By Zhang Qian (Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-02 09:56

An extravagant, innovative open-air production of "A Dream of Red Mansions" will be acted, sung and danced by the stars, sometimes three to a role.

In a vast construction project, the Jia family's Grand View Garden home has been recreated at the Hongkou Football Stadium.

Producers of the new version of the classic have pull out all the stops for the four-hour production next Saturday and Sunday. It's the closing performance of the Shanghai International Arts Festival.

Roles - or different aspects of a character - will be performed by celebrity actors, traditional opera singers and modern dancers, including an actress from Hong Kong and a Taiwan pop songstress. International fashion designer Mark Cheung from Hong Kong has designed the costumes.

"The stage took more than 300 workers three months to complete. It is the biggest relief stage in the world so far," says Wang Jing, supervisor of the stage design. "I believe that it can reproduce the glorious Grand View Garden."

The audience will be seated around and overlooking the 3,000-square-meter Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)-style stage. It represents Da Guan Yuan, or Grand View Garden, home of the Jia family in "A Dream of Red Mansions."

The 18th-century classic about the decline of a wealthy feudal family has seen many theatrical incarnations. This is different not only in mega setting, but also in extravagant presentation.

Unlike TV, film or dramatic versions, the new play combines dancing, singing and acting. Some characters will be played by three artists, an actor, a singer and a dancer, to portray him or her at different times.

Take the lead role of Jia Baoyu: There are three Jias in the play. Modern dancer Huang Doudou will be the crazed Jia when he finds that his bride is Xue Baochai instead of his love Lin Daiyu.

Zhao Zhigang, a veteran Yueju Opera star, will sing the desperation of Jia at the same time. Zhang Dianfei, the fifth-place winner of this year's "My Hero" TV talent show, will play the traditional role of the innocent teenage Jia.

Renowned actress Siqing Gaowa will play two roles - the powerful family matriarch Grandmother Jia and the poor relative Grandmother Liu.

Taiwanese actress, pop singer and model Pace Wu plays Yuan Chun. Semi-retired Hong Kong actress Irene Wan will play Qin Keqin.

The play begins with the appearance of Grandmother Liu and her grandson Ban'er. With a sad cry, "Ban'er," Grandmother Liu shifts to Grandmother Jia in the armchair and recounts the story of the Jia family.

The saga, produced by Yao Bowen, revolves around the wealthy but declining Jia family. It depicts the unfolding collapse of the family (a metaphor for society), riven by fierce struggles among themselves and in society.

It focuses on the tragic love between Jia and Lin and provides a panorama of the lives of people at various levels in the degenerating empire.

Date: November 10-11, 7:30pm
Address: 444 Dongjiangwan Rd
Tickets: 180-1,480 yuan
Tel: 800-820-2317, 021-6359-5280