Theater
After a performing career that has spanned 60 years, Taiwanese opera legend Liao Chiung-chih (廖瓊枝) is bowing out with The Virtuous Mother of General Tao Kan (陶侃賢母), which was tailor-made for the star. Three generations of local performers join Liao in the story about the filial General Tao Kan and his mother during the Jin Dynasty.
■ National Theater, Taipei City
■ Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm
■ Tickets are NT$600 to NT$5,000, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Creative Society Theatre Company (創作社劇團) presents Touch Me, If You Can (愛錯亂), a romantic comedy about a writer, college professor, stand-up comedian and spiritual guru.
■ Experimental Theater, Taipei City
■ Tonight at 7:30pm, tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm
■ Tickets are NT$550, available
through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Taiwan Bangzi Company’s (台灣豫劇團) Bond (約/束) is a bangzi opera (梆子) (otherwise known as Henan opera or yu opera) adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Wang Hai-ling (王海玲) plays Shylock, which requires the opera diva to shift between different role types ranging from sheng (生), or leading male, to chou (丑), the clown.
■ Metropolitan Hall (城市舞台), 25, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段25號)
■ Tomorrow at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm and 7:30pm
■ Tickets are NT$300 to NT$1,200, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
A local rendition of Australian playwright Andrew Bovell’s award-winning play of the same title, Speaking in Tongues tells of the oddly intertwined fates of nine characters, including two wives, each of whom cheats on her husband with the other’s spouse. The play is directed by theater veteran Michael Li (黎煥雄).
BY TAYLOR BRIERE
Lily et Coco (哩扣) plays at Underworld (地下社會) tomorrow night in Taipei. The group was founded in April 2008, but it practiced for more than a year before its first show this May, so it’s still a newcomer to the scene. The group includes Yu Hsiang-chu (游翔竹) from Space Cake on bass and Go Chic drummer Winston Lee (李昀璁). Their sound is definitely post-rock, with members citing bands such as Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth and Toe as major influences. Keyboardist Eustoma Wu (巫慕涵) sets this band apart from others sailing the swelling sea of Taiwanese post-rock by lending its songs a clear, strong melodic component to sit atop the churning fuzz-and-delay-drenched textures of guitarist James Hsieh (謝政恩). The result is something both edgy and pleasant, at times melancholic and at others triumphant. Lily et Coco will be joined tomorrow night by the energetic noise band She Bang-a (死蚊子) 9pm tomorrow at Underworld (地下社會), B1, 45 Shida Rd, Taipei City (台北市師大路45號B1). Admission is NT$300, which includes a drink
On the Net:
myspace.com/lilyetcoco
■ Eslite Xinyi Store (誠品信義店), 11 Songgao Rd, Taipei City (台北市松高路11號)
■ Tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday to Thursday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm
■ Tickets are NT$600, available
through NTCH ticketing or online
at www.artsticket.com.tw
The Taipei Dance Circle (光環舞集) stages the final performance of its island-wide Silence Dance tour in Chiayi County tomorrow night. The nine-part dance piece centers on the troupe’s artistic director Liou Shaw-lu’s (劉紹爐) reflections on the global ecological crisis.
■ Chiayi Performing Arts Center (嘉義縣表演藝術中心演藝廳), 265, Jianguo Rd Sec 2, Minsyong Township, Chiayi County (嘉義縣民雄鄉建國路二段265號)
■ Tomorrow at 7:30pm
■ Tickets are NT$200, available
through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw
Classical music
Lang Lang — Rhapsody Charity Concert (郎朗．狂想—慈善音樂會) brings the world-renowned Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang (郎朗) to Taiwan to perform with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra (台北市立交響樂團) and the Taipei Chinese Orchestra (台北市立國樂團) under conductor En Shao (邵恩). The program includes Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Chung Yiu-kwong’s (鍾耀光) Blessing for All (萬民祈福) for symphony orchestra and Chinese orchestra and The Yellow River Piano Concerto (黃河鋼琴協奏曲) arranged by Chung Yiu-kwang.
■ Wednesday at 7:30pm
■ Taipei Arena (台北小巨蛋), 2, Nanjing E Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市南京東路四段2號)
■ Tickets are NT$1,000 to NT$3,000, available through ERA ticketing or online at www.ticket.com.tw
Pipa Superstars in Taipei (琵琶巨星在台北) is a series of two concerts featuring the Taipei Chinese Orchestra (臺北市立國樂團) under Shao En (邵恩) performing with noted pipa (琵琶) soloists. In the first concert today, the soloist is Chang Chiang (張強), who won the 2009 Taipei Folk Music Competition in the pipa category. On Sunday, six other young pipa soloists will perform with the orchestra.
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