What's on
White
When: Dec 5-22, time varies
Where: Hangzhou Grand Theater
White is an award-winning play in one act created by Andy Manley. It is designed for audiences ages 2 to 4. The play has been compared to Waiting for Godot and has received critical acclaim.
Cotton and Wrinkle live in a completely white world, where they care for eggs which fall from the sky, placing them in specially designed birdhouses. Color is banned, and whenever anything of color is found, it must be placed in a large bin. Their lives are happy and uncomplicated until one day, a red egg falls. Cotton wants to care for the egg, but Wrinkle declares that it must go in the bin. That night, Cotton creeps out of the tent he shares with Wrinkle, and rescues the egg, hiding it inside an empty birdhouse. The next morning, he is horrified to find that objects are beginning to change color.
The Open Couple
When: Dec 11-15, 7:30 pm
Where: Shanghai Grand Theater
The Open Couple is a comedy about sexual politics in marriage by Italian dramatist Dario Fo. As with some of Fo's other plays, it is a romance written in 1983 with his wife, Franca Rame.
A man persuades his suicidal wife that an open marriage is politically correct and embarks on dalliances with younger women, to her dismay and fury. After deciding to live on her own, the tables are turned when she confesses to a new man, a Nobel Prize nominee. Then it is the husband who becomes suicidal.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
When: Dec 11-14, 7:30 pm; Dec 15, 2:30 pm
Where: Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare is one of the world's most frequently produced plays and has been translated into several dozen languages. Featured are all 37 of Shakespeare's plays, meant to be performed in 97 minutes, by three actors.
Fast paced, witty and physical, it promises to be full of laughter for Shakespeare lovers.
Munich Symphony Orchestra
When: Dec 15, 7:30 pm
Where: National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing
The Munich Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1945. Concerts of its regular international tours often feature performances with young soloists and regional talents in order to encourage the next generation of musicians. It has recorded music for more than 500 films including Jerry Goldsmith's score for The Wind and the Lion, Christopher Young's music for Hellbound: Hellraiser II and Howard Shore's score for Silence of the Lambs.
Kevin John Edusei was appointed chief conductor of the orchestra in 2014 and has been applauded for introducing an eclectic range of repertoire into its programs.
I Am Tango
When: Dec 16 and 17, 7:30 pm
Where: Guangzhou Opera House
I Am Tango by the Tango Lovers troupe will bring a taste of Argentina and Uruguay to the Guangzhou Opera House.
Tango Lovers, multiple winner in The Best Show of the Year and The Best International Production, is behind the production. With an ensemble of 24 renowned professionals, World Tango dance champions, singers and acclaimed music prodigies, the piece boasts a distinctive perspective on tango by staging its artistic evolution over time.
The genre is represented by a central character named Tango, who questions his essence, represented by the bandoneon about the fusion of the tango genre with classical and contemporary dance, jazz and folklore. The character transitions through different ages and cultures, evolving with the passing of the years, while maintaining the essence of the music that made its mark worldwide.
Rent
When: Dec 24-29, 7:30 pm
Where: Yunfeng Theater, Shanghai
Jonathan Larson's musical Rent, loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La Boheme, won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical and the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
It follows an unforgettable year in the lives of seven artists struggling to follow their dreams without selling out. Poverty, drug abuse and social tensions, among other hardships, challenge the group physically and emotionally. Facing the problems head-on, they make personal self-discoveries and find what really matters most in life. With its inspiring message of joy and hope in the face of fear, this timeless celebration of friendship and creativity reminds us to measure our lives with the only thing that truly matters－love.
Peter Pan
When: Dec 27 and 28, 7:30 pm
Where: Shaoxing Grand Theater
Adapted from the fantasy by Scottish novelist J.M. Barrie, the children's play Peter Pan focuses on Wendy, Michael, John and Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up. Peter teaches the children to fly and takes them to Neverland, where they meet the Lost Boys, encounter Indians, and battle with Captain Hook and his pirates in this classic children's adventure tale.
Qu Yuan
When: Dec 28 and 29, 7:30 pm
Where: Jiangsu Center for the Performing Arts, Nanjing
The musical Qu Yuan focuses on the last night of Qu Yuan's life. It unveils the innermost emotions of the great poet of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). It blurs the line between reality and imagination by visualizing the scenes described in his best-known works.
China's Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the death of Qu, who drowned himself in the Miluo River after he was banished and accused of treason for his well-intended advice to the king.
Legend has it that upon learning of his death, locals raced boats to find his body in the river and dropped rice in the water in the hope that it would distract fish from eating him. These became traditions of the Dragon Boat Festival that are observed to this day.
