The Five-Colored Stone Will Touch the Audience's Heart

Many years after learning about Thien Nhan's story, Meritorious Artist Cao Ngoc Anh still choked up before clearly reading the newspaper headline "The child was born from the mother's fragrant heart". For her, the story of Tran Mai Anh's mother adopting Thien Nhan was enough material for not just one but many contemporary musicals. That's how The Five-Colored Stone was born.

Deputy Director of the Youth Theater - Meritorious Artist Cao Ngoc Anh is the general director of the musical The Five-Colored Stone.

The Origin of the Five-Colored Stone

What chance brought you to Thien Nhan's story and the decision to dramatize it into the play The Five-Colored Stone?

Honestly, at the time when Mai Anh’s mother took Thien Nhan in and raised him, I didn’t pay much attention. Because society has many cases of people helping each other like that, Mai Anh’s mother is one of them. I only remember the story of why people, because of bad customs, could abandon a child in the middle of a banana garden and let ants bite the child’s body.

Then, I read an article with the title: "A child was born from the sweet heart of a mother". My emotions erupted. I was curious about why a child was born from the heart of a mother and started reading. At that time, I did not know Mai Anh's mother, but I saw that the explanation was very simple but contained boundless love.

It is natural to give birth to a child and love it. But a mother can love her unborn child that much. After 13 years, the world turned round and we became friends again through the poet Khanh Duong. At that time, Mr. Duong invited me to a sharing session of Thien Nhan's fund. From then on, I met Mai Anh and we became closer.

The more I read about Thien Nhan and Mai Anh, the more I feel like this needs to be dramatized. But the final decision will come in 2022.

At that time, Mai Anh organized examinations and surgeries for child patients in Da Nang and confided to me her intention to thank the doctors with a cultural product. Before , Thien Nhan Journey was also facing financial difficulties, but now it was easier to breathe. Mai Anh did not want the doctors to think that Vietnam specializes in asking for charity surgeries. The family was ready to send their thanks and gratitude.

Coincidentally, the musical Waves performed by the Youth Theatre last year had suitable songs. We decided to perform in Da Nang. I still remember the story of the doctors operating on the children being very tired at that time, and the children were also in pain. We kept wondering whether our performance was right or not? They were in pain and tired, but we were singing. Luckily, the effect was very good.

The doctors were relieved of stress. The children were also less in pain. It was after that performance that I asked myself why we didn’t create our own musical for Thien Nhan Journey. There are so many stories about Thien Nhan and they are enough to make our own material. We won’t have to pick them up from somewhere. From there, we discussed more with each other to start this musical.

As a mother, do you have enough courage and bravery to bring a baby from outside like Ms. Mai Anh?

I think you have to be in that situation to be able to confirm how you would act. Even at the time I read that article, I asked myself: Would I take that child home? Could I raise it? Of course, there was no answer.

That’s why I respect Mai Anh even more. She did an extraordinary thing, especially since Mai Anh is not so rich that she can give away too much. Bringing a child home is just another burden for the family.

Press conference for the musical The Five-Colored Stone.

"We always need good people"

Thien Nhan's family journey has been 13 years but it's not over yet. Thien Nhan has not fully recovered yet. After many years of knowing Mai Anh's mother and still being by her side, how do you perceive that this journey may be endless?

In my opinion, this journey cannot end. This is the Thien Nhan and Friends program. This program is no longer just for Thien Nhan, or for Mai Anh, but for many people. At the press conference, Mai Anh also shared that she did not want to talk much about this story anymore because it was old. But Mr. Greg told Mai Anh that it was not old, it was only old to Mai Anh.

Because of the next surgeries this year, or the patients who will be examined next year, this story must continue. The same is true of our production of the Five-Colored Stone. We are not talking specifically about Mai Anh or Thien Nhan. This play is about the doctors, about the goodness in the whole world that has come here.

We talked about all the mothers whose children suffered, including mothers who adopted children like Mai Anh, and the disabled children who gradually healed after each surgery, both physically and mentally. I think the journey of "Thien Nhan and Friends" will be long, just like this play itself.

So will the play have many parts?

In the press conference, I shared that this is the first episode to talk about "Thien Nhan and Friends Program". In this first episode, I can only introduce to you my general feelings. If you want to know in detail how Mai Anh raised Thien Nhan, how many surgeries Son "blue potty" had to go through, or many other stories, we will have other parts.

For example, there was this story. Thien Nhan's most important surgery did not have a post-operative care abroad due to lack of money. So right after the surgery, Mai Anh carried Thien Nhan to the airport to return home immediately. On the plane, Mai Anh was very nervous, not knowing whether the surgery would be successful or not.

