Unique Rock Opera To Debut This Month
'Where Elephants Weep' is the story of a man caught in a tragic love affair, and, the writer says, of Cambodia's soul. (04 November 200
“Where Elephants Weep,” a rock opera blend of Western andCambodian performing arts, will begin a 10-day run in Phnom Penh later this month, organizers saidTuesday. More than 60 Actors, dancers, singers and musicians from Cambodia will join American performers for the show,the first of its kind in Cambodia. “Where Elephants Weep” is the story of a Cambodian-Americannamed Sam, who returns to Cambodiato become a monk. He meets Bopha, a well-known singer, at the pagoda where hestays. Sam defies a chief monk and leaves the pagoda and religious life, and astory of love and tragedy begins. The story was written by Catherine Filloux and is a modernadaptation of the traditional Khmer folk story “Tum Teav.” The music was composed by Him Sophy, who was trained in Russia and who worked in New York for a year with producer John Burt.The show played in Lowell, Mass.,in April 2007, and Burt called it “a dream” to bring the show to Cambodia. “Cambodian survivors have given me a lot of inspiration,”Filloux told reporters Tuesday. “When I was given an opportunity to write anopera with Him Sophy, it really seemed like an accumulation of everything thatI had done so far.” The show will run Nov. 28. and Dec. 7, and organizers hopeit will play in other countries across Asia before they return to the US. “We trained together with foreign actors and I was veryimpressed from the first,” said Ieng Sithul, a Cambodian performer who playsthe stringed “chapei” and is a flute coach for the show. Thai Norak Satya, secretary of state for the Ministry ofCulture, welcomed the presentation of a “mixed” show. “We can consider that the show of multi-nationalism is anevent that has never been in PhnomPenh,” he said. Filloux said the story was ultimately about Cambodia. “The place where elephants go to cry in the story representssome level of the soul of Cambodia,”she said.