We’re fast approaching December, so herein The Nanjinger guide to some of the best-performing groups from around the world to be appearing at Nanjing’s Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts as we close out 2018. Look forward to Tap Dogs, Hotel Paradiso, Macbeth, Peter and the Wolf, and much more.
Kicking off December is the Symphonic Fairytale for Children; Peter and the Wolf. Originally commissioned in 1936 by the director of the Central Children’s Theatre in Moscow, Natalya Sats, it was written by Sergi Prokofiev, with the main purpose to introduce children to the individual instruments of the orchestra. The story is narrated while the orchestra accompanies. The show runs from 1-2 December at 14:30, lasts 90 minutes and will be performed in the centre’s Concert Hall.
Brought to Nanjing by the Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre, shall be the Shakespearean classic tragedy, Macbeth, for one performance only, on 4 December, at 19:00. Music by Giuseppe Verdi and conducted by Gavriel Heine, Macbeth, played by Vladislav Sulimsky, will be performed in Italian, with subtitles in Russian and English. Performance shall take place in the centre’s Opera Hall.
Silent slapstick comedy shall be sure to get a giggle out of you, with the show Hotel Paradiso, making a stop, on its tour of China, in Nanjing from 20-22 December. The Fringe Review commented, “Hotel Paradiso is a mask theatre show set in a modest family run hotel in the Alps; silent and very funny. Four actors from the established Berlin-based Familie Flöz mask theatre company perform three or four different characters each, so there’s never a dull moment as the staff get on with their work and a stream of guests enter the hotel seeking hospitality”. Hotel Paradiso performances shall commence at 19:30 and last for 90 minutes, in the Drama Hall of the Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts.
Last, but not least by any means, is Tap Dogs. After having already taken the world by storm, the Australian tap dancing group brings a boisterous, powerfully-entertaining performance to the Nanjing stage. “What Riverdance is to Ireland, Tap Dogs is to Australia”, said 60 minutes Australia, in 1997. Tap Dogs, with renowned Australian actor, dancer and choreographer, Dein Perry, shall be performed live in Nanjing on 21 December at 19:30, in the centre’s Variety Hall.
Tickets for all of the aforementioned shows can be purchased via the Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts website @ www.jsartcentre.org. Ticketing can also be contacted on 85437777 or 85438888.
The Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts is located at No. 181 Mengdu Dajie, Jianye District, Nanjing. Close to downtown, the recently-built facility is a bucket-list item for any Nanjinger. Consisting of six different auditoriums and a gallery, the entire centre can seat close to 9,000 people, with each stage dedicated to its unique performing art. Truly a state of the art, the architectural marvel that is Jiangsu Centre for Performing Arts is a beauty unto itself.