If it was successful, Thien Nhan had to pee. Then Thien Nhan put on a diaper and started gagging uncomfortably. Mai Anh opened the diaper, Thien Nhan peed straight through the rod that was attached to Mai Anh's mother's face. On the plane, Mai Anh's mother both laughed and cried happily. Laughed because the surgery was successful and it meant that the mother and child did not have to go abroad anymore, did not have to spend any more money. Cried with joy, because after each surgery, her child was a little more covered.

Stories like that could be combined into volumes 2 and 3. Or there could be volumes talking about doctors. When doctors operate on children, they don’t wear the usual blue surgical gowns. They have colorful shapes on them, red, green, purple, yellow.

They do this to alleviate the children’s fear and pain. These doctors are also very good-natured, seeking goodness, trying to improve themselves to become good people. That is why I think this journey will last forever.

We always need good people, and we will always need to spread that goodness to society. The play The Five-Colored Stone is no exception.

Maybe when it premieres, some people will not like it, the art world and experts may not give it a deep evaluation. But there is a proposition that the actors have said over and over again during rehearsals: If we believe, miracles will appear. So we have great faith. We will have a play that touches the hearts of the audience.

Artist Cao Ngoc Anh and actress Minh Chau (who plays the role of Coi's mother).

"There will always be new emotions"

You said the play will have part 2 and part 3, are you worried that the audience will get bored?

For an artist, the most important thing is emotion. As long as those stories still make me emotional, I will continue to do it. The stories may be old, but the emotions are not. Every time I remember the sentence "I was born from my mother's sweet heart", I always choke up. The story behind it is both touching and funny.

Thien Nhan once came home and asked his mother very cautiously: "Mom, where did I come from?" Because at school, someone maliciously said that Thien Nhan was not born by Mai Anh's mother. Mai Anh's mother then said: "This is very secret. I will only tell Nhan, you can't tell your brothers." Then Mai Anh's mother said that she was born from her sweet heart, while her two brothers came from her stomach, a stomach full of food and feces, so it was very smelly.

Thien Nhan was very happy, especially when his mother told him not to tell his brothers. He just smiled because he felt he was being favored. When he couldn't help it, he said no wonder his brothers were so smelly. Now that he was grown up, Thien Nhan also understood what a "fragrant heart" was.

Mai Anh always did everything like that: always being humorous, normalizing all the heavy things. Since childhood, that was the foundation for Thien Nhan to go to school. Nhan also did not need to care who his father was anymore. Mai Anh's mother always found a way to look at the bright side,

In this play, there is also a song called "Don't Be Afraid, My Child" from the poem by Dinh Quang Trung that describes exactly what Mai Anh's mother often does. The children are scared when they first get examined, and Mai Anh always finds a way to comfort them. For special surgeries, Mai Anh sits next to the bed, holds her children's hands, and sings lullabies to transmit energy and soothe their pain. Or there is the song "It's Me", where Thien Nhan proves that he is just like other children.

Stories like that I think always bring new emotions to the audience.

Image of artists and crew at the press conference.

From an artistic and influential perspective, what do you expect from the play?

When I started making this play, I simply thought that I was a creative artist, Thien Nhan's story created strong emotions, and I wanted to stage it. I also wanted to pursue purely Vietnamese musicals. I also had the opportunity to follow musicals in many places, from America, Europe to Japan, Korea. There, they highly honor the native culture. And I wanted to honor Vietnamese culture, so I made this play to express my pride in the Fatherland.

Purely Vietnamese musicals simply talk about the people, the country, the aspirations and dreams of the Vietnamese people. The team that created this play is also all Vietnamese. Most importantly, the musical must recreate the breath of the times.

For example, if we were to make a play about Xuan Quynh, the audience would have to feel the echoes of the 80s. As for The Five-Colored Stone, it is a contemporary play, so we have to aim for modern stories, carrying the breath of the country’s development. That is the reason why the play has many youthful elements.

Regarding expectations, no matter what I do, I just think this: People also have destiny, if you set a goal, then do your best to reach that goal, with all your love. Just pour out all your desire, the destination depends on destiny. Of course, we have to create good products. If we have good works, that brainchild will last forever.

As long as the play is good, people will wonder when it will be performed again. I can't predict anything. Before the pandemic, we could think ahead, but now I just want to look at what's in front of us. Just do my best and hope for the best.

Thanks for the chat!

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/pho-giam-doc-nha-hat-tuoi-tre-cao-ngoc-anh-vien-da-ngu-sac-se-cham-toi-trai-tim-khan-gia-192231110183643631.htm