From monks to movie stars, Chinese shows in the ascendant

Chinese martial arts epic The Soul of Shaolin became the first show from the mainland to be staged on Broadway in January, when it ran for 24 nights and was subsequently nominated for a Tony award.

Now the timeless story of a boy born in wartime who is raised by monks at central China's Shaolin Temple is returning to Shanghai Theatre Academy to set local audiences aquiver.

Commenting on the performance at Broadway's Marquis Theater, New York Times critic Charles Isherwood wrote glowingly: "As they fling their jabbing limbs around the stage, emitting menacing guttural shrieks and grunts, they achieve such velocity and altitude that a viewer could be forgiven for wanting to duck."

Officials at Eastern Shanghai International Culture Film and Television Group said they hope to find a permanent home in Shanghai for their latest production.

"Foreign tourists all go to see the acrobats at Shanghai Circus World, but we'd like to provide (them with) some new entertainment options," said Eastern Shanghai's Zheng Luxiao.

The foundation for such a move has already been built, said Fang Jun, the company's director.

"It's already a great honor to have been nominated for the Tony's, and it shows the kind of amazing achievements our efforts to introduce Chinese performances to the international market can have," he said.

The city's latest promotional arts blitz is already on the horizon, with the Shanghai International Performance Fair making its way to the Skyway Pullman Hotel from Oct 17 to 22. It claims to be the largest industry fair of its kind in Asia and has been held each year for the last decade.

However organizers say they now want to shift the focus away from introducing foreign projects to China, and towards promoting Chinese projects overseas. As such, they will screen excerpts from selected homegrown performances nightly throughout the fair.

"When it comes to new productions, we are now targeting the international market," said Fang, whose latest initiative is a dance drama telling the true story of China's first movie star. The show, called simply Zhou Xuan after the actor of the same name, will be directed by Chen Weiya, the executive director of the opening and closing ceremonies of last year's Beijing Olympics.

"My ambition is to make sure the show has a long shelf life, with at least 500 performances home and abroad," said Chen. Fang is currently working to have it performed at next year's Shanghai World Expo as well as planning a North American tour.

Oct 29-31, 7:15 pm

Shanghai Theater Academy

华山路630号，上戏剧场

Tel: 962-388, 5428-3027

Zhang Kun

(China Daily 10/10/2009 page14)