Poly Grand Theater launches Spring Performance Season
CLASSIC stage productions and low-price welfare performances are on offer during the Shanghai Poly Grand Theater’s Spring Performance Season.
Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn’s original Chinese musical “No Longer Human” received high praise from audiences on March 8 and 9. The latest two shows starred popular singers Bai Jugang and Liu Lingfei, as well as a live band.
Other recommended musicals this spring include “Flowers For Algernon,” scheduled for May 2 and 3, and the original musical “Smash the Wall,” set to run on June 1 and 2.
The Tchaikovsky ballet from Moscow is bringing their classic “The Nutcracker” to Poly on March 29. The performance will serve as part of the 39th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.
Also featured in the festival is a concert “Space-Time Spirit Hub” on April 4, which is presented by A-Play, a band that plays contemporary music with traditional Chinese instruments.
The Vienna Classic Music Soloists will present a “Rhapsody in Blue” concert on April 14 to mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of “Rhapsody in Blue” by American composer George Gershwin.
Famed Chinese playwright Cao Yu’s “Thunderstorm” will be performed by the Tianjin People’s Art Theater on May 30.
There are also performances for young and family audiences, including the original West End production “Dinosaur World Live” and stage play “Guess How Much I Love You.”
Adapted from a popular picture book, “Guess How Much I Love You” is also one of four welfare performances the Poly Grand Theater has introduced to mark the Jiading District Welfare Culture Week.
The Shanghai Poly Grand Theater is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. As part of the celebration, Russia’s Vakhtangov Theater will perform “Eugene Onegin” for the Shanghai audience from June 20 to 23.
The play was written and directed by Lithuanian theater director Rimas Tuminas who selected chapters from the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin.
Ticket sales for “Eugene Onegin” are now underway. Tuminas’ recent death adds an even more poignant note to this round of performances.