Theater
Romeo & Juliette — French Pop Opera (羅密歐與茱麗葉—法國流行歌劇) is France’s most successful musical to date and one of the greatest love stories of all time. The rivalry between two families is uplifted by a musical score that has taken the French music charts by storm.
* Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國父紀念館), 505 Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei (台北市仁愛路四段505號)
* Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm
* Tickets are NT$1,000 to NT$6,000 and are available through NTCH ticketing
The Half-Mile Great Wall (半里長城) by Ping Fong Acting Troupe (屏風表演班) takes a humorous look at the building of the Great Wall.
* Novel Hall (新舞臺), 3-1 Sungshou S Rd, Taipei (台北市松壽路3-1號)
* Today, tomorrow and Sunday at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$500 to NT$2,500 and are available through NTCH ticketing (Note: NT$500 to NT$800 are already sold out)
Monkey King at Spider Cave (孫悟空大戰蜘蛛精) is an episode adapted from the Chinese classic Journey to the West (西遊記) by shadow puppeteer Larry Reed and The Puppet and Its Double Theater (無獨有偶工作室劇團). Monkey King at Spider Cave features the heroic Monkey King and his disciples battling against the flesh-hungry Spider Demon and his hoard of evil insects.
* Cultural Affairs Bureau of Hualien County (花蓮縣文化局), 6 Wenfu Rd, Hualien City (花蓮市文復路6號)
* Tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$250 to NT$800 and are available from www.artsticket.com.tw
Madame Bovary is Me. Edward Lam (林奕華) returns to Taiwan with his adaptation of Flaubert’s classic novel Madame Bovary. Infusing the play with iconography from Taiwan, the play takes a critical look at contemporary society’s consumer culture and obsession with icons.
Eslite Theater, 6F, 11 Songgao Rd, Taipei (台北市松高路11號6樓)
* Today, tomorrow, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$600 and available through NTCH ticketing
Roadkill (攔截,公路) by Playbox Theater Ensemble (戲盒劇團) was inspired by a road trip director Tu Shih-hue (杜思慧) took around Australia. The play begins with the story of an accident and develops into a work about the relationship between speed and the passing landscape and how this affects human perception of the external, the real and the imagined.
* Eslite Culture and Art Space (城品藝文空間), B2, 245 Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市敦化南路一段245號B2)
* Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$450 and available through NTCH ticketing
2007 — Taipei Traditional Arts festival (2007 臺北市傳統藝術季) continues its celebration of traditional artistic culture from Taiwan and China. On Friday, Ju Percussion Group (朱宗慶打擊樂團) will team up with the Taipei Chinese Orchestra to bring audiences some traditional drumming. On Sunday, the music is brought outside when various artists will play Taiwanese music.
* Taipei Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山堂), 98 Yenping S Rd, Taipei (台北市延平南路98號)
* Friday’s performance takes place in the auditorium and begins at 7:30pm; Sunday’s performance is in the square and begins at 2:30pm
* Tickets for Friday’s performance are NT$200 to NT$800 and are available through NTCH ticketing. Sunday’s performance is free
Events
Peter Arnett. The Lung Ying-tai Cultural Foundation (龍應台文化基金會) will bring internationally renowned war correspondent Peter Arnett to Taiwan to give a lecture titled “America at War in Iraq and Vietnam: The Similarities, The Differences” this weekend at Zhongshan Hall (中山堂). Throughout his 40-plus years of news reporting, Arnett’s outspoken manner of reporting war stories has provoked controversy. He was one of the first reporters in Saigon after its fall to the North Vietnamese and his reports on the Vietnam War won him the 1966 Pulitzer Prize. While representing CNN for the Gulf War, Arnett was one of a handful of reporters with live coverage from Baghdad and later obtained an uncensored interview with Saddam Hussein. In 1997, Arnett was the first Western reporter to interview Osama bin Laden and was dramatically fired by NBC in 2003 for granting an interview to state-controlled Iraqi television and commenting that “the first plan of the war has failed,” when he was covering the US invasion in Iraq.
* Taipei Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山堂), 98 Yenping S Rd, Taipei (台北市延平南路98號)
* Tomorrow at 7pm
* Admission is free, but seats must be reserved in advance by calling Emily Yuan on (02) 3322-4918
Classical Music
Rueibin Chen Piano Trio Charity Concert — In Memory of a Great Artist (陳瑞斌鋼琴三重奏慈善音樂會 — 一位偉大藝術家的回憶). Chen, a Chinese pianist who appeared on the musical scene 20 years ago, has been called a musical genius. Joined by violinist Tiffany Wu (吳佩璇) and cellist Victor Shpiller, Chen will present a program of piano trios, including Beethoven’s Piano Trio “Ghost,” Op.70, No.1 and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio, Op.50. A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to charity.
