| editor's diary |
|
 |
March 1-4
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.” George Orwell’s dystopic novel 1984 was revolutionary in its time and hasn’t lost its relevance yet. Facecrime, double think and Big Brother – Hollywood actor/director Tim Robbins and the US-based The Actors’ Gang bring their stage adaptation to the APA’s Lyric Theatre nightly at 8pm and on March 3 and 4 at 3pm. Tickets cost $180-$450. Want to know more? Read our feature on The Actors’ Gang in the last issue, online at www.bcmagazine.net |
|
| |
Friday March 2
An ensemble of eight of the finest jazz musicians around today, the SFJAZZ Collective first came together at the San Francisco Jazz Festival in 2004. Surprisingly they never repeat themselves, every year creating a fresh programme of new music composed by all eight and updated arrangements of classics by legendary jazz artists. Watch them play at the Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall at 8pm. Tickets cost $150-$450. |
|
|
March 2-3
Sylvie Guillem startled Rudolf Nureyev when she left the Paris Opera Ballet to become a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in 1989. She has been with the London company ever since as one of its most lithe and adventurous dancers. In Sacred Monsters she teams with British dancer/choreographer Akram Khan in a classical/contemporary fusion titled after the nickname for revered artistic icons. Join the Sacred Monsters at the Cultural Centre’s Grand Theatre at 7:30pm. Tickets are $100-$500. |
|
|
Saturday March 3
What else can we say? All right, one of the hottest bands globally – they were named Best Live Act at the Brit Awards for the second time – are dropping into Hong Kong to stoke our awareness of global warming. The moment has finally come for all you Brit-rock fans – Muse is in Hong Kong tonight! So haul out your ‘Good Planets are Hard to Find’ T-shirt, hone up on Time is Running Out, Butterflies and Hurricanes and Supermassive Black Hole and enjoy the ride as the Muse lets loose. Last call: tickets at $380 and $680 are available from hkticketing, 31 288 288. |
|
| |
March 3-4
His music is based in mbalax but Youssou N’Dour has mixed in samba, hip hop, soul and jazz to become the most well-known Senegalese in the world. Always searching for new musical expression, he has teamed up with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Tracey Chapman and a host of other musical giants but arrives in Hong Kong with his own band for a night of good music, good times and definitely lots of dancing in the aisles. Do it at the Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall at 8pm. Tickets are $160-$450. Read our interview with Youssou N’Dour online at www.bcmagazine.net. |
|
| |
March 5-6
When a bandit leader steals one of the Emperor’s horses to lay the blame at an enemy’s door, he doesn’t realise his enemy is already dead. But the deceased’s son is an Imperial official who sets out to retrieve the horse and arrest the thief… The classic Beijing opera, Stealing the Imperial Horse, adapted to the Cantonese style is a fascinating fusion in City Hall’s Concert Hall at 7:30pm. Tickets are $90-$300. |
|
| |
March 5-7, 9-11
A theatre piece especially commissioned by the Arts Festival, On and On’s play Tian Gong Kai Wu: A Practical Guide to Imaginary Inventions is an adaptation of Dung Kai-cheung’s award-winning novel Tian Gong Kai Wu, Xu Xu Ru Zhen. It explores Hong Kong’s past through three generations of one family and the transformations everyday objects – TVs, radios and telephones etc – undergo over time. Watch the family saga at the APA’s Drama Theatre at 7:45pm. Tickets cost $120-$250. |
|
 |
March 6, 10, 14, 15, 16
Murder at Café Noir by local ensemble Perilous Mouths is a humorous tribute to classic films of the ’40s such as Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. Join a group of desperate folk including lead man Rick searching for his femme fatale; a runaway daughter of a millionaire evangelist; a black-market dealer; a voodoo priestess and a disgraced British barrister for a night of laughter, horror and musical numbers. Shows at Post 97 (2186 1816) on March 6 and 14 start at 8pm. Tickets cost $350. Shows at Le Rideau (2850 8833) on March 15 and 16 start at 8pm. Tickets costs $370. Show at Madison’s (2523 4772) on March 10 starts at 7:30pm. Tickets cost $598. |
|
| |
March 7-10
In Shakespeare’s time, women were not allowed on stage, so young boys played all the female parts. Aside from the obvious homo-erotic allusions, in plays like The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and Twelfth Night, Shakespeare bent the genders even further – so you got males playing females pretending to be males. Which for Elizabethan audiences was, no doubt, all part of the fun. Propeller follows the Bard with all-male casts in The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night. Catch the classics as they were, at the APA’s Lyric Theatre – Twelfth Night at 7:30pm on March 7, 8 and 10 and The Taming of the Shrew at 7:30pm on March 9 and 2:30pm on March 10. Tickets are $180-$450. |
