Quick pick Broadway's best hits Shanghai Ultimate Broadway is created by Shanghai Culture Square and Britain's GWB Productions Co Ltd to present Broadway musicals' most famous songs, including those from such contemporary shows as Spider-Man: Turnoff the Dark and Ghost. The show will feature singers Kerry Ellis, Ria Jones, Josh Young and Mark Evans, all of whom are rising stars in the musical scene of West End and Broadway. 7:30 pm, Oct 26-28. Shanghai Culture Square, 597 Fuxing Road Middle, Shanghai. 021-5461-9960.- Zhang Kun

Beijing

Musical onstage

Notre-Dame de Paris, one of the most popular musicals in the world, will launch its Chinese version in 2013 and will tour around the country in the next few years. But prior to that, the English version of the musical will be staged in Beijing and other cities around China.

The musical, adapted from the classic by Victor Hugo, has already been performed more than 3,000 times since its debut in 1998. Its French version premiered in Beijing in 2002 and the English version was first staged in 2011.

7:30 pm, Nov 21-25. Poly Theater, Poly Plaza, 14 Dongzhimen Nandajie, Dongcheng district. 400-810-8080.

Capital goes abracadabra

A group of renowned international magicians will display their sleights of hand in Beijing. The first three will be Greek Jorgos Katsaros, who's known for combining film and magic to dazzle, and US magicians Rick Wilcox and his wife, who astound audiences with a variety of tricks, illusions and humor.

7:30 pm, Nov 2 and 3. Poly Theater, Poly Plaza, Dongcheng district. 010-6506-5345.

Bolton brings it to Beijing

 

Michael Bolton returns to Beijing. The American pop megastar will stage a gig at Poly Theater on Nov 1 and also participate in the closing gala of the Beijing Music Festival at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on Nov 2.

The recital is entitled Back to Future and features such classical hits as When a Man Loves a Woman, Soul Provider and Said I Loved You But I Lied. At the closing gala, he'll challenge operatic aria Nessun Dorma from Turandot.

7:30 pm, Nov 1. Poly Theater, Poly Plaza, Dongcheng district. 010-6506-5345.

8 pm, Nov 2. Forbidden City Concert Hall, inside Zhongshan Park, west of Tian'anmen Square. 010-6559-8285.

Four fingers flying

With their original compositions blending classical and pop music and their refined techniques, Americans Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe bring a crossover show to Beijing.

Together they bring a fresh and visionary approach to the stage, dazzling audiences around the world. The four-hand, two-piano team is touring Asia for the first time, performing in China, South Korea and Singapore this year.

7:30 pm, Oct 26. Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie, Xicheng district. 010-6605-7006.

Shaping the decades

More than 40 works will be showcased to review the decade-long art career of sculptor Yu Fan, who tries to provoke imagination with pieces that do more than simply replicate reality.

A graduate from the sculpture department of Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1992, the 45-year-old Yu will bring his sculptures back to the school, displaying his thoughts and perspectives in artistic language. The artist doesn't agree with the idea of combining Chinese culture with Western sculptures but seeks original art expression.

10 am-5 pm, Oct 29-Nov 18. Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts, No 8 Huajiadinanjie, Chaoyang district. 010-6477-1114

A peek before hammer falls

A preview of the China Guardian Auction's autumn sales in Beijing is running until Oct 27 at Beijing International Hotel's convention center.

Highlights include Charm of the Dragon, a Steinway piano specially designed by scholar and furniture expert Tian Jiaqing; three masterpieces by the Ming Dynasty's (1368-1644) leading artist Dong Qichang; seals and ink paintings by modern masters Qi Baishi and Fu Baoshi; and a rare set of imperial jade-hilted ceremonial sabers and scabbards from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

All exhibits will go under the hammer from Oct 28-31 at the same venue.

9:30 am-6 pm, until Oct 27. Beijing International Hotel, 9 Jianguomen Neidajie, Dongcheng district. 010-6512-6688.

 

Ink about Switzerland

Inspired by their April trip to Switzerland, 12 cutting-edge Chinese ink artists have created works that depict their impressions of the European country's people, lifestyles and landscapes.

These works are on show at Beijing's Rongbaozhai Art Museum. The art event marks the beginning of a long-term cooperation between the Chinese Artists Association and the Swiss Foundation Alps-Chinese Ink Painting to promote Chinese ink art.

