![]() ![]() ![]() The machinations of the mid-eighteenth-century court and its rivaling wealthy families were not immediately easy to follow, but always managed to be exciting and suspenseful anyway, while the climactic moment was duly shocking. The night before opening, the various elements of the production had already come together to form a lush, challenging web. ![]() (L to R) David Henry Hwang, Bright Sheng, Tim Yip, and Stan Lai during intermission. Butterfly and Tim Yip, Oscar winner, art direction for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Besides, the collaborative cohorts of his team constituted something of a “super group”: composer Bright Sheng, MacArthur award recipient his co-librettist, playwright David Henry Hwang, Tony award winner for M. In fact, director Stan Lai, whose work I have followed for many years, and whose sure hand was in evidence throughout, was even billed simply as the head of a “creative team” in some of the early promotional materials. ![]() To add to these, as a new opera, this project was, by nature, especially collaborative, just right for the recognizable thread of experimental performance characteristic of Northern California. San Francisco Opera’s Dream of the Red Chamber. We are fully ready for a contemporary, American, multicultural canon, and this culturally Chinese show is a natural addition. The population of San Francisco itself is close to 40% Asian, so it is long past the time when we should be surprised to attend a show based on arguably the most famous work of Chinese literature. First of all, the Bay Area tends to be culturally adventurous, so it has a good chance of supporting an original operatic work. If I had thought up a project perfect for San Francisco Opera, it might have been Dream of the Red Chamber, their new co-production with the Hong Kong Arts Festival. San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, California. ![]()
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