|
| |
Thursday March 8
The menu of awards won by the Artemis Quartet reads like a global acknowledgment of excellence. They have won the Diapason D’Or twice and both their many recordings and live performances of the great composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Verdi are universally acclaimed. In Hong Kong they will play Brahms’ three string quartets and some Webern pieces at City Hall’s Concert Hall at 7:30pm. Tickets are $100-$240. |
|
| |
March 8-10
It is not often a mass transforms into a ballet but that’s what Uwe Scholz has done with Mozart’s Mass in C minor. Scholz is the director of the Leipzig Ballet in HK with Leipzig’s famous Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Leipzig Opera Chorus to stage this extraordinary work. Spiritually uplifting ballet? Find out at the Cultural Centre’s Grand Theatre at 7:30pm. Tickets are $200-$1,200. |
|
| |
March 8-10
It is not often a mass transforms into a ballet but that’s what Uwe Scholz has done with Mozart’s Mass in C minor. Scholz is the director of the Leipzig Ballet in HK with Leipzig’s famous Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Leipzig Opera Chorus to stage this extraordinary work. Spiritually uplifting ballet? Find out at the Cultural Centre’s Grand Theatre at 7:30pm. Tickets are $200-$1,200. |
|
| |
March 8-13
Rarely does a real couple enact a story of love on stage, but in Wan Chai Theatre’s The Island theatre veterans and real-life couple Chan Suk Yi and Kung Siu Ling find themselves on an isolated island, where a man is attracted to a girl with an unforgettable past who is turning blind. It may be a love story, but it sounds like tragedy is in the air. Shows are on March 8-13 at 8pm and 10-11 at 3pm at Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre. Tickets are at $110 and $140 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
|
| |
March 8-10
It is not often a mass transforms into a ballet but that’s what Uwe Scholz has done with Mozart’s Mass in C minor. Scholz is the director of the Leipzig Ballet in HK with Leipzig’s famous Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Leipzig Opera Chorus to stage this extraordinary work. Spiritually uplifting ballet? Find out at the Cultural Centre’s Grand Theatre at 7:30pm. Tickets are $200-$1,200. |
|
| |
March 9-10
The Cantonese version of YuYu MiMi about the memories of first love is told in part with hand-carved wooden puppets and Chinese-style shadow puppets. It will play at the Fringe Studio at 8pm on March 9 and 10 and on March 10 at 3pm. Tickets are $120. Please note the English version will be performed on March 16-17. |
|
| |
March 9-16
So Oscar Wilde said a true friend stabs you in the front. What about friends who have turned their back when you needed them? Directed by Tang Wai Kit, Ching Ying Theatre’s Our Bad Magnet is a dark comedy by Scottish playwright Douglas Maxwell. The play is a magical journey of four boys aging from 9 to 29, during which two fairy tales, a numbers of ’80s rock songs and a human-size puppet help to recapture the secret of their childhood. Shows will be staged from March 9-11, 13-16 at 8pm and 10-11 at 3pm at Sai Wan Ho Civic Centre. Tickets from $100-$180 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
|
 |
To March 11
The rerun of Spring Time Theatre’s musical Dying Young is a tribute to the forever-missed Canto-pop stars Danny Chan and Leslie Cheung, who suffered from drugs abuse and depression respectively in their last years. The musical features more than 40 songs from the two artists and portrays some of the common problems youngsters face nowadays, including drugs, gambling addiction and emotion instability. Be prepared for some golden tunes and positive messages. Shows at Hong Kong Arts Centre are on March 1-11 at 7:30pm, extra shows on 4 and 11 at 3pm and 3 and 10 at 9:45pm. Tickets $160-$250 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
|
 |
Sunday March 11
Amadinda, a Hungarian group of percussionists will explore a wide range of music from different cultures on percussion instruments from around the globe. Don’t be surprised when they bust out the tin cans, bicycle wheels and frying pans – it is all
part of the creative and energetic performance. Find out what all the thunder is about at City Hall’s Concert Hall at 3pm and 7:30pm. Tickets cost $100-$260. |
|
 |
March 13
La Tarantella is a mixture of baroque and folk music from
a highly praised ensemble known for its interest in French, Italian and Neapolitan music, dating from the beginning of the 17th century. Give yourself a lesson in music history, take L’Arpeggiata in at City Hall’s Concert Hall at 8pm. Tickets are $100-$360 |
