The West Wing

The West Wing, originally named Xixiang Ji (Tale of the Western Chamber) in Chinese, is a famous Chinese play written during the Tang Dynasty. Due to its controversial nature, it was banned in three dynasties - Yuan, Ming and Qing.

The play is now adapted by NUS Associate Professor, Dr. Shen, who got students in a Theatre Studies Module to stage it. It is the first time it will be staged in Asia.

This Chinese opera is re-written into English, with use of Shakespearean heroic couplets to mimic the original style. As it was in the past when the play was performed, the music used was adapted to suit the music of those times. This time round, actors will be singing to pop tunes of the likes of Josh Groban, Colin Raye, Aerosmith, etc.

There are two styles of presentation, one is the normal Opera, the other is the Opera-dance. Opera-dance is something new. The normal version has on-stage singing and less dancing while the dance version has the lyrics of the song expressed through dance movements with offstage singing. My friend who's in the production told me the dance version is more interesting in terms of its bedroom scene and encouraged me to watch that instead.

Friend,

... it might be too much for your innocent mind.

The West Wing is a romance. It will be tough on the students because they have 7 shows in total. If you are interested in catching this Opera with a modern twist, whether to give them some support or to check out why this play is so controversial, do check out the details below:

Normal Opera (Onstage singing, less dancing)
Date/Day: 4th (Fri) to 8th (Tue) April 2008
Time: 8.00 pm
Tickets: $18, $20, $23 (excluding SISTIC charges)
Venue: University Cultural Centre

Opera-dance (Offstage singing, dance)
Date/Day: 5th April, Saturday
Time: 2.00 pm
Tickets: $15 (excluding SISTIC charges)
Venue: University Cultural Centre

Tickets available at SISTIC.
Do note that the normal versions are all at night while the dance version has only one matinee show. Friend said the director was too afraid of putting up the content of the matinee show for the night version because of its interesting bedroom scene.

I'm going with a friend to the matinee's show.