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Theatre review: The Emperor’s New Clothes

SINGAPORE — I have to admit that I was rather keen to watch W!ld Rice’s pantomime for this year, a reworking of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes.

SINGAPORE — I have to admit that I was rather keen to watch W!ld Rice’s pantomime for this year, a reworking of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes.

I had missed watching last year’s Monkey Goes West — which, by all accounts was a splendid reinvention of the Chinese literary classic Journey To The West — but I was blown away by the music, which was available on CD (and, frankly, could give the Disney soundtrack to Frozen a run for its money).

With a script by young playwright Joel Tan, music by young musician Julian Wong and direction by Dim Sum Dolly Pam Oei, I was naturally curious to see what would come of it. How would they take what’s essentially a very short story of two con men who take advantage of a vain king and turn it into a musical?

As it turned out, W!ld Rice managed to pull off an enjoyable adaptation, complete with the now-familiar but still very clever local twists.

Set in a tropical island in modern times, the emperor, Henry Lim Bay Kun (played by Lim Kay Siu), is furious at reports by the foreign press who focus not on the clothes he has worn for NDP49 (NDP stands for “New Dress Parade”) but on the lively music written for the occasion. He imprisons the journalists, as well as the people responsible for the music.

As such, the narcissistic ruler wants better clothes for when the nation celebrates its 50th birthday. He hires two tailors — Khairul No Surname (local musician Sezairi, who makes his theatrical debut) and Nathan No Surname (The Sam Willows’ Benjamin Kheng) — who have to accede to his wishes.

Along the way, they meet the Empress (Audrey Luo), who feels neglected by her husband, and a trio of ministers (Andrew Lua, Siti Khalijah Zainal and Benjamin Wong) who pander to the Emperor’s every whim. After uncovering a shocking discovery, the two tailors plot a way to give Emperor Henry his comeuppance.

As an actor, Kheng has already proven his chops in productions such as Romeo & Juliet and Ah Boys To Men: The Musical. While he isn’t tested much, since his character — and frankly, all the characters — are more caricatures than anything, he was still a delight to watch, particularly during the song-and-dance routine Make It Rain, with Sezairi.

As for the latter, Sezairi won’t win any acting awards here, but he was competent enough, considering the heavyweights who share the stage.

Speaking of heavyweights, Kay Siu once again turned in a sterling performance. He could have so easily gone into autopilot mode with a fairly one-dimensional character but really seemed to enjoy playing the titular character. Luo, who has always impressed us (she did a lovely Titoudao), also sank into her role with aplomb as the ex-television actress Jeanette How, who gets a leg-up in society when she marries the emperor.

And while the popular showbiz adage is to never work with children, in this case, the kids from W!ld Rice’s First Stage programme were a delight to watch.

Of course, as it is with every W!ld Rice panto, there are many nudge-wink moments. References to Singapore’s past colonial rule, Singapore Idol, the ISD, Operation Spectrum (here called Operation Plectrum) and Chinese drama serials pepper the performance. (There’s also a scene in which Empress Jeanette tortures a “captive audience” with her bad singing — coincidence much?)

Music plays key role in W!ld Rice pantos, but what makes this different this time is that the actors accompany themselves on the instruments as they sing.

While no one would raise an eyebrow at Sezairi playing the guitar, there are some surprises. For example, Kay Siu, who is a keen blues guitar player, shows off his skill on the violin (yes, playing blues riffs), as does Kheng. Lua, meanwhile, gets to literally toot his horn not once, but twice, onstage — he plays the trumpet and the saxophone (though not at the same time).

Composer Wong does a great job with the songs. Even though a couple of tracks veer too much towards the relatively safe Broadway vibe for my liking, they’re still catchy enough, with lovely arrangements. (And yes, I bought the soundtrack after the show.)

The sets and costumes could give The Hunger Games’ Effie Trinket and the citizens of Panem’s Capitol district a run for their money with its sheer over-the-top colours and fashion lunacy.

However, technical gremlins meant that the sound mix was a little uneven: The acoustic guitars could barely be heard at times, while Lua’s head mic repeatedly failed on him. Even W!ld Rice’s head honcho, Ivan Heng, wasn’t spared: The mic he was given to use to thank sponsors, cast and crew didn’t even work — he just relied on good old actor’s voice projection.

Also, some scenes seemed to run a little long: While the “jump cut” moments — a la Chinese drama serials, using voice overs to convey what the Empress was thinking — were funny, one couldn’t help but feeling that could have been truncated to push the pace a little.

Nonetheless, these were minor hiccups. If you’re looking for a great musical to sink your teeth into — and really, this can rival most international productions in terms of sheer entertainment and engagement value — this is definitely the ticket to get.

The Emperor’s New Clothes runs until Dec 12 at Drama Centre Theatre. Tickets from SISTIC.

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