Liao Zhai Rocks!

The Theatre Practice

Drama Centre Theatre

Saturday

For a collection of supernatural stories dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, The Strange Tales Of Liao Zhai continue to exert a strong stranglehold on the imagination.

There have been adaptations aplenty, ranging from Ching Siu Tung’s classic A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) on film to TVB’s Dark Tales (1996) on the goggle box.

The Theatre Practice has now added a twist to the plot by turning Liao Zhai into a rock musical with original songs by hit-makers composer Eric Ng and lyricist Xiaohan.

Playwright and co-director Wu Xi has also distilled its colourful cast of characters in hundreds of tales into several key archetypes – philandering scholar Sang Xiao (Ric Liu), captivating vixen spirit Ying Ning (Joanna Dong), wandering ghost Feng San Niang (Celine Rosa Tan) and earnest Taoist exorcist Cheng Ban Xian (Project Superstar 2 finalist Sugie).

Sang Xiao falls for Ying Ning but later succumbs to the wily charms of Feng San Niang. When Sang Xiao is cast into the underworld, it is Ying Ning who risks everything to rescue him even as Cheng Ban Xian is hunting her down.

The cast members handled their roles well and Liu and Dong exuded an easy chemistry. He had a deft touch for light-hearted comedy while she held one’s attention as the impish, mischievous and foxy Ying Ning.

Tan got to show off her lovely pipes while Sugie contributed some well-timed comic relief as the bumbling exorcist. Radio 100.3 deejay Huang Wenhong was unrecognisable beneath his make-up and in his imperious get-up as King Yama, lord of hell.

What was commendable about the production was the way the various elements – costumes, set, sound design and lighting – all came together in service to the story. Even little details such as the transformation of Ying Ning’s father (an excellent supporting turn by Chongqing native Xu Bin) into a fox were able to evoke a response from the audience.

As for the all-important music, Ng and Xiaohan’s numbers were by turns energetic and thundering and then melodic and emotive, though it could be difficult to make out the lyrics without the aid of the surtitles.

Highlights included Show Time, which led into an engaging game show-like finale held near the border between hell and the land of the living; and the closing ballad, Embrace.

Alas, certain melodies were overused.

Amphibian, which was written for local singer Tanya Chua by the duo, was given a make-over with new lyrics. It helped audiences familiar with pop music to be instantly drawn into the musical. Unfortunately, it kept cropping up at intervals and it began to seem as though Ng had simply run out of time to write new tunes.

Also, some of the lessons about relationships and loyalty were a tad unconvincing as the musical did not quite hit the mark at some key epiphanic points.

Still, that should not take away from the fact that Liao Zhai Rocks! is an entertaining show that starts off as a light-hearted romp and ends up as a sweet story about true love.

As in the original tales, the humans came off mostly as selfish and weak-willed, while the spirits were the self-sacrificing and loyal ones.

The tales’ continued popularity is due to their continued resonance and author Pu Songling’s satire of human society still has zing and bite today.

(ST)