Please sir, can I have some more? As much as you like, when the Hong Kong Chorus Society obliges us with their latest serving of the musical Oliver! from August 17 to 20 at the Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium. Shows are at 7:30pm, with 2:30pm matinees on the 19th and 20th. Tickets from $200 to $340, available by calling 2734 9009.
Zuni Icosahedron turns a book about Hong Kong’s urban culture and architectural style into music theatre in their latest stage surprise, Hong Kong Style. Mathias Woo, author of the book and director of the show, laments the supplanting of the city’s traditional grand theatres, street markets and old neighbourhoods by looming skyscrapers and mega malls. Do you mourn the passing era or mellow in the modern metropolis? The show plays at 8pm on Friday and Saturday, with a 3pm matinee on Saturday and a twilighter at 5pm on Sunday. See it at the HK City Hall Theatre. Tickets $180 and $100 from Urbtix, 2734 9009.
More great films will be coming our way as the Hong Kong International Film Festival’s Summer Pops moves into its final weeks. Japanese director Sabu pays a visit to coincide with screenings of his films Unlucky Monkey (August 20, 7:30pm at UA Cityplaza; August 26, 5:30pm at UA Langham Place), Monday (August 26, 10pm at UA Langham Place), and Postman Blues (August 25 and 28, 10pm at UA Langham Place). Tetsuya Nakashima, director of Memories of Matsuko (August 25 and 26, 7:30pm at UA Langham Place), will also be dropping by. Other interesting films to look out for include: the bizarre Funky Forest – First Contact (August 19, 9:15pm at UA Cityplaza; August 23, 7:30pm at UA Langham Place; August 24, 9:40pm at Langham Place), which mashes together comic sketches, hip-hop and parodies of Japanese TV shows; Japanese director Funahashi Atsushi’s Big River (August 20, 2pm at Agnes B Cinema!, August 21, 7:30pm at UA Cityplaza), a metaphor for modern America that brings together a Pakistani Muslim, trailer trash, and a Japanese hitchhiker; and Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation (August 27, 7:30pm and 9:40pm at UA Langham Place), which grills the fast food industry for its detrimental social, environmental and health effects. For more information on Summer Pops, see our listings pages.
When a young village girl discovers she has fallen in love with a nobleman disguised as a peasant and betrothed to a rich socialite, she turns mad and dies of a broken heart. What follows is a kinky love escapade from beyond the grave
that ends in heart-rending sorrow. The Hong Kong Ballet Group invites you to the greatest ballet of the Romantic Movement when they dance Giselle at the HK City Hall Concert Hall on August 18 and 19, starting 8pm. Tickets will set you back $200, $150, or $100 and are available by ringing 2734 9009.
FM Theatre Power lift their drama from the street to the stage for the musical God Singer, which marries concert and theatre, with Canto pop singer Kay Tse in a starring role. It’s all in Cantonese, but even if you don’t have the language down, it’s bound to be an exciting spectacle. Experience it at the HK Cultural Centre Studio Theatre. The show starts at 8pm with 3pm shows on August 19 and 20, $550, $260, or $200. Tickets from Urbtix, 2734 9009.
Ten bands on a beach rocking it out for seven hours – all for free. The all-new Silvermine Bay Music Festival is going to be hot, so slap on a green t-shirt to show support for the Islands Youth Association and get along to Mui Wo on Lantau Island to catch the action. The show runs from 3pm until 10pm with local bands thrashing out rock, hardcore, punk and a little pop. See our live music pages for more.
And you thought tap-dancing exited stage left with Fred Astaire. Supercool Japanese dance troupe Stripes know differently and will be showing off their fancy footwork in Funk-a-Step, a fusion of tap, hip-hop, African drumming and a Tokyo aesthetic. Fast-paced, frenetic and fevered, it’ll really get your toes tapping. See it on the 24th, 25th and 26th at the HK Cultural Centre Studio Theatre, from 8pm ($180 and $120), and on the 27th at the Tuen Mun Town Hall Cultural Activities Hall, also at 8pm ($140 and $90). Two workshops for tappers include an advanced class from 1:30pm – 3pm on the 25th, and an intermediate class at the same time on the 26th, both at the HKCC Studio Theatre. Tickets for the workshops are $60 each. All tickets are available from Urbtix, 2734 9009.
With a score from Sergei Prokofiev and award-winning choreography from David Allan, the Hong Kong Ballet’s performance of Cinderella is bound to be a hit. The classic rags-to-royalty tale will star the West Australian Ballet’s Brett Simon in the role of the Prince, with set and costume design by Peter Cazalet. Experience the magic of this poignant masterpiece at the Sha Tin Town Hall Auditorium from August 25 at 8pm, August 26 – 27, 3pm and 8pm. Tickets are $230, $180, $130, $80, from Urbtix on 2734 9009.
What would happen if everyone in the city suddenly went blind – except one person? Jose Saramago’s book, Blindness, on that theme won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. That book is the basis for the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre’s stage production of the same name, produced in conjunction with the National Theatre Company of China. Blindness zips between absurdity and realism, fiction and reality, compassion and sarcasm as its fictional town is infected with sightlessness. Sound like a city you know? Blindness runs at the Kwai Tsing Theatre between August 26 and September 2 at 7:45pm (excluding Monday the 28th), and at 2:45pm on September 3. The show is performed in Cantonese with Chinese and English surtitles. Tickets are $220, $160, $100 from Urbtix, 2734 9009.
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August 18 – 20