Guan Yin The Musical tells goddess’ stories through sand art, song and dance
The stories of Guan Yin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy and compassion, come to life with the aid of sand art, music and other stage effects in a new show.
Guan Yin The Musical, produced by Malaysia-based Asia Musical Productions (AMP) and presented by Di Zang Lin Singapore, will run at Victoria Theatre from Nov 24 to 26.
The show premiered in 2016 as The Story Of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in Kuala Lumpur, and was restaged in Penang in 2022. It depicts four popular stories about the goddess. They are the legend of Princess Miao Shan, fish-basket Guan Yin, Guan Yin praying for tranquillity during the unstable Song Dynasty, and the Guan Yin statue which did not wish to leave Mount Putuo.
At a recent launch event held at Stamford Arts Centre, the show’s Malaysian director and playwright Ho Lin Huay says: “The four stories were chosen as they have entertainment value and will be striking to see on stage. Some stories of Guan Yin are so magical that it would be impossible to present on stage.”
The legend of Princess Miao Shan, for example, is particularly challenging to depict. This is because Guan Yin encounters sentient animals such as elephants, tigers and birds on her journey to attain Buddhahood.
Ho, 52, came up with the idea of using sand art drawings to depict such mystical subjects.
“If this were a movie, you could use special effects. The sand art drawings projected in the background would show her magical experiences, while the singers and dancers act as the princess.”
For Ho, provoking emotion from the audience is what theatre is all about, and music transcends language.
She says: “Audiences may not have the patience to sit through a play full of dialogue. Musicals work better at connecting with them. Even if they do not understand Mandarin, they can still be moved by the music, the dance and the body language.”
Similarly, theatre can be a good way to tell religious stories. “Not all audience members will walk into a temple. This musical introduces them to Buddhist art and culture. The Great Compassion mantra and the Universal Gate sutra have always been sung in temples. Now, we are presenting them to the audience in a more modern form.”
Ho, who is also the founder of AMP, chose the four tales also because of the emotional connection she felt when reading them.
She was inspired to recast Buddhist stories as musicals and mine the rich material in Buddhist mythology after watching a snippet of English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, the hit rock opera about Christ’s crucifixion, on television while she was studying motion picture and theatre production at the University of Miami in the United States in the 1990s.
AMP has produced eight other musicals, including some with Buddhist overtones such as Siddhartha (1999), Above Full Moon (2004) and Medicine Buddha (2018).
Some devotees may object to such commercialisation of religion, but Ho says: “We are just telling the story in a straightforward way as we have heard or read it. We don’t try to make our own statements.”
Buddhists seeking enlightenment must uphold a set of 10 precepts, which are ethical rules. The seventh precept dictates that one must not partake of worldly amusements such as music and dance.
Ho says: “In Mahayana Buddhism (one of three main branches of Buddhism), song and dance is believed to be a way to promote or spread the Buddha’s teachings. They can also be offerings to the Buddha or the Bodhisattvas. It is a convenient way to let more people understand Buddhism and the story of the Bodhisattvas.
“Guan Yin is very important not only in Buddhism, but also in Chinese society. I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t know about Guan Yin. But do they know her stories and who she is?”
Book It/Guan Yin The Musical
Where: Victoria Theatre, 9 Empress Place
When: Nov 24 and 25, 8pm; Nov 26, 3pm
Admission: From $68
Info: guanyin.sg
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