ST. PETERSBURG—NTDTV's Holiday Wonders extravaganzea played the first of two shows in St. Petersburg, Florida's Mahaffey Theater, bringing a taste of classical Chinese culture to Central Florida.
Hubert L'Abbe and his friend Guerda Nicolas appreciated the show on many levels. "It was a very colorful and also the cultural exchange was very interesting. We got a glimpse of China." Before seeing the show, he said, all he knew of China was what he saw on the news.
Mr. L'Abbe felt that the messages and inner meaning of the performances were accessible to Westerners despite cultural differences. "Compassion, forbearance—these are universal values."
Chris Lacey, a college student at Georgia Tech, was in Florida visiting his parents; they brought him to see Holiday Wonders for his birthday. Chris had attended a local Chinese school, and had performed some dances similar to what he saw in the show.
His favorite acts were the solo singers, Soprano Jiang Min and Baritone Yue Qu. He could understand the songs' inner meanings, and could read the Chinese characters
Chris hoped to be able to share with his fellow students his love of Chinese culture.
Command Sergeant Major Raymond Scnabel of the U.S. Army Cadet Corps brought a group of teenage cadets to see the show. During intermission, he asked the cadets what they liked best about the show, and what they noticed.
While most of the cadets liked the Tang-era drumming, Sergeant-Major Schnabel preferred "The Power of Awareness"; "Every movement had a meaning," he explained.
He told his cadets that one message he saw was that in the struggle between good and evil, if people joined together they could defeat evil.
Sergeant-Major Schnabel had a deeper appreciation for the moral messages in Holiday Wonders because the Cadet Corps had a similar mission. "Our mission is not to train these kids as soldiers, but to give them the moral and ethical standards so when they are adults they will be good people."
Kerry Chen, Director of the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society, said, "I thought it was absolutely spectacular. It was my first time ever seeing anything as grand and well put together particularly representing the Asian countries in such a good light. This is definitely something I would recommend everybody see."
Kerry believed that the show's messages could be easily understood by a Western audience. "They did a wonderful job of translating and getting the message out without pushing it."
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