The Nightingale Serenades
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| The Nightingale |
'What is it ? The Nightingale? I do not know it at all, and it lives in my empire."
Over the weekend , we manged to catch the musical adaption of 'The Nightingale ' by The Little Company. This one hour plus musical retells the famed fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson.
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| Picture Credit : Singapore Repertory Theatre |
In short, the tale is about the plain , brown Nightingale who enchanted the little Emperor of China with her angelic song. He captured the bird kept it in a glided cage for his own entertainment. However having lost its freedom, the Nightingale lost its voice. Soon a singing mechanical bird took over and the Nightingale left.
The mechanical bird reign as a songstress was short lived as it broke down. The Emperor got depressed and fell ill. The Nightingale returned , sang a song of friendship and he was heal.
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| Picture Credit : Singapore Repertory Theatre |
The story may be simplistic but it did have a few moral tales behind it that I can share with my boys.
- You cannot force a person to do things against their will
- Real talent cannot be replaced by a replica
- Appreciate and value what you have
- Being powerful does not mean you can have everything
- Sometimes the most humble one would be the wisest one
The acting was of high standards by the cast. Tan Shou Chen, the Emperor, playfully illustrates how a spoilt and protected child can be. Timothy Wan , The Lord Protector, is amusingly clueless and protective. Ann Lek , the kitchen maid is refreshingly delightful and Rachel Tay as The Nightingale has a voice befitting of her role.
There were scenes where audience gets to 'participate' in the play. In addition the tone was lighthearted and befitting to the target audience of 3 to 8.
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| Picture Credit : Singapore Repertory Theatre |
Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. You know it is a good show when the little ones would still talk about it after a few days from watching it. We have watched the English version which will end its run on 14th September. We think the Chinese version will be equally entertaining if not more educational.
The Chinese version will start its run from 18th Sep to 11 Oct. The show is held at DBS ART Center - Home of SRT
We highly recommend this for the little ones!
Looking forward to the next production by The Little Company!
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TWD were invited to the event for review
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