The Singapore Lyric Opera has brought in one of Asia’s most celebrated directors for the city’s first stab at Puccini’s evergreen ‘Turandot’. Derek Lim gets the Lo-down

It’s not quite evil queens, poison apples and talking animals, but Giacomo Puccini’s fairy-tale opera ‘Turandot’, as performed by the Singapore Lyric Opera, is sure to enthral local audiences with its fantastical story and lavish, no-expense-spared production. The show’s five-day run at the Esplanade will be – incredibly, for one of the world’s most popular operas – the first staging of ‘Turandot’ in Singapore. For this special occasion the company has hired decorated director Lo King-man – he’s a Chevalier of the Order of Merit in Italy, Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in France, a Member of the Order of the British Empire, you get the idea – to share his vast operatic expertise. Though he has directed a variety of stage shows, his commitment to opera isn’t to be sniffed at – this is Lo’s 53rd opera, and his fourth go at the story of the icy princess.

‘Turandot’ is not your average fairy tale by any stretch of the imagination; as a bedtime story it’s more likely to induce sleepless nights than peaceful slumber. Originally written as part of an anthology of Persian stories called The Book of One Thousand and One Days (Aladdin and Ali Baba appeared in its sister book, The Book of One Thousand and One Nights), this tale, set in old Peking, is of a dazzlingly beautiful but inhumanly cold Chinese princess who is so determined not to be dominated by a man – citing the rape and murder of her ancestor – that she has sworn never to let a man possess her. Potential suitors have to correctly answer three riddles to woo her, or they risk public beheading – a measure that has cost many a handsome prince his life. Prince Calaf is one such suitor; he gambles with his life at the first sight of the princess.

If that sounds ridiculously simplistic, talk to Lo. Authenticity and believability are recurring themes with his treatment of the opera. Ching-chong chinoiserie clichés have long been an amusing feature of ‘Turandot’ productions – opera veterans might recall the pagodas and impossibly long-nailed Mandarin character of Franco Zeffirelli’s New York staging, and the paunchy sumo-wrestler executioner in David Hockney’s San Francisco production. But for Hong Kong-born Lo, such cultural gaffes are unacceptable. ‘You see, sometimes in Europe and even in the big opera houses, like the Metropolitan, they make a mess of their interpretation of things that are Chinese,’ he says. ‘They put Ming Dynasty designs beside those of the Qing Dynasty,’ a no-no if ever there was one.

After taking great care to research the work, Lo determined the opera should not be set in either period. He is staging this production for what he believes to be a knowledgeable unacceptable. ‘In a geographical and national boundary where most of our inhabitants are Chinese, we must treat the subject matter with appropriate respect,’ he says. ‘Chinese history had been meticulously well recorded, with every emperor since [the Ming Dynasty] documented. For us Chinese, to see it being set in the Qing Dynasty [1644-1911], we lose that exotic and remote and fairy-tale and legendary feeling that some time there could have been such a woman like this.’

Instead, Lo daringly stages the opera in ancient times, in the Great Bronze Age (circa 2000 BC) in China, before the first emperor. ‘Because it is a fairy tale, it must happen in legendary times,’ he says. ‘You will find in my production an atmosphere of primitiveness, with lots of references to jade carvings and bronze vessels, totems and such.’

This blend of fantastical and realistic applies to character development as well, says Lo. ‘In the opera the most difficult part is making [the princess] Turandot believable. You have to make use of all the other characters to do so. For example, Calaf has seen her only once and is immediately entranced, to the extent that he gambles with his life for her. So on stage, you have to balance the believability of this so-called icy beauty and the reality of the singer who happens to be on the stage.’ He relates with a chuckle: ‘I once had a production with a 300- pound soprano who sang superbly well, but it was very difficult to make her look believable, so I had to stage her very far away from the audience, in very special lighting.’

In the end, ‘Turandot’ is as much about spectacle as it is about singing or storyline, and Lo promises a feast for the eyes. Costumes will be made in Suzhou, China – of silk, no less – and the designs hand-dyed to complete the stunning visual effect that audiences relish. The sets, meanwhile, will be built by Tan Ju Meng – architect, lecturer and designer for well-loved local shows such as the Dim Sum Dollies series and Aladdin. Dancers and a huge cast of non-singing roles – with a really good-looking Persian prince – can also be expected.

Can a performance this extravagant not go over the top? ‘I am a fairly modern director,’ says Lo, ‘but I am not the kind who would deliberately find irrelevant things to stimulate your sensibility. I am not going to stage “Turandot” in a swimming pool!’

The opera is in Italian with English and Chinese surtitles.
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