A Musical :: Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress

I didn't plan to watch this musical again. This is the fourth re-staging of 'Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress', produced by the Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT), with music composed by Dick Lee. (The third was done in 2006.) I watched it once in 2002 and thought it was quite enough. But it so happened that the friends flew into town and decided that they would like to watch the musical again too. All right then.

Apparently this is the last time Kit Chan is reprising her titular lead role as the Manchurian Qing Dynasty's Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后) in 19th century China. Cheryl Tan plays the Empress Cixi in her younger days as a young Consort Yehenara (叶赫那拉氏), then Imperial Concubine. Sheila Francisco plays the Empress Dowager Cixi in her later years, and is the one we see the most on stage as she recounts her story of the years that passed.

You know how sponsors give out little door gifts at the end of the show? We're all familiar with those little packs of instant coffee, which can be fairly useful, and appreciated. This time, I was tickled pink to see small bottles of Knife Brand groundnut oil thrust into our hands. 🤣 Really? Really?!! How is this a value-add to the brand or to the marketing of the show? We took the bottles. We know exactly who to give these small bottles to.

If you're eager to hear Kit Chan's vocals, look for it in the second half of the show, after the intermission. She does very little singing in this 2017 show. The musical is staged in English. There were Chinese surtitles on the screens at either side of the stage, but I thought adding English surtitles would have been good too.