* At the National Concert Hall, Taipei
* Tickets cost from $500 to $3,000 and are available through ERA ticketing
* Tonight at 7:45pm
National Symphony Orchestra’s Forever Tales 2007 — Carnival of Animals (國家交響樂團2007永遠的童話—古典動物園). As part of the Children’s Month celebrations, the NSO will present concerts tailored for children and their parents. Following the themes of The Pied Piper in 2004 and Secrets in the Woods in 2005, the NSO will stage another concert in its Forever Tales children’s series. This time, the theme is animals and the musical tales to be performed are Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Saint-Saens’ Suite Le Carnaval des Animaux. Featuring NSO assistant conductor Chang Yin-fang (張尹芳), stage director Hsu Wan-ying (徐琬瑩), narrator Chao Tzu-chang (趙自強), and pianists Lin Hui-ying (林慧英) and Chen Yun-ho (陳芸禾), this performance marks the third collaboration between If Kids Theater (如果兒童劇團) and the NSO.
* Tomorrow at the National Taichung Library Chungsing Concert Hall (台中市中興堂), 291-3 Chingwu Rd, Taichung City (台中市精武路219之3號)
* Tickets for both matinee and evening concerts range from NT$300 to NT$800 and are available through NTCH ticketing
* Tomorrow at both 2:30pm and 7:30pm
Player Tribe Piano Trio 2007—In Music We Share (玩家部落鋼琴三重奏2007年度音樂會). Founded last year, the Player Tribe Piano Trio is composed of violinist Li Hsuan (李瑄), cellist Lu Chao-lun (呂超倫), and pianist Tan Wan-chun (湯婉君). The trio will tour in Keelung and Taipei to present a program including Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No.1 in D Minor, Op.49 and Piano Trio No.2 in C Minor, Op.66 as well as the world premier of James Chen’s (陳哲聖) Piano Trio “Vapor”.
* Sunday at the Keelung Cultural Center (基隆市文化局演藝廳), 181 Hsinyi 1st Rd, Keelung City (基隆市信一路181號) and May 2 at the National Recital Hall, Taipei
* Admission is free for the Keelung concert. For the Taipei concert, tickets are NT$400 and NT$500 and are available through NTCH ticketing
* Sunday and May 2 at 7:30pm
Soprano Chen Hsin-ying Vocal Recital (女高音陳心瑩德文藝術歌曲演唱會). As part of the 2007 National Chiao Tung University Arts Festival, this concert will feature soprano Chen, accompanied by pianist Huang Li-chih (黃禮芷). Chen will sing a program of songs from German composers,
such as Richard Strauss’ Brentano Lieder, Op.68 as well as songs by Schubert, Schumann, and others. She will also present art songs by Vienna-based composer Zemlinsky’s Waltz Songs on Tuscan Folk Lyrics by Ferdinand Gregorovius, Op.6 and several humorous romantic songs.
* At the National Chiao Tung University Arts Center (交通大學藝文中心), 1001 Tahsueh Rd, Hsinchu City (新竹市大學路1001號)
* Tickets cost NT$100 for students and NT$200 for members of the general public and are available through the National Chiao Tung University Library and Student Union (交通大學浩然圖書館與活動中心), (03) 571-2121 X52666 or 59056 as well as the Eslite Bookstore Hsinchu Branch, 68 Hsinyi St, Hsinchu City (新竹市信義街68號), (03) 527-8907 X254. For detailed information, call (03) 571-2121 X31953
* Tuesday at 7:30pm
He Jun-heng Viola Recital — Memories from Childhood (何君恆中提琴獨奏會—童年往事). He is a principal violist at Taipei Symphony Orchestra as well as a lecturer
in the Institute of Music at National Chiao Tung University. Joined by pianist Kuo Yu-chun (郭育君), He will present a program including Telemann’s Concerto in G Major, Handel’s Concerto in B Minor, Hummel’s Fantasia, Weber’s Andante e Rondo ungarese, Bach’s Concerto in C Minor, Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Minor, 1st Movement, and Seitz’s Concerto No. 2, 3rd Movement, Concerto No. 3, 1st Movement, and Concerto No. 5, 1st Movement.
