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April 19-May 6
In between the reruns of L’empereur du Chant and Man of la Tiger, Jim Chim probably thinks it is time for other comedians to make audiences laugh. So in Comic One Festival, his Theatre Ensemble puts local comedians and performers on an empty stage and gets them to create a performance to make you laugh. There are four rounds of performances during the festival, each with sessions from two to three performers. The line-up includes Yeung Sze-mun, winner of Best Actress in the Hong Kong Drama Awards, hip-hop duo Fama’s 6Wing and theatre and TV veteran Emotion Cheung. Ticket holders of any of the sessions can attend seminars on April 16 and May 6 with guest speakers Fredric Mao, Michel Hui, Cheung Tat-ming and, of course, Jim Chim. Performances are from April 19-21, 24-26, April 29-May 1 and May 4-6. All start at 7:30pm at HK Arts Centre Shouson Theatre. Tickets cost $80 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
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April 20-22
After the successful Best Memories in My Life and Superman Forever, Once in a Lifetime is the third collaboration between singer-songwriter Chet Lam and W Theatre. The performance revolves around a group of college students, all of whom have lost something – a lover, friendship, trust or money. The all-star cast includes at17’s Ellen Loo, Hong Kong Drama Award’s Best Actor Joey Leung, pop singer Bondy Chiu and four times Best Actress of Drama Award, Bonnie Lam. Chet Lam says the production is a gift to his mother, and will feature a number of classic songs from her idol Danny Chan. Tickets for the first run are sold out, but the production will rerun in the same venue in July. Shows from April 20-22 start at 7:45pm, and 2:45pm on the 21st and 22nd at HK Academy of Performing Arts Lyric Theatre. Tickets range from $180-$400 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288. |
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April 20-22
Korean entertainment is not only Rain and cheesy TV love dramas – as is demonstrated by Kickers B Boy, a show featuring Korean dance groups like Prepix, Funsion MC, Beatbox DG and Eluphant. We can expect hot dance, rap, yoga, beat box and other hip-hop moves, Korean style. Shows from April 20-22 start at 8pm, and 3pm on April 21 and 22 at Hong Kong International Trade & Exhibition Centre. Tickets are $100, $230 and $350 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288. |
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April 20 and 21
Al Gore did it with the New York Philharmonic, and Margaret Thatcher with the London Symphony Orchestra. No, it had nothing to do with drumming up orchestral support – both narrated Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, a tribute to the war effort in 1942 using excerpts from Abraham Lincoln’s documents. Now US Consul General James B. Cunningham joins the Hong Kong Philharmonic under acclaimed conductor Zhang Xian for the narration in a concert entitled American Visions. The programme also includes Bernstein’s Candide Overture, Kraft’s Concerto No 2 for Timpani: XIII The Grand Encounter with James Boznos, principal timpanist of the HKPO as soloist, and Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess: A Symphonic Picture. Shows on April 20 and 21 start at 8pm at the HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets range from $100 to $250 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.
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April 25 and 26
They visit us almost every year but are still worth watching. This month Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan are bringing us a pair of programmes, White and Tale of the White Serpent and Unforgettable Moments of Cloud Gate. White is a three-part piece inspired by the aesthetics of colour and uses a minimalist approach to explore purity, lightness and darkness. It has been hailed as a milestone in the choreography of Lin Hwai-min. Tale of the White Serpent and Unforgettable Moments is a selection of dance pieces from 1975-1998, including Crossing the Black Water from Legacy in the ’70s, Spring from The Dream of the Red Chamber in the ’80s, Homage to the God of the Clouds from Nine Songs in 1993 and, of course, Tale of the White Serpent. Tale of the White Serpent is on April 25 and 26 and White on April 28 and 29. All shows start at 8:15pm at HK Cultural Centre Grand Theatre. Tickets are $120-$380 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
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April 26 and 27
The London Symphony Orchestra is widely regarded as one of the top five orchestras in the world, equally adept with both the most rigorous classical repertoire and music for movies such as Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which the LSO has recorded. Led by conductor Daniel Harding, the orchestra brings two programmes to Hong Kong – the first will feature pianist Lang Lang in Ravel’s Piano Concerto matched with Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Op 14. Guest musician of the second night will be award-winning violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, who will play Berg’s Violin Concerto on a 1711 Stradivarius! That programme also includes Mahler’s Symphony No 5. Shows are on April 26 and 27 at HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall starting at 8pm. Tickets range from $200-$780 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
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April 27-29
A stage performance about an architect? The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen? No, it’s Zuni’s latest, The Life and Times of Louis I. Khan 2007. After a series of social parodies like East Wing West Wing, The Agent and Scary Scary Homo, director Mathias Woo returns to reinvent one of his earlier experimental works. It is a multi-media music theatre performance based on the life of the pioneer of architectural minimalism in the 20th century. Local media guru Kam Kwok Leung will appear on stage for the first time, playing the architect, and Jason Choi, member of music label PMPS, is the show’s music director. Performances on April 27 and 28 will start at 8pm, and 5pm on 29th at the Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium. Tickets are $160, $250 and $400 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
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April 27
Legendary pianist Fou Ts’ong, who was hailed as “the greatest Chinese musician alive today” by Time magazine and the first Chinese musician to enter the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, will perform in a concert titled The Legend Returns with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta tonight. The programme of this one-night only concert includes Kodály’s Dances of Galanta, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 12 in A, K414, and Symphony No 9 in E minor, Op 95, From the New World by Dvorák. The show starts at 8pm at the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall. Tickets are $380, $220 and $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
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May 4-6
After a two-month stint in Japan, Burn the Floor is finally landing in Hong Kong. The dance show was originally performed at Sir Elton John’s birthday party but producer Harley Medcalf was so impressed he decided to put it on stage – and the dance group, led by Australian choreographer Jason Gilkison, has not stopped performing around the world since. The show blending samba, salsa, waltz, tango, swing and jive will be with us from May 4 to 6 at HK Convention and Exhibition Centre. Shows start at 8pm and tickets are $290, $590 and $990 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288. |
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