Theater
M.O.V.E. Theater Group (動見体劇團) kicks off the 14th Crown Art Festival (皇冠藝術節) with My Angel and Demon: Sleeping Beauty (我的天使魔鬼—睡美人), which looks at sex and love through the eyes of a melancholy woman. The festival runs through Nov. 29.
■ Crown Theater (皇冠藝術中心小劇場), 50, Ln 120, Dunhua N Rd, Taipei City (台北市敦化北路120巷50號). On the Net: www.ntat.org/14caf
■ Tonight at 7:30pm, tomorrow
at 2:30pm and 7:30pm and Sunday
at 2:30pm
■ Tickets are NT$450, available
through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Known previously for its innovative attempts to make Beijing opera relevant to contemporary audiences by combining it with elements of Western theater, Contemporary Legend Theatre (當代傳奇劇場) is for the first time in its 23-year history staging traditional Beijing opera performances. The remaining two shows to be performed this weekend are Young Heroes (英雄美少年) and Loves That Topple Empires (傾國之戀). Both are sold out. The stellar cast is led by Beijing opera innovator Wu Hsing-kuo (吳興國) and diva Wei Hai-min (魏海敏). Performances are in Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles.
■ National Theater, Taipei City
■ Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm
■ Sold out
This weekend the Koo Foundation’s (辜公亮文教基金會) new program, New Style Bejing Opera (大型移植新編京劇), presents a couple of daring operas performed by a talented cast led by Li Baochun (李寶春). It will revive the 2008 production of The Jester (弄臣), which is based on Verdi’s opera Rigolettom, and The Wilderness (原野), adapted from an unfinished play by China’s modern playwright, Cao Yu (曹禺).
■ Novel Hall (新舞臺), 3-1 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路3-1號)
■ Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm
Blues Bash, Taipei’s annual blues music festival, takes place next weekend at Roxy Roots in Taipei City and the Dream Community (夢想社區) in Sijhih (汐止). Now in its sixth year, the event features 10 acts from Taiwan, Japan and the US, including headliner Darrell Raines.
Raines, a Miami-based guitarist and singer who plays modern blues and soul, was a long-time member of the backing band of fellow Florida musician Joey Gilmore, who just completed a well-received tour of Taiwan last month.
Also appearing are Arkansas musician and artist Adam Posnak, who performs turn-of-the-century acoustic blues, and Japanese guitarist Shun Kikuta, a former member of Koko Taylor’s touring band and a Blues Bash regular.
Advance tickets will be on sale tonight at a pre-Blues Bash party at Roxy Roots, which features a show by local electric blues outfit BoPoMoFo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ).
For more information and the full lineup, go to www.infine-art.com/bluesbash/englishindex.html
▲Blues Bash 6, next Friday at 9pm at Roxy Roots, 90 Songren Rd, Taipei City (台北市松仁路90號) and next Saturday at 5:30pm at the Dream Community (夢想社區) 95, Minzu 2nd St, Sijhih City, Taipei County (台北縣汐止市民族二街95號), near the intersection of Huqian Street (湖前街) and Kangning Road (康寧路)
▲Tickets for both shows next weekend are NT$400 in advance and NT$500 at the door, available at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks or through tickets.books.com.tw. No admission fee for the pre-Blues Bash party at Roxy Roots
■ Tickets are NT$500 to NT$2,000, available through ERA ticketing or online at www.ticket.com.tw
The Taipei Folk Dance Theater’s (台北民族舞團) latest production, Dancing Portrait of Taiwan (舞語台灣), features works by three male choreographers, including Kuo Jui-lin (郭瑞林) and Hu Min-shan (胡民山), who find inspiration in rural southern Taiwan. [See story above.]
■ Metropolitan Hall (城市舞台), 25, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段25號)
■ Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm
■ Tickets are NT$400 to NT$1,500, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Dark Eyes Performance Lab (黑眼睛跨劇團) presents its adaptation of Scottish playwright David Harrower’s Blackbird, a play that raises questions about morality through the tale of a pedophile and his victim.
■ Tainan Municipal Cultural Center (台南市立文化中心), 332, Jhonghua E Rd Sec 3, Tainan City (台南市中華東路三段332號)
■ Tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm
■ Tickets are NT$500, available
through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Classical music
Lilya Zilberstein Piano Recital (齊柏絲坦鋼琴獨奏會) sees the Russian pianist Lilya Lilberstein performing two concerts in Taiwan with a program including Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2 and Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 “Appassionata” and Brahms’ Eight Piano Pieces, Op. 76, Eleven Variations on an Original Theme in D Major,
Op. 21, No. 1 and Fourteen Variations
on a Hungarian Melody in D Major
Op. 21, No. 2.
■ Sunday at 2:30pm (Taichung) and Tuesday at 7:30pm (Taipei)
■ Taichung Chungshan Hall (台中市中山堂), 98 Syueshih Rd, Taichung City (台中市學士路98號), and National Concert Hall, Taipei City
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