KNOWN as one of China’s Four Great Folktales, “The Butterfly Lovers” is coming to the Thai stage next month in contemporary musical form.

The tragic love story of a scholar and a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to be able to pursue her studies, the “Maan Praphenee Prakasit Aya Sawan”, as the show is known in Thai, is the latest collaboration between Suruj Tipakornseni and Kriengsak “Victor” Silakong, whose “Cixi Taihou The Musical” won critical acclaim in 2014 and was restaged, albeit with less fanfare, last year.

Set in the Easter Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD) “The Butterfly Lovers” centres on Zhu Yingtai, the only daughter of a wealthy family who is determined to pursue her dreams of a further education even though traditionally women are not allowed to do so. She disguises herself as a man and heads to Hangzhou to study where she meets scholar Liang Shanbo. Zhu falls deeply in love with Liang but when her three years of study come to an end, she is ordered to return home. Zhu tries to find a way to tell Liang that she is a woman and to express her love for him but is unable to do so. On her arrival home, she is ordered to marry the man her parents have chosen for her. By that time Liang has discovered the truth and is heartbroken when he hears the news of her marriage. His health gradually deteriorates until he becomes critically and dies. Zhu leaves the wedding ceremony to pay respect at Liang’s tomb and when the grave opens, throws herself in.

For the production, The Musicals Society of Bangkok, which is run by Suruj, is once again joining up with Nation Broadcasting Corporation. The two collaborated on “Reya The Musical” four years ago and Suruj is donning the hats of producer, songwriter and scriptwriter while Victor takes on directing responsibilities.

Both are also starring in the musical: Victor as Zhu’s Father and Suruj as Zian Han. the angel who is assigned to take care of Zhu.

Victor says he has fond memories of the story from watching the Shaw Brother’s 1963 movie “The Love Eterne” (“Maan Praphenee”), which starred Ivy Ling Po as Liang Zhanbo and the late actress Betty Loh Ti as Zhu Yingtai. The film is in the Huangmei opera genre and became an international success.

“I was mesmerised by the ending. It’s a touching story filled with tears and laughter,” he says.

Regularly staged in China, “The Butterfly Lovers” is often retold in films, TV series and operas. It also remembered through the government-built Liang Shanbo temple, a theme park-like attraction where visitors can explore sets built to resemble some of the best-known scenes.

Victor is bringing his own interpretation to the work, showing how the two were predestined to fall in love. His version traces the couple back to a time when they were angels and Phra Maha Thevi Si Wangmo or the Royal Mother of the Western Paradise – the ruler of all female immortals – sent them down from heaven to be born as humans so that they would learn about suffering in love. The added title “Prakasit Aya Sawan”, which means “Order from Heaven”, alludes to this change.

Her Royal Highness Princess Somsawali, with whom Suruj and Victor worked on “Cixi”, returns to the stage as the Royal Mother.

The Princess told the recent press conference that while her role as Cixi Taihou’s mother was more dramatic, this latest characterisation fills her with joy.

She also praises Suruj for his dexterity in casting his actors in roles that best suit their characters.

“He knows that I love cooking, so he elaborates the cooking scene for my character when the royal mother comes down to the human world to visit the couple,” she says.

But she also admits that Suruj’s songs are as hard as perform as ever.

“As I am busy, I have to rehearse whenever and wherever I can, so I practise at home and while driving,” she says.

Musical director Den Euprasert adds that Suruj’s songs are not just beautiful in terms of the melody and lyrics, but in the way they help tell the story.

“Writing Thai lyrics for the musical melody is hard because of the limitations in the language, but I think they’re great,” he says.

Actress Kanyapas Srinarong, also known as Pan of classical outfit of the Vie Trio, plays Zhu. She worked with Suruj and Victor in the restaging of “Cixi” but finds her new character more complicated.

Singer and actor Nat Thewphaingarm, aka Natthew AF, portrays Liang Zhanpo.

LOVERS IN PARADISE

“Maan Praphenee Prakasit Aya Sawan” (“The Butterfly Lovers”) runs from September 29 to October 16, nightly except Monday, at M Theatre.

Showtime is 7.30pm with matinees at 2pm on weekends.

Tickets cost Bt1,500 to Bt5,000 at http://www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.

WHEN THEIR Majesties the King and Queen embarked on a six-month state visit to 15 Western countries in 1960, the Queen was quick to recognise that the tour would offer an unprecedented opportunity to promote Thai textiles to the world.

She chose to do so through elegant Western-style attire, commissioning leading French couturier Pierre Balmain to design a regal wardrobe using mainly Thai silk. Balmain proved an excellent choice and Her Majesty garnered tremendous interest and acclaim, which contributed greatly to the tour’s success. Indeed, the trip established her as an international tastemaker and the era’s epitome of royal style with newspapers and magazines scrambling to publish photographs of the Royal couple.

Some of those elegant outfits are now on show in a new exhibition at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles titled “Fit for a Queen: Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s Creations by Balmain”, which celebrates the auspicious occasion of Queen Sirikit’s seventh-cycle birthday.