"We hope these ink paintings offer European viewers, who are accustomed to oil art, a fresh aesthetic experience," Chinese Artists Association chairman Liu Dawei says.

10 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays, until Oct 27. Rongbaozhai Art Museum, 19 Liulichang Xijie, Xicheng district. 010-6303-6802.

A master's legacy

An exhibition of donated works by master ink painter Fang Zhaoling (1914-2006) is running until Oct 28 at the National Museum of China.

On view are about 60 selected paintings of flowers, landscapes and figures.

Although Fang studied Chinese ink art under such masters as Qian Songyan, Zhao Shaoang and Zhang Daqian, she managed to forge a distinctive style during her 60-year-old artistic career.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays and public holidays, until Oct 28. National Museum of China, 16 East Chang'an Dajie, Dongcheng district. 010-6511-6400.

Shanghai

Scattered mixes it up

British dance company Motionhouse will present its creation Scattered, which combines highly physical dance theater, aerial imagery, film and graphics.

Performed on a huge convex floor, Scattered uses projection technology to create a world in which the dancers move in, on and through the image. It delves into the majesty and savagery of water, a fundamental force in our lives.

Seven dancers plunge into an ocean, tumble down a waterfall, gasp with thirst under a scorching sun and slide in an avalanche to a frozen landscape of arctic beauty.

7:15 pm, Oct 27, 28. Opera Hall of Shanghai Oriental Art Center, 425 Dingxiang Road, Pudong New Area. 021-6854-1234.

From Russia, with treasure

Treasures from the Kremlin Palace are on show at the Shanghai Museum, including four of the acclaimed Faberge eggs. The House of Faberge was famous for its elaborate designs of fine jewelry, especially the Faberge eggs created for the Russian czars.

This is the first time Faberge eggs are exhibited in China. The exhibition World of Faberge consists of more than 200 items, from the Moscow Kremlin Museum and Fersman Mineralogical Museum of Russia.

9 am-5 pm, until Jan 3, Shanghai Museum, 201 Renmin Avenue. 021-6372-3500.

 

Guangzhou

A life-and-death story

Meng Jinghui's avant-garde stage adaptation of Yu Hua's representative novel To Live is touring Guangdong province and will run in Guangzhou Nov 2-4.

The three-hour play closely follows the original story about the tragic life of Fugui, who helplessly faced the death of his parents, wife and children in the turmoil China faced from the late 1920s to the 1960s. Fugui is regarded as a symbol for the suffering of the nation.

Meng's experimental stage setting enhances the play's appeal. There are several 1-meter-deep ditches on the stage that serve as trenches, farmland ridges, classroom tables and even tombs.

Zhang Yimou made a namesake movie based on the novel in 1994 and won the Grand Jury Prize at that year's Cannes Film Festival.

8 pm, Nov 2-4. Friendship Theater, 696 Renmin Beilu, Yuexiu district. 020-8666-8991.

Sad songs bring joy

German singer-songwriter Maximilian Hecker is inviting fans in Guangzhou for a night of "melancholy pop hymns" on Nov 1.

Hecker is known for classical piano accompaniment and ethereal falsetto. He sings about pure love's comfort to lonely and broken hearts. Hecker prefers to sit close to audiences and softly hum his hits. He'll perform Kate Moss, Lady Sleep and Snow White in Guangzhou.

8 pm, Nov 1. Symphony Hall, Xinghai Concert Hall, No 33 Qingbo Lu, Ersha Island, Yuexiu district. 020-8735-2222.

Masters of puppets

Blind Summit Theater will present an adult puppet show Nov 1 and 2.

The Table is about a puppet named Moses who's trapped on a tabletop. Moses uses movements to express his thoughts, while he explains to the audience how he ended up stuck on the table and the people he encountered there. It's a poignant story full of black humor.

The UK troupe is best known for creating the puppetry in Anthony Minghella's award-winning opera Madama Butterfly. It also sent 50 puppeteers to bring giant puppets of Voldemort, Captain Hook and the Queen of Hearts to life at the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.

8 pm, Nov 1-2. Experimental Theater, Guangzhou Opera House. 020-3839-2888.

China Daily