"With the traditional actors and actresses, usually they have to improvise a lot," Chen said. "It's really interesting to see performers from different traditions work together. We provide the structure, but they have the liberty to do their own thing."
"They come from totally different oral traditions and have an instinct about what they have to do. Once they get a feel for the music and the rhythm, they just do things very naturally," she added.
In the hectic rehearsals preceding the opening next week, everyone is still learning how best to work together. "It's all about opening up new horizons," said Tang, who is also an innovator in her own field.
To add to the difficulties, the coproduction sees soprano Kimiko Hata and baritone Kouichi Taira perform in the central roles of Xuanzong and Lady Yang, respectively, which required them to learn the libretto phonetically through months of intensive coaching.
Chen Wu-kang (陳武康), the show's choreographer and artistic director of M Dans (驫舞劇場), in an off-the-cuff comment during rehearsals, said that so many artistic boundaries had been crossed, so many conventions overturned, that he felt he could cast off all constraints in choreographing the dances for the show. "I felt that if it could be overturned, then we might as well," he said.
One issue that does stand out above all else is the way The Firmiana Rain sees Asians taking control of a Western operatic tradition.
"We Asians are doing an Asian story. It's not like Europeans are doing an Asian story (such as Turandot or Madame Butterfly). Hopefully this method is more first hand, instead of chinoiserie. ... The music itself has many elements, but it's a total integration and not a collage," Chen said.
Reflecting on his own work in opera, Sugao said: "I think the opera world is looking for a way to go. If you do only Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, you are getting nowhere. ... We need to create new operas such as this. I hope this will be successful in finding a new way for operas."
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