's crafting of the story and lyrics. What are facts and what are Chinese whispers about Cixi, who is still vilified as the one who brought down China in the 20th century?

Stephen takes us on this 'revisionist' journey through the eyes and experience of Kate Carl, an American painter, who did in fact paint a portrait of the dowager. Thus is the audience drawn into the courts of the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, where Cixi had spent most of her time.

As Kate discovers the 'softer' side of the empress dowager and debunks a few public perceptions, she goes on a romantic journey of her own with a journalist - a rather misguided one, it turns out.

Composer Dick Lee's music is lyrical and suitably Oriental in flavour, matching the witty lyrics on the whole. The chinoiserie tunes are familiar and yet exotic to the ears, and many variations were made of a few signature phrases. Which probably explains why not one particular song stands out, since they all seem to weave in and out of one another seamlessly. What was memorable, though, was the music arrangement for the 9-piece orchestra, where individual Chinese instruments got more solo exposure.

The modern minimalist sets captured the essence of the imperial setting for the story, and well-complemented with the slick lighting. The choreography also sparkled - especially the high-energy martial arts in the boxer rebellion scene.

With most of the lead cast members reprising their roles - Kit Chan as Yehenara, the concubine in her pre-empress dowager days; Leigh McDonald as Kate; Hal Fowler as the conniving journalist, George, who befriends her; Sebastian Tan and Hossan Leong as the scintillating scribes - it's clear the cast has grown well into their roles.

The empress dowager's character was performed by Sheila Francisco this time, by sensitively portraying several facets of a character in the last vestiges of a crumbling empire: commandingly imperious at times, frail and vulnerable at others.

The ensemble's diction, however, had one constantly perusing the Mandarin subtitles flanking the stage to figure out the lyrics.

What seems to be the weak link in the world-class musical is the disconnect between the young Yehenara and the empress dowager she became; as the musical highlighted the events in their lives, they almost seemed like two different characters.

The only time we saw some spunk and political manoeuvring by the young empress dowager was when she unveiled her sister's son as the young emperor. For a momentous moment, one could see the empress dowager's transformation into a formidable political opponent, but then she turned all soft and sentimental again. A musical can't do justice to the real empress dowager, of course, not that one would expect it to do so. If a picture paints a thousand words, so does an entertaining production - of the talents of the creative team that pulled this together.