Melbourne's Regent Theatre lived up to its name as the "Palace of Dreams" on Friday March 23, when it played host to the premiere night of New Tang Dynasty Television's (NTDTV) 2007 Chinese New Year Spectacular.
The grand old theatre, designed by 1920's architect, Cedric Ballantyne as "a place to evoke fantastic faraway times and places", did just that by transporting distinguished guests and the local Melbourne audience into the realm of Ancient China and its ethnic communities.
The NTDTV Spectacular is mid-way through its Australian season and on the tale end of its international tour, which has seen it play to full houses at New York, Osaka and Paris.
Audiences around the world have been unanimous in their response to the show, which is at once moving and invigorating in its colourful presentation of music and dance from little heard voices of ethnic minorities like the Dai and the Mongolians.
Victorian audiences were no exception.
"Melbourne is a very culturally diverse place. Look at the people who are turning up. It's not just Chinese or Asian background people. It's a variety of people...So it's just amazing. It really brings out a lot of what Melbourne's all about," said Mr Irvan Dijon, a Human Resources Manager.
Audiences too have been fascinated by the portrayal of little heard or understood periods of Chinese history.
The opening scene of the Spectacular "Creation" is set in the divine world of the Tang Dynasty (around 600–900AD) a period of history understood to be the Golden Age of refined arts, spirituality and peaceful coexistence among China's many diverse groups.
Like The Regent itself, which suffered a disastrous fire in the '40s and a demolition threat in the '60s but now lives on in its finery, traditional Chinese culture is now being elevated to its rightful place.
Ms Jennifer Christie also commented that the show: "Takes you away from just the ordinary every day reality and transports you into something very different. We remember coming here in the '50s...It was a dreamy kind of fantasy place."
The Epoch Times is proud to join with New Tang Dynasty TV and Sound of Hope Radio in co-sponsoring NTDTV's Chinese New Year Spectacular ( http://shows.ntdtv.com. )
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