“Fit for a Queen” focuses on the 22-year working relationship between Her Majesty and Balmain and showcases more than 30 of Her Majesty’s most stylish daytime, cocktail, and evening dresses, plus related accessories. Also on display are several pieces of the luggage custom-made by Louis Vuitton for Their Majesties along with nine design sketches and embroidery swatches on loan from Balmain SA and the House of Lesage in Paris to help illuminate the design and creation processes. Period footage and photographs further enrich the show.

“Balmain had to design all the dresses as well as the Queen’s hats and furs. It was cold in Europe and he made them in-house. He contracted well-known shoemaker Rene Mancini, who made a lot of shoes for couture houses including Maison Balmain and the footwear he designed is also on show here,” explains the museum’s consultant Melissa Leventon.

“Balmain went to Louis Vuitton for the trunks that would be required to transport the dresses and ensure they looked just like they had come fresh from the couturier. They are 24 in all, each with Her Majesty’s cipher and numbered so that her two wardrobe attendants could make sure that all the dresses were ready upon notice.”

Balmain chose to make Her Majesty visible to the crowd by using bright colours – Queen Elizabeth II’s couturier’s use the same technique.

“When Her Majesty arrived in a new city, she would disembark from the plane or car attired in a Thai silk suit in what we call jewel colours like emerald, ruby and garnet. These Balmain contrasted with patterned blouses and customised with a little bow that washis signature. He coordinated the whole outfit very neatly,” Leventon continues, adding that she thinks both Balmain and Her Majesty loved black-and-white polka dots because the Queen bought several polka-dots outfits over the next couple of years.

Balmain, along with Francois Lesage, who provided the embroidery for Her Majesty’s formal clothes, remained closely involved with the development of the Queen’s style.

As Her Majesty felt very comfortable with Balmain, she decided to continue to use him as her couturier. In 1963 Balmain and Lesage started to make the Thai national dress in eight styles and from the early 1970s their |work was further extended to developing strategies to transform Thai village silks into fashionable Western attire, which were |worn by Her Majesty to promote the work of the Support Foundation.

For an official visit to Iran in 1967, Her Majesty wore an evening dress in the Thai national style. The dress made from European silk and metal brocade connected beneath a layer of Lesage’s lavish and complex embroidery.

Also on show is an evening dress that Leventon says meets the European and American notion of a dress fit for a queen.

“This, for the West, is the quintessential royal gown,” she says, gesturing towards a dress made of silk satin with metal and iridescent-thread and crystal embroidery by House of Lesage.

The dress is one of the most formal Her Majesty owned and clearly shows Balmain’s love of 18th-century European style.

Silk by Design

“Fit for a Queen: Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s Creations by Balmain” remains on display through June 2018 in Galleries 1-2.

A second exhibition “Dressing Gods and Demons: Costume for Khon”, (see sidebar) is on display until May 2017 in Galleries 3-4.

The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles is inside the Grand Palace and open daily from 9am to 4.30pm. Ticket sales close at 3.30pm.

Back in 2005, when Her Majesty the Queen set about organising the revival of khon, one of Thailand’s oldest narrative dance forms, one of her first initiatives was to assemble a research team to discover what the costumes might have looked like in the past. Once this historical evidence had been collected, she selected specialists to design new costumes to fit contemporary body forms and set in motion a series of weaving, embroidery, mask and jewellery-making workshops so that all aspects of khon costumes could be produced.

The exhibition “Dressing Gods and Demons: Costume for Khon”, currently showing at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles, describes the origins of khon and its historical presentation and also highlights the modern khon costume created for the revival of this high art form. More than 100 items are on view, many of them on loan from collectors and making their first public appearance.

On entering the galleries, visitors first learn about the early history of khon through one of the oldest panels still in existence. Painted in black and gold lacquer and used in performances from 1851 to 1868, it depicts a royal rite called “The Churning of the Ocean” ceremony and is usually on display at the museum of the Emerald Buddha Temple. There is also a reference costume on a doll-like model that is thought to show what a khon costume might have looked liked early in the reign of King Rama V.

Because so little visual evidence has survived, khon under the royal patronage of Her Majesty uses modern versions of the ritual dress of King Rama V’s court, which are abundantly documented through photographs.

Today, as they did in the past, artisans from different fields work together as they create masks, weave textiles in different patterns and styles for particular characters, and add intricate embroidery to the magnificent costumes and sets that have been adapted to suit modern staging and the proportions of performers.

Visitors can take a rare close look at the costumes of role-specific motifs such as flowers (worn by monkeys) and demon faces (worn by demons), which are incorporated into the embroidery. The jewellery is also custom-made and handcrafted in one of several workshops with the same casting and repousse techniques used in creating the real thing, so that even on careful examination, the modern khon costumes are as beautiful close up as they are from far away on the stage.

Through the Support Foundation, Her Majesty commissioned a new theatrical interpretation based on what was known about earlier court versions of khon. The first show in 2007, “The Ramakien Performance Episode of Prommas”, was so well received that the Queen requested it be an annual event. Her Majesty thus gave new life to the design of khon costumes and provided employment for craftspeople, dancers and musicians.

Handmade finery

“Dressing Gods and Demons: Costume for Khon” will be on display until the end of May in Galleries 3-4 of the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles.

The museum is inside the Grand Palace and open daily from 9am to 4.30pm. Ticket sales close at 3.30pm.