The Story: Wanting to be understood and to have the myths about her life cleared up, the fearsome and widely hated Empress Dowager Cixi hires American painter, Kate Carl, to draw a portrait of her. Forbidden City is about that encounter between the Empress and the Painter and about the life of the Empress herself and seeks to find out: Who is the woman behind the legends? Through the eyes of Kate Carl, we journey through Cixi’s life, starting as the young concubine, Yehenara, who is naive, idealistic and helpless in love. Over the years, through heartbreak, betrayal, and rumor-mongering – she transforms into the terrifying dictator who strikes fear into the heart of the Chinese.

The Verdict: Forbidden City is pretty much one of the first things to surface when the topic of Singaporean Musicals comes up – alongside Beauty World and sometimes December Rains. So when I heard that it was being re-staged, I had to get my Cat 1 tickets. Story-wise, it’s compelling and dramatic, with enough conflict and emotions flying around to keep you engaged. Although you might get a little lost if you’re not too familiar with that era of history, it’s still relatively easy to understand through the dialogue without it getting too exposition-y. Personally, I watch a lot of Western stuff so it’s something new for me to watch this Chinese-centric piece.

The costumes are great! Everyone is decked out in those gorgeous, elaborate costumes amidst a gorgeous, elaborate set. The songs are a good listen too. Kit Chan was a major selling point of the musical but she really doesn’t appear that much, just for a song or two towards the middle of the play – she’s one of three actresses who plays Cixi and we see more of the young Empress and the old Empress than (middle???) empress. That being said, the other two actresses are pretty good too.

So it’s not huge on the scale of The Lion King or Wicked but Forbidden City does hold its own on among the other traveling musical productions that come in and play at Sands Theatre. I know of a lot of people who sniff at the thought of local artsy productions but Forbidden City is really worth the watch!