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written and directed by Dennis K. Law

Sight, Sound & Action, Ltd., Toronto Centre for the Arts, Toronto

September 7-16, 2006

Tang Concubines is the world premiere of the latest “action-musical” by Vancouver-based producer/director Dennis K. Law.  Law’s “action-musical” turns out to be merely his word for “ballet”, in this case contrasting the lives of two famous concubines of China’s Tang Dynasty (618-907).  Act 1 concerns Wu Ze Tian (Yuan Yuan), who through a bloodthirsty lust for power became China’s only Empress.  Act 2 focusses on Yang Gui Fei (Liu Nanxi), who sacrifices herself for the sake of her country.  The show purports to celebrate “woman’s power”, yet it also claims that its effects led to the downfall of the Tang Dynasty.

The extravagant production features a cast of 80 and over 400 costumes.  Hao Weiya’s recorded symphonic score, more suited to a Hollywood sword-and-sandals epic than a Chinese tale, is mixed with the live playing of three musicians on Chinese instruments and amplified to ear-splitting levels.  The noble characters dance in Western ballet mode, the female corps performs numerous folk- and Las Vegas-inspired routines and the male corps executes martial arts demonstrations.  Choreographer Jonathan Feng Han runs out of ideas so early on that you feel you’ve seen the same dances ten times over just in different costumes.  Since Law never engages us emotionally with the lives of the characters, it all amounts to two hours of colourful but empty spectacle.                   

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2006-09-14.

Photo: Cast of Tang Concubines. ©Dennis K. Law.