Chang & Eng
musical
Chang & Eng is a Singaporean musical theatre production directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham based on the lives of the Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker. The music and lyrics were by Ken Low, with the book by Ming Wong, costumes by Niphon Tuntiyothin, set design by Thoranisorn Pitikul, lighting by Thio Lay Hoon, orchestral arrangement by Iskandar Ismail and choral direction by Babes Condes. The musical was first performed in 1997, rerun in subsequent years until 2002 and has since travelled around Asia. Performers such as RJ Rosales, Robin Goh and Edmund Toh have been cast as Chang and Eng, and writer-composer Ken Low has a cameo as the King of Siam in some productions.
Chang and Eng also became the first English Language Musical to be performed in the People's Republic of China between 9th - 11 December 1997 at the Century Theatre, Beijing.
The musical focuses on the lives of Chang and Eng, from their troubled childhood, seen as outcasts by children in Siam but reassured by their mother Nok, to their journey to New York as exhibits managed by Captain Abel Coffin and their settling down with Adelaide and Sallie Yates in North Carolina.
Major characters
Chang (tenor/baritone) - one half of the conjoined twins and the more optimistic and confident of the two
Eng (tenor/baritone) - the other brother and the more moody of the two, dependent on his more confident twin for support
Nok (mezzo-soprano)- the twins' mother who helps them to cope with the mockery and rejection of their peers
Captain Abel Coffin (tenor/baritone) - The opportunistic American merchant who takes the twins to exhibit them in New York
Adelaide Yates (mezzo-soprano) - One of the two Yates sisters who goes on to fall in love with and later marry Chang
Sallie Yates (mezzo-soprano) - the other Yates sister who falls in love and later marries Eng
King Rama III (baritone) - the King of Siam
Midwife (mezzo-soprano) - the "Grand Midwife of the West" who delivers the 21 children of the twins' wives.
Synopsis
Act 1
The musical begins in New York, 1829 where curious crowds gather to witness a public display of Chang and Eng, the Siamese twins joined at the chest (Eighth Wonder of the World). The twins' manager, Captain Abel Coffin, lures the crowds in as he prepares to unveil the exhibit, billed as the Eight Wonder of the World, for the first time. Backstage, before the exhibition, the twins discuss their future in America, Chang with visions of grandeur and Eng with apprehension (From Now On).
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