Don Giovanni swaggers into town

Conductor Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬) has staged a double coup in securing the services of both Performance Workshop's Stan Lai (賴聲川), probably Asia's top theater director, and celebrated US stage designer Sandra Woodall for this production -- the latest in the National Symphony Orchestra's ground-breaking series of operas in Taipei, National Concert Hall, April 23 and April 25.

Lai promises "a sort of elegant Asian Sex in the City and will approach Mozart's classic through its main women characters who he says represent three very different approaches to love, romance and sexuality.

Anna will be sung by Chen Yen-ling (陳妍陵) who was so persuasive in the role ofTosca two years ago, and Giovanni by Bei Yu-hsi (白玉璽), Sharpless in the TSO's Madama Butterfly. Tsai Wen-hao (蔡文浩) (Brander in the NSO The Damnation of Faust) will sing Leporello, and in a

surprising move the roles of the Commendatore and Masetto will be doubled and sung by Lee Ta-jen (李達人) (an exceptionally strong Angelotti in Lin Hwai-min's (林懷民) Tosca).

There are high expectations, too, for Sandra Woodall's costumes and decor -- timeless and placeless, according to Lai, but at the same time reflecting contemporary Taipei.

San Francisco-based Woodall worked with Performance Workshop on both Welcome to Shangrila and Lai's eight-hour epic Dream Like a Dream.

This looks all set to be a major event and shouldn't be missed. Seventy percent of the tickets are already sold, but seats were still available at press time at NT$600, NT$800, NT$1000, NT$1,200, NT$1,500 and NT$2,000 for both performances.