It was a standing ovation for the Broadway classic, West
Side Story, which premiered at the Beijing Exhibition Center
on Sunday night. The staging of the internationally acclaimed
musical was one of two performances that officially unveiled the
Fourth Beijing International Theater Festival co-sponsored by the
Chinese Ministry of Culture, China Federation of Literary and Art
Circles, Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist
Party, and the Beijing municipal government.
The Tony Award-winning musical debuted on Broadway in 1957, the
brainchild of musician Leonard Bernstein and famed director Jerome
Robbins. The musical combines romance, tragedy, drama, told through
dialogue, singing and dancing, and is considered to be a modern-day
version of Romeo and Juliet.
West Side Story soon became a classic in New York City.
Its movie version hit silver screens worldwide in October 1961,
winning 10 Oscar Awards, including Best Picture.
This is the first time that the musical has been staged in
Beijing. On until May 11, organizers are working hard to make it
the "best and biggest" in the musical's performance history.
The other season-opener was Princess Wencheng, jointly
performed by China Peking Opera Theater and Tibet Opera Troupe and
staged at the Poly Theater in Beijing last night.
Princess Wencheng fuses Peking and Tibetan operas
together for the first time, which is widely believed by many drama
experts to be a landmark for Tibetan Opera's development. The
highlight of the performance was the Tibetan folk songs and dances
that wowed the audience.
Over the next 25 days, artistes from China, the United States
and Germany will stage 17 musicals, operas, puppet shows and dramas
across Beijing's theaters.
Beijing People by famous playwright Cao Yu, Bai Lu
Yuan adapted from a classic Chinese novel, and the opera
Du Shiniang come highly recommended by theater
aficionados. Fans of the theater can also expect experimental plays
such as Prodigy Mozart by Germany's Theater for
Children.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Rui, May 8, 2006)
