From folk tale to legend, from a royal play to a new musical, the century-old story of Phra Ruang has been recounted in different versions in Thai nationalistic narrative. The most recent version of the story is imagined as a show tune, evident that its virtue is still meaningful to contemporary Thais.
Phra Ruang The Musical offers a new interpretation to the old story. In the original tale, Phra Ruang is a great man with a magical gift of word: By saying his wishes out loud, he can divert the course of the river, command water to fill up a hand-woven basket, and even petrify an enemy. But the new musical construes such magic as a metaphor, and decodes the kingly hero into a man whose virtues made him a saviour of a community who also touches human hearts. Throughout the 200-minute show, it's his wit and honesty that rescues the Thai ethnics in a time of hardship and invasion. The emphasis on honesty, unity and civic sacrifice is reminiscent of the beloved King Bhumibol's deeds.
In the story, Phra Ruang has to outwit the Khmer empire in a period of political tension. The musical duly pays tribute to King Vajiravudh, who precisely a century ago penned the royal play based on the old legend, which he produced as a court performance and played the role of a huntsman. Such humble yet symbolic acts showed that the king, an Oxford graduate, wished to portray himself, in the new democratic climate, as equal to his subjects. And such sentiment is still visible here whenever Phra Ruang appears in the story -- in stark contrast to the Khmer king constantly featuring as a god-divine ruler.
Thanks to Pachara Archasai, the musical's art direction is superb. Movable gigantic sets, well-designed lighting and costumes all create profound meanings to the story. Kaiwan Kulwatanothai keeps up his standards in producing melodious, catchy tunes. Lyrics based on the royal play are proficiently transformed into sung-through speech harmonious to the melody.
While the use of reprise is rare in most contemporary Thai musicals, this show goes for the opposite. At least four main songs -- and their reprises -- are repeated over and over to the point that it becomes ear-bombarding and insignificant to the plot, let alone the progression of the story; hence the unnecessarily lengthy run time. The use of reprise is normally to remind the audience of a significant moment in the story or to show varied motivation and feelings of characters. Heavily relying on repetitive reprises, it is hard to expect the audience to appreciate the characters' decisions and inspiration.
Probably this is because theatre-cum-television director Napadol Kumpanthong has become too familiar with TV presentation where the audience relies on music rather than acting to boost the ambience and to understand the characters' insight. This also results in ineffective use of vast space on stage because, quite often, two main characters are blocked to stand together for a close-up shot, and the ensemble flocks on the stage as a background, seemingly looming over rather than supporting the main characters.
Jaron Sorat, as Phra Ruang, has done a fair job in his debut. Overshadowing him are professional singer/musical actor Kornkan "Arm" Suthikoset, who transforms himself into the role of the playful and tricky huntsman, and Anatpol "Are" Sirichumsang, who has effectively sharpened his horn as a musical actor. It was a pity not to see talented Panaddha Ruengwut, who portrayed Phra Ruang's mother, show more of her powerhouse singing in any soliloquy. Applause should also go to the ensemble including some TV stars, all of whom sang at the top of their lungs, especially in a war-preparation scene when they performed a popular nationalist marching song Thai Ruam Kumlung (Thais Reunite), more or less like an iconic scene from Les Misérables.
This production worth 30 million baht clearly is the big musical of the year. It not only entertains us with the ideas of what actually makes a great man, but also reminds us all that the magic of a great man simply lies in his verity and noble deeds.
Phra Ruang The Musical is staged at Ratchadalai Theatre, Esplanade mall, until Sunday. Showtime is 7.30pm with a matinee at 2pm on Saturday, except Sunday, with showtime at 1.30pm and 6.30pm.
Tickets are priced at 1,000-3,500 baht, with special discounts for senior citizens and students with valid ID.
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