East meets West in exotic, stunning spectacle

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Fabulous costumes and amazing acrobatics bring touching tale to vivid life. (SUPPLIED PHOTO)

You may have seen an ad for Manitoba Theatre for Young People's December show, noted the word "acrobatics" and assumed the venue at The Forks was presenting yet another circus-style production.

Not so. The Forbidden Phoenix is a spectacular East-meets-West musical that is by no means just for kids.

It's an epic adventure that's got everything: visual splendour, engaging songs with crystal-clear lyrics, elegant choreography, romance, heart-wrenching sadness, touches of humour, and yes, acrobatics.

Handsprings, somersaults and martial-arts battles enliven the eye-popping spectacle. But at its heart, the tale is about the bond between a father and son that can't be destroyed by distance or persecution.

The Forbidden Phoenix is a must-see for anybody who loves musical theatre, opera or ballet, and anyone with an interest in Asian performing arts.

Remarkably, under the confident hand of director Ron Jenkins, it takes the exotic traditions of Chinese opera -- using a live percussionist to generate fiery excitement -- and makes them completely audience-friendly.

Composer Robert Walsh (with local music direction by Kevin Aichele) skilfully combines rock and pop influences with Asian instrumentation and some traditional melodies.

The 90-minute musical, recommended for ages 7 to adult, kept a crowd of school kids enraptured on Thursday.

Edmonton's Chinese-Canadian playwright Marty Chan at first set out to tell the story of the "bachelor men," impoverished Chinese immigrants who were brought to Canada to build the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s, leaving behind their wives and children.

Chan discovered, and adapted instead, a fable with striking parallels to the bachelor men's ordeal. It's about Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. This plucky character from Chinese mythology and opera has to leave his famine-stricken son and community and take a harrowing journey to the West in search of food and a new home.

So the musical can be interpreted as a clever extended allegory. It's satisfying for adults to keep the railway in mind. The haughty villain (named Horne in reference to Cornelius Van Horne and commandingly played by Michael Dufays) keeps talking about progress and forces the labourers to risk their lives by using explosives.

When an "iron dragon" is unleashed, it has the face of a stylized train engine. Adults will also recognize Communist China in the regime that uses terror and mind control to brainwash the son left behind in the East.

But the musical also works perfectly as a universal quest myth, in which the little hero (endearing Richard Lee) takes on seemingly impossible challenges, meets a beautiful bird-maiden (lovely-voiced Shannon Blanchet, the Phoenix of the title), nearly gives up in despair, and ultimately triumphs, for a greater good than his own happiness. The vision scenes are exquisite.

Leslie Frankish's superb sets include a smoke-belching mountain and a waterfall in the form of swirling, ribbon-like flags.

The most jaw-dropping of Frankish's glorious costumes is a huge, sparkling dress-on-wheels that allows the evil Empress Dowager (Nadine Villasin, in a performance as big as the dress) to tower at twice the size of her puny underlings.

Probably because some roles were cast for physical prowess, not all of the 10 actors sing every note with perfect intonation. No matter. With only nine performances available, you should rush to get on board before this trainload of talent pulls out of town.

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 12, 2009 C8