* Thursday at the National Chiao Tung University Arts Center (交通大學藝文中心), 1001 Tahsueh Rd, Hsinchu City (新竹市大學路1001號), and April 29 at the National Recital Hall, Taipei
* For the Hsinchu concert, tickets cost NT$100 for students and NT$200 for members of the general public and are available through National Chiao Tung University Library
and Student Union (交通大學浩然圖書館與活動中心), (03) 571-2121 X52666 or 59056 as well as the Eslite Bookstore Hsinchu Branch, 68 Hsinyi St, Hsinchu City (新竹市信義街68號), (03) 527-8907 X254. For the Taipei concert, tickets cost from NT$250 to NT$500 and are available through ERA ticketing outlets
* Thursday at 7:30pm and April 29 at 2:30pm
Contemporary
Rapper Kou Chou-ching (拷秋勤), who mixes traditional Taiwanese styles like nakashi and temple music with scratch and hip-hop, returns tonight to Underworld (地下社會), along with rock band Braces (牙套). Tomorrow it’s the oddly-clad, screaming, porno-screening industrial band The Fish and Bedroom Riot (Fish的床上暴動), and Toxaphene (毒殺芬). Then on Wednesday, things get much tamer with indie soft-rock duo Tomo and Masa (之兩神湯+徐幼庭).
* The bar opens at 8pm and bands take the stage at 9pm
* Entrance is NT$300
* B1, 45 Shida Rd, Taipei (台北市師大路45號B1). Call (02) 2369-0103 or visit www.underworld-taipei.blogspot.com for more information
Tonight at Riverside Cafe (河岸留言), it’s jazz and pop band Terminal 2 (第二航廈), with bassist Lu Chia-chun (陸家駿). Tomorrow features innovative ambient musician and jazz-pop singer Summer Lei (雷光夏) with cellist Chen Chu-hui (陳主惠), accordion player Wang Ying-meng (王雁盟), Peng Yu-wen (彭郁雯) on keyboards and guitarist Xiu Xiu (秀秀). On Sunday it’s indie-pop bands Jacuzzi and Unsafe. Monday, as always, is open-jam night. On Tuesday there’s indie-pop band Lucky Q and part-funk, part-pseudo nu-metal band Coach (教練); Wednesday it’s indie-pop band Joker and Zimu (自目); and on Thursday it’s singer-composer Ting (庭竹), followed by young Taiwanese-American jazz singer-guitarist Joanna.
* The music starts at 9:30pm each night
* Entrance tonight, Tuesday and Thursday is NT$350. Tomorrow is NT$400. Sunday and Wednesday is NT$300. On Monday there is a one-drink minimum
* B1, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號B1). Call (02) 2368-7310, or visit www.riverside.com.tw
The Living Room (小客廳) hosts Chi-le’s Folksong Adventures (奇樂的民謠大冒險), acoustic act Little Lamb Sisters (小羊妹妹) and young Christian rockers Ark (約櫃) tonight. Tomorrow, it’s pop-rock band Longplaying 52hz (黑膠52), Journey to the West PX (西遊記PX), and expat pop-rock five-piece The Antagonauts. On Tuesday, taro master Eiffel (塔羅老師艾菲爾) returns, followed by the light, pop-oriented sound of Pure Jazz (漂兒流行爵士) and a Living Room regular, pop-folk singer-songwriter Hank. On Wednesday there’s another Guts Improv (勇氣即興), where actors create short skits based on “audience suggestions and crazy rules,” then bluegrass band Soggy Bagel Boys. And on Thursday it’s jazz quartet My Precious (小心肝ㄦ), rock bands Nuclear (核子) and New Wave, then the pop-rock-oriented Beetle Band (甲蟲樂團).
* Performances start at 8pm tonight, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tomorrow’s starts at 9pm
* There is a minimum charge of NT$300 for each individual show
* 3F, 8 Nanjing E Rd Sec 5, Taipei (台北市南京東路五段8號3樓). Call (02) 8787-4154 or visit www.livingroomtaipei.com
Velvet Underground (地下絲絨) features indie four-piece Wonderwave tonight, rock bands Swaz (小王阿志), Rosette’s Ear and The Leaf tomorrow, and indie bands Tribunal (審判) and Sensitive (敏感帶) on Thursday.
