Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress

I finally caught this local musical at the Esplanade on Monday, & am glad that I did not miss it again this time. The last time in 2002/2003, when they first staged it and I heard that Kit Chan was performing, I so wanted to watch it, but didn't. Fortunately, this year, as soon as I saw the advertisement, I quickly asked my sis to go get tickets haha..

So this musical basically talks about this American artist being invited by the Empress Dowager to draw a portrait of her. She wants to be understood by the people, as there had been many bad rumours about how evil a Dragon Lady she is, killing her own son etc..So the old Cixi (or Yeherana) recalled her past, from how she was chosen by the Emperor to spend the nights with him, till how civil wars brought turmoil and trouble. The musical explored a more humane side of Cixi through her love for the Emperor, and later her love for her son who died due in the hands of whores, and finally her love for her country. Also, the antagonist, Prince Tuan played a huge role in causing so much trouble. Besides Cixi's story, Kate's story of love and betrayal was also interwoven quite aptly. It seems to me that one issue brought up in the musical is that journalists cannot be trusted. Oops it's not fair to the journalists lei..Or rather human nature may stoop to so low for their own intrests. (like Prof Kurup said, don't trust anyone hahaha..）

I thought it was good. I enjoyed it and felt for it. Interesting storyline, as it looks at Empress Dowager CiXi from a very different and humane perspective. Great music, pleasant mix of Chinese and Western music. Great lyrics, as they tell the story so well. Beautiful costumes, simple but yet outstanding. Great performances by the cast, as they sang flawlessly ( in my opinion) and put their heart and soul into the whole musical. Great moments of comic relief from Hossan and Sebastian (who acted as the "event-writers").

The last scene of Cixi and Kate singing about lost love was so heart-wrenching..

Anyway, my sis and I were so funny. We opened the programme booklet and turned to the songs list, and thought, "aye how come Empress Dowager sing so little? And This Yeherana has the most songs... Who is she??" So actually, Yeherana is Cixi, performed by Kit! haha... silly us..

Most importantly, 陈洁仪万岁！！！Her voice is just so crystal clear and bright and beautiful and full of emotions. She's really my Singapore Idol. Talking about Singapore Idol, I saw the 3 finalists! Beautiful Jasmine, cool Johnathan, suave Hady. haha...