The jury returns a positive verdict

This year's smash hit Hong Kong flick A Guilty Conscience and The Impossible Trial have rather similar plots. Both the film and the musical - a Hong Kong Repertory Theatre-West Kowloon Cultural District joint production that opened at the Xiqu Centre in 2022 and has returned in November and December 2023 by popular demand - tell the story of a lawyer who starts off as a self-absorbed mercenary without a moral compass but has a change of heart along the way, turning, overnight, into a conscientious do-gooder and a messiah of the downtrodden.

However, the musical is less neatly resolved compared with the film, and therein lies its charm. For instance, it's only after they are two-thirds into the show that audiences begin to get the sense that the production's three main characters - lawyer Fong Tong-geng; his childhood friend Ah Sai, who is deceased and hence appears as a spirit; and the latter's love interest, Yeung Sau-sau - must have known each other as children. A flashback would have been the most obvious way of including this detail, but scriptwriter Cheung Fei-fan has left it to the audience to deduce the connection.

There's also the character of Ho Tam-yu (sung by Rick Lau), an upright lawyer-turned-monk. He begins to have doubts about his faith, agonizing over the Buddha's lack of response to his prayers to rid the world of human suffering. And then, like the elusive savior whom he has been seeking all along, the monk himself disappears entirely from the musical - though not before singing a number that showcases Lau's powerful voice, and amazing vocal range, gliding across the octaves.

The Impossible Trial is that rare musical whose makers are not overly concerned with tying up the loose ends. Its form is discursive, with the focus being on the narrative's philosophical underpinnings. The two male leads are often locked in debates, exchanging notes on concepts such as predestination, sin and retribution, and the thin line separating victory and defeat, among other existential questions. The randomness with which characters and ideas are introduced to and removed from the plot perhaps reflects the arbitrary nature of the human condition.

Rock-opera feel

The Impossible Trial is set in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) China. However, Leon Ko's music score sounds more aligned to the idiom of Western musicals rather than Chinese opera. The live band is more of a Western orchestra ensemble, with a pipa and Chinese drums thrown in. One of the highlight numbers, titled Epiphany - a duet sung by Lau Shau-ching in the role of Fong Tong-geng and Jordan Cheng as the spirit of Lau's long-lost friend Ah Sai - has a rock-opera feel, bringing to mind the exchanges between Jesus and Judas Iscariot in the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice classic Jesus Christ Superstar. There are thematic similarities as well, as at the heart of both musicals is a pair of close friends caught up in ideological conflicts, though their goals may not be that different.

Lyricist Chris Shum has penned some of the most emotionally affecting songs for the female lead, Yeung Sau-sau, who goes from being a suicidal and despondent woman charged with the murder of her husband, to a more self-possessed sort - ready to navigate her single life with confidence. Tunes Ting's youthful and mellifluous voice is appropriate for the role.

My vote, however, goes to the chorus, which has some of the best punch lines. Aggressive and in-your-face in the court scenes, the chorus seamlessly blends into the texture of the more emotional scenes, helping to evoke the mood.