* Bands take the stage tonight at 10pm, tomorrow at 8pm and Thursday at 9pm
* Admission is NT$300 or NT$250 for students tonight and Thursday, and NT$350 or NT$300 for students tomorrow
* B1, 50 Zhongxiao W Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市忠孝西路一段50號B1). Call (02) 2314-1868 or visit www.velvet-underground.com.tw
Tonight at The Wall (這牆), be prepared to encounter beats to dance to with X-Culture Movement — dub, hip-hop, old-skool techno and drum ’n’ bass DJs @allenblow, Hsiao Ke (小奇), Point, Shorty, Amber and Ah Dao (阿道). Tomorrow DJs Choyce Kutz, Marcus, Taka and Propoganda hit the decks. Then on Sunday it’s brutal hardcore, grindcore and speed, death and thrash metal with Crusher, Silent Hell, Revilement and Neo Shark (腦剎). And on Wednesday indie-pop bands Pen Sauce and Tuna Belly (鮪魚肚) take the stage.
Entrance tonight and tomorrow is NT$400. Sunday is NT$700 for advance tickets or NT$800 at the door. Wednesday is NT$300 and Thursday is NT$150
* Shows start at 8pm except for Thursday, which starts at 7pm
* B1, 200 Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Call (02) 2930-0162 or visit www.the-wall.com.tw
Grooveyard in Taichung presents Aboriginal folk-rocker Eagle Lin tonight and the saxophone-laden, Morphine-esque groove of New Hong Kong Hair City tomorrow. Meanwhile at Groovecity, it’s roots courtesy of Militant Hippi tonight and Eagle Lin tomorrow.
* The music starts at 9pm
* Grooveyard entrance is NT$200 tomorrow. Groovecity entrance is NT$300
* Groovecity is inside Tiger City (台中老虎城旁停車場) at 120 Henan Rd Sec 3, Taichung (台中市河南路三段120號老虎城). Grooveyard is located at 2F, 105 Huamei W Rd, Taichung (台中市華美西街105號二樓). Visit www.grooveyardtaiwan.com or call 0939-574-737 for more information
Appearing tomorrow night at Hualien’s Pushi Cafe (花蓮璞石咖啡) is intense Tokyo guitarist Ken Ohtake, known in Taiwan for his appearances at the Migration Music Festival (流浪之歌音樂節) and his work with former Labor Exchange Band (交工樂隊) frontman Lin Sheng-xiang (林生祥). Ohtake will play acoustic pieces in a range of styles, including traditional Japanese, Okinawan and American.
Ohtake will be taking part in a lecture/concert on Cuban music at the National Experimental Theater (國家實驗劇場) in Taipei tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm. He will then do solo concerts at Taipei’s Riverside Cafe (河岸留言) on Thursday from 9pm to 10:30pm and at Hualien’s Pushi Cafe tomorrow, April 28, from 7pm to 8:30pm.
* Tomorrow from 7pm to 8:30pm
* Admission is NT$200
* 8 Mingli St, Hualien City (花蓮市明禮路8號). For more information call (03) 834-5968
Exhibitions
Charioting the Shang Dynasty: Artifacts from Horse-and-Chariot Pits at Hsiao-tun (載馳載驅—小屯商代車馬坑器物特展). On loan from the History and Philology Institute, Academia Sinica, the collection of grave artifacts from China’s Shang Dynasty features priceless pieces excavated from a royal Shang horse-and-chariot pit discovered in 1936 in the village of Xiaotun (Hsiao-tun) in Henan Province.
* National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院), 221 Zhishan Rd Sec 2, Taipei
(台北市至善路二段221號). Open Monday to Sunday from 9am to 3pm. Call (02) 2881-2021.
* Until Dec. 31
Traditional Penship, Incense, Tea-culture, Flower Arrangement — Japanese Lacquer Culture (書香茶花—日本漆藝展). Widely used in daily utensils, Buddhist sculptures and architecture, lacquer ware in Japan dates back to the Asuka period (593AD to 709AD). This exhibition aims to provide a comprehensive view of Japanese lacquer art.
National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd, Taipei (台北市南海路49號). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm. Call (02) 2361-0270
* Until May 6
Feigning Movement II (假動作2). Featuring work by eight local digital artists.
* Huashan Cultural Park (華山文化園區), 1 Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市八德路一段1號). Open Monday to Friday from 1pm to 9pm; Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 9pm. Call (02) 2392-6180
* Until April 28
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not