It’s the coldest evening so far this winter in Beijing, and The Sound of Music director Anton Luitingh is giving last minute pointers to his crew. The Andrew Lloyd Webber production has played at prestigious stages like the London Palladium, and is making its debut in the capital city.
He told the young actors, “try to make every performance as fresh and full of energy as your last one.” The seven children, who look more mature than their peers, line up according to their height and nod their heads.
Not far from the Beijing Exhibition Center Theater where the musical was staged, new Chinese audiences were dining at the Moscow Restaurant. It was one of the first high-end places in Beijing, formerly exclusive to people “with noted social status.”
Representing a growing audience able to pack recent visiting international stage hits like Fuerza Bruta and the Tim Robbins directed A Midsummers Night Dream, they were getting ready for the show, armed with tickets priced from RMB280-580.
Fifty-five years after the musical was produced, The Sound of Music still enjoys great popularity around the world, including China. Sitting in the audience, Luitingh made notes. When Maria teaches the children ‘Do Re Mi,’ he’s impressed by how well the audiences remember the English lyrics, especially the children.
He noted the audiences wiping away tears when the captain hugged his children. When Nazi soldiers appeared on stage, the director jotted in his notebook, “people are very into the story that they look angry and uncomfortable at the scene. The wonderful part of the musical is you feel the audiences’ feelings change with the story going on.”
When the two kids seated next to Luitingh started to sing along to say ‘Do Re Mi,’ he shushed them unable to suppress a smile inside.
He stopped interrupting the audience, content to spend the rest of the night quietly enjoying the audience’s applause, singing and silent tears.
So what makes the musical still appealing to audiences today? After the show, audience member Song Song wrote on his microblog, “I don’t know since when, a good stage performance has met the following requirements of raucous music, a twist-turning plot, joyous acting, and tackling an obscure topic in an interesting way. Artists despise valuable virtues, which in their eyes equal to clichés. But from today’s The Sound of Music, our spirits are again cleaned. It reminds us of the true image of the world.”
Director Luitingh agrees. He calls the story one of the most beautiful musicals in history with its story of a family crossing cultural boundaries and coming together through music and love in the midst of a grander political story about the rise of nationalism and the Nazis.
“Even today, many places around the world are still going through similar hardships,” he says. “This makes the story very relevant to our real life.”
Describing The Sound of Music as “a part of musical DNA,” Luitingh credits the musical for making him want to become a performer. He praises its songwriters Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein for totally changing the face of musicals.
“I think the amazing and impressive thing about them is they created the formula of musicals. Looking at a show like this, you understand what makes people enjoy musicals – it’s the combination of deep emotional themes that touch people with a happy ending. Although there is tragedy, there is always light out there,” he says, adding, “Anybody who wants to write a musical, Hammerstein’s formula is a very good way to start.”
Compared with the Academy Award winning film adaptation and past versions, this production of The Sound of Music is updated for contemporary audiences. Some changes have been made to make it flow faster, the language has been modernized, costumes have been simplified and a few details have been changed. For example, ‘The Lonely Goatherd’ is sung in bed by Maria and the children to “activate a happier atmosphere.”
Following its resoundingly successful Beijing debut and past run in Qingdao, The Sound of Music continues their Mainland tour stopping off at the Shanghai Grand Theatre from Jan 8-18.
“It’s so crazy that such a Western product has such a wide influence on the other side of the globe after half a century,” Luitingh says with a big smile.
// January 8-18, 7.15pm (with 2pm weekend matinees), RMB280-1,280. Shanghai Grand Theatre – Lyric Theatre, tickets.
*****WIN!!!!******
We have a pair of tickets to The Sound of Music to give away. Simply answer the following: The film version won five Academy Awards but who did Julie Andrews lose Best Actress to that year? E-mail answers to win@urbanatomy.com with the subject ‘The Sound of Music’ by January 5 for your chance to win.
Photos by Pat Bromilow Downing
0 User Comments