Until August 31
Movie adaptations of books can add special effects and jaw-dropping scenery, sure, but only musical versions take on the task of adding song and dance to classic texts. ABA Productions’ Around the World in 80 Days puts the razzle-dazzle in Jules Verne’s 1873 novel about the odyssey of Phileas Fogg and his manservant Passepartout. It’s an exciting and endearing tale, an amusing reminder of how much the world has changed in just over a century. Performances are at the HK Academy for the Performing Arts’ Lyric Theatre (1 Gloucester Road, Wanchai). Showtime on Wednesday to Saturday is 7:30pm, with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2:30pm, and shows on Sunday at 1pm and 5:30pm. Tickets are $355 to $888, available through HK Ticketing, 31 288 288.
Thursday August 14
If swooning to acoustic guitar music is your idea of a good time – or your friends happen to be in one of the bands at Soundbase, the Tom Lee Music Foundation band competition – mark your calendars for the 14th. The acoustic jamboree will feature Hong Kong’s own Dear Jane, unplugged naturally, as well as Big John, Lani Giro and Friend, LOLA, The Yips, and many more. The strumming starts at 7:30pm in the Ko Shan Theatre (77 Ko Shan Road, Hung Hom). Tickets at $70 are available through URBTIX, 2734 9009.
August 14-18
No less than 480 exhibitors have signed on to display their gastronomic wares at this year’s Food Expo in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wanchai. The expo is both an opportunity to find unusual edibles and to take part in educational events, including a seminar series with topics like ‘How to Build Trust in Organic Products – the Hong Kong Experience’, ‘Professional Development in Food and Nutrition’ and ‘Fair Trade Food in the Global Market: Trends and Opportunities’. In the trade hall of the expo, you will also find ‘Rice and Cereal’, ‘Tea and Coffee’, and ‘Agricultural and Food Technology’ zones. Tickets are $25 during the day and $10 at night, and can be purchased at select Daily Stops, 7-11 convenience stores and through HK Ticketing, 31 288 288.
August 15-31
During the last half of this month, the Hong Kong Film Archive (50 Lei King Rd, Sai Wan Ho) continues to screen 1960s films ranging from classic kung-fu flicks to less famous vignettes of romance and rebellion. Under the programme title, An Emerging Modernity: Looking Back on the Cinema of the 1960s, films include Winter Love, Girls are Flowers, The Youth, The Strange Girl, Yesterday and Tomorrow, The Student Prince, Song of Orchid Island, The Young Swordsman and Lung Kim-fei Part Four, The Single-Armed Holy Nun, and The Jade Raksha. The Song of Orchid Island, The Youth, and The Jade Raksha have English subtitles. For a complete listing of dates and times, call 2739 2139 or 2734 2900. For tickets, $30, call URBTIX, 2734 9009.
Thursday August 21
English-language pop music has a grand tradition of lovable British scamps with floppy haircuts taking over the scene every decade or so. The latest band to stake their claim are Brighton’s Kooks, whose albums Inside In/Inside Out and Konk have been met with glee among critics and concertgoers alike. And while their rock-lite isn’t exactly Who’s Next, they’re bound to get toes tapping and hands clapping. They are due to take the stage in HK at the HITEC Hall in Kowloon Bay. The concert starts at 8pm, and tickets are $580 or $380, available through HK Ticketing, 31 288 288.
August 21-24
When Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland screened in 1939, it gave viewers a sense of hope during the Great Depression. More than 70 years later, and faced with an economic recession, audiences may once again take heart from this classic story of an innocent girl’s journey into a weird world beyond Kansas. This production, at the Sha Tin Town Hall Auditorium (1 Yuen Wo Rd, Sha Tin), features the Hong Kong Chorus Society and stars Bianca Wu as Dorothy, the naive but brave heroine. Producers also promise a modern twist on the story – more punk rock, less fairytale. The show starts at 7:30pm from August 21 to 24, and matinees on August 23 and 24 are at 2:30pm. Tickets run from $420 to $240, available through URBTIX, 2734 9009.
Friday August 22
The Shanghai Chinese Orchestra was founded in 1952, making it the first truly modern Chinese classical music ensemble. A Friday night review, Resonances of Shanghai, in the HK City Hall by the orchestra led by conductor Wang Fujian, will include Prologue: A Rosy Dawn on the Bund, Moonlight on the Spring River, Narrative Singing in Shanghai, Songs of the Mountain Folks, Converging, An Old, Old Dream, Poetic Jiangnan, Song of Joy, a new version of Shanghai by Night, and A Dragon Soaring in the East. Showtime is 8pm, and tickets cost $300, $200, and $100 through URBTIX, 2734 9009.
August 22-24
What do Frankenstein, Pinocchio and Coppélia have in common? You’d be right if you said a crazy creator, and HK Ballet’s latest production will leave you laughing with the story of Dr Coppélius, a dollmaker murderously obsessed with bringing one of his creations to life, and Franz, a boy hopelessly infatuated with the doll. Coppélia, choreographed by Ronald Hynd, is based on the 1870 production with Léo Délibes’ original music. Performances will be at the HK Cultural Centre’s Grand Auditorium (10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon) nightly at 7:30pm, with 2:30pm matinees on August 23 and 24. Ticket prices range from $1,000 to $160 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.
August 29-31
A week after Resonances of Shanghai, the Yang Opera Troupe of Jiangsu will grace Hong Kong City Hall with a classical opera review. Friday, August 29, showcases A Centenarian Commander, while the following day features excerpts from The Closet as Matchmaker, Wei Zhen Killing the Dragon, Lady Zhaojun Going Beyond the Great Wall and Identifying the Dowager. The Sunday performance will include excerpts from The Blind Fortune-teller, The Wild Goose as Messenger, Fang Qing’s Snobbish Aunt and Thunder Strikes the Unfilial Son. With English surtitles, the shows, which start at 7:30pm, are expected to run two hours and 40 minutes. Tickets cost $240, $160, and $100 and are available through URBTIX, 2734 9009.
August 30-September 8
Believe it or not, the first football team China sent to the Olympics included 14 (out of the 22-man squad) Hongkongers from Tai Hang, a small fishing village off Causeway Bay. In late August to early September, HK Repertory Theatre will stage Field of Dreams, the musical version of the Hong Kong footballers’ journey to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It is writer and director Anthony Chan’s creative interpretation of the historical events, which include the Sino-Japanese war, the HK government’s displacement of Tai Hang’s residents, and the international tour by the footballers to raise funds for their Berlin trip. Field of Dreams will be performed in Cantonese with Chinese and English surtitles from August 30 to September 8 at the Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium (12 Hing Ning Rd, Kwai Chung, New Territories). Evening shows begin at 7:45pm on August 30-31 and September 2-8, and matinees at 2:45pm on August 31 and September 6. Tickets cost $300 to $120 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.