With book and music by Dick Lee and direction by West End’s Steven Dexter, The Forbidden City is a special work commissioned by Singapore as the inaugural presentation of the new opera house, The Esplanade in October. It certainly looks like this is another effort on the part of Singapore to establish itself as Broadway’s counterpart in Asia. The Lion City has already hosted musicals like Miss Saigon, Into the Woods, and Judah Ben-Hur which will boast that it originated in Singapore when it gets to Broadway.
The Forbidden City tells the story of the Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi who ruled China through the last three young and coincidentally, ill-fated emperors. The last one was of course Pu Yi whom moviegoers doubtless remember from Bernardo Bertolucci’s epic film The Last Emperor. If you saw the movie then you probably recall the Empress who died and was buried with much pomp and funfare. That was Tzu Hsi.
The Empress was formerly a young girl named Yehenara whom the Emperor Hsien Feng chose to be one of his concubines. Fortunately for her neither the Emperor’s wife or any of the other concubines gave birth to a son. So with the death of Hsien Feng, Tzu Hsi’s little boy Li Fei became Emperor and she rose to the Dowager Empress who could order her son around. When Li Fei died, she chose another little boy to be the ruler, Tung Chih whom she also outlived until she got to Pu Yi. Her reign was characterized with massive corruption in the Forbidden City and she was said to have squandered a vast fortune because of her extravagant taste.
Given all the intrigues and manipulations going on inside the Forbidden City, it was truly remarkable that Tzu Hsi was able to get hold of so much power and hold it for so long. The main reason for this was that she had a strong ally in Prince Kung, brother of Hsien Feng who in turn ruled China through the Empress. This villainous prince is the part that Eugene plays in the musical. This early, it already looks like it will be quite an experience. Kung has several difficult numbers that are expected to also be show-stoppers.
It was while performing with the CompanY at the Raffles Hotel last February that Dick Lee asked Eugene if he would be interested in playing a part in The Forbidden City. And Eugene, who has always loved musicals said "yes." The call for auditions came in May and shortly after that he was officially offered the part of Prince Kung. The Forbidden City will run at The Esplanade on Oct. 17, 18 and 19.
Eugene, however will be taking a break from rehearsals in September. He is slated to join fellow New Minstrels Louie Reyes and Ding Mercado plus Circus Band members Pat Castillo, Tillie Moreno and Hajji Alejandro in 70’s 2Day. A sort of reunion among members of two of the biggest bands in the Philippines during the ’70s era, the concert will be held at the Music Museum on Friday, Sept. 20 and Saturday, Sept. 21. This is the first time in their long successful careers that these six artists will be performing together in one show and everything will be documented in the CD and VCD releases Viva Records is going to produce.
Eugene started his career with the New Minstrels, the showband which successfully revived Filipino classics like Buhat and Balut. He later continued to make more hits as a soloist, Gulong ng Palad and in tandem with Louie Reyes, Nothing I Want More, which won the Grand Prix for them in the Seoul Song Festival in 1982. He has also performed in many stage musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar in the title role, West Side Story as Riff, Rama Hari and Rama at Sita. As record producer, he has worked with Sharon Cuneta, Donna Cruz, Side A, The New Minstrels, Janet Basco, Ayen Munji and others.