Though it was a smashing success when The Angel Never Sleeps (
Tickets for seven shows in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou between Feb. 24 and March 3 were completely sold out. The company's marketing specialist Peggy Yang (
Inspired by Fellini's The Night of Cabilia and loaded with Latin music and dance acts, the show attracted much fanfare as it rounded the island on its first tour in 1998, selling an unprecedented 50,000 tickets.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GODOT THEATER COMPANY
The credits do not come easy. The crew spends three months in rehearsal, 11 hours a day, before it starts its annual tour.
The production -- the most expensive ever produced by Godot -- is the realization of a dream team lineup from the regional music and theater industry. The musical recruited Hong Kong's foremost music producer Chris Babida
Tsai, who is also remembered as the ex-wife of award-winning film director Edward Yang (
Angel's on-stage confidante Chen You-fang
"Music is infectious, " Chen said, reflecting on the impact of The Angel Never Sleeps in China. "Particularly something so jovial and lively as the Latin music in this show, the audience gets in the groove right from the beginning, singing and dancing along. It's tremendous fun to see how you can be part of that impact to the audience," says Chen.
The story follows Angel, who, as a prostitute hopes against hope to find the man of her dreams. In one pathetic scene she and her boyfriend are talking beside a river under a clear sky and bright moon. The mood is romantic until the boyfriend suddenly robs her and pushes her into the river. Bruised but not defeated, Angel continues to hope she'll find Mr Right.
She then meets Hanson, an unsuccessful show host whose girlfriend has left him for a movie star. Hanson is moved by Angel's idealistic nature and naivety, and falls instantly in love with her. Angel's girlfriends Lulu and Mona are quick to remind her of her previous experiences with men. Nonetheless, their relationship grows until Hanson proposes and Angel agrees to marry him. The ending is deceiving though, as it remains an open question as to whether Angel has finally found happiness.
Since its establishment in 1988, Godot Theater Company has produced 30 theater and musical shows. Some of the popular ones are adapted from Western dramas, such as l989's Little Town of Tamsui (淡水小鎮) from Thornton Wilder's Our Town and 1994's New Taming of the Shrew(馴悍記) from William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
In 1995, the troupe put on its first musical Cyrano de Bergerac (
Program Notes
What The Angel Never Sleeps
Who Godot Theater Company
Where Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
When Today 7:30pm, tickets: NT$1,100 - NT$1,500; tomorrow 2:30pm and 7:30pm, NT$1,300 - NT$1,500; Sunday 2:30pm, Sunday 7:30pm and Monday 7:30pm, tickets NT$1,100 - NT$1,500; Tuesday 7:30pm and Wednesday, 7:30pm, tickets NT$1,100 - NT$1,500; Tuesday 7:30pm and Wednesday, 7:30pm, tickets NT$900 - NT$1,500.
For ticket information call 2593-5070 ext.169
On the Web: http://www.ticket.com.tw/
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