The Big Show

We've been all over the Thai news lately!

This year, the year 2558 in the Thai calendar, is my school's sixtieth anniversary. The school was founded in 2498 (1955), and started with sixteen students. It sure has grown since then!

During the academic fair earlier this year, I had the pleasure to meet with Mr Owen and Mr Mulliner, two of the school's original British English teachers. Both men are still held in incredibly high esteem by the school, and they both had some great stories to tell about the early days teaching in Bangkok. The school has changed a lot in the past sixty years. Including kindergarten, primary, secondary, and the vocational school, there are now somewhere around 2,000 students. The school is now open to all, but is still seen as the top school in the kingdom. In fact, when I visited the USA this year, I went to a Thai restaurant in my hometown, Arlington. When the owner (a Thai woman) found out where I worked, she was obviously impressed. "That's a very good school", she said.

the opening Khon performance

The year 60 holds special importance in Thai culture, as it is the fifth cycle of one's Chinese zodiac (a very auspicious year in one's life, according to tradition). It also happens to be the sixtieth birthday year of Her Royal Highness, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. To celebrate both of these illustrious occasions, the school has organized one of the most impressive and beautiful displays of Thai culture that I've seen in my three years in the country.

Read about it here in The Nation, one of Thailand's two big English-language newspapers.

I knew that the show would be a big deal. The students have been practicing and preparing for it since at least February before last term ended, and all classes have been ending two hours early at 2:00pm for a daily two-hour rehearsal. When I read that tickets were going for up to 20,000 baht though, I was completely shocked. That's nearly $600 USD!  When I got the chance to attend the final rehearsal, a private showing of the full performance for parents and teachers, there was no way I was going to miss it.

a page from the show's program, showing different acts

The show started with a mini Khon performance, and then turned into a musical about the history of Thailand, starting with King Rama I and going up to the present king, Rama IX, culminating with the founding of Chitralada School. I was especially impressed with one scene depicting a battle between Siam and Burma, and the amount of coordination and choreography that had to go in to it. My favorite part, however, was a scene during the reign of Rama IV, which featured Anna from The King and I singing "Getting to Know You" to the royal children. I take that as a tribute to all the royal English teachers through the ages!

The second act featured another Khon performance, a Thai opera depicting an ancient Indian legend about a forbidden love.

The show wrapped up with a performance of Khru, the Wai Kru song, which I only recently learned is a song unique to Chitralada. You can listen to a version of the song here. The song started with a small group of Anuban (Kindergarten) students, but as it went on, they were joined on the stage by current students and alumni. While the song was playing, a video played on the giant scree behind them depicting pictures of teachers and the school from the past. My colleague James and I tried to spot and name as many of the Ajarn Farang as we could. We spotted Mr Owen a couple of times, and the late Mr Garnier, the man who originally got Geoffrey a job at the school. There were a few pictures of Geoffrey as well.

I was most excited however, when they started showing all the teachers yearbook photos, and I actually made it into the show!

The show lasted nearly four hours. I am still blown away by how amazing it was! The amount of time and effort that went into making the performance such a success is really incredible, and I'm impressed with how the students, teachers, and hundreds of alumni came together to create something so magnificent. Happy birthday to my school! I feel so proud and honored to be a small part of something so great!