CHICAGO—The Divine Performing Arts—a celebrated assembly of acclaimed dancers, singers, and musicians—played their third performance at Chicago's Arie Crown Theater with an international cast of more than 70 dancers, vocalists, and musicians, and an elaborate musical score.
Joan Culler, a retired librarian who sang opera and light opera for years in the area, most notably with the Gilbert and Sullivan Company of Hyde Park, happened upon a flyer for the Chinese New Spectacular and, thinking "it looked pretty," decided to attend.
Ms. Culler found the mix of Eastern and Western music, "beautiful." And, as a singer, she paid close attention to music, especially the vocalists. She felt the tenor, Guimin Guan, was especially fine. "And the pianist was wonderful."
She was curious about the spirituality of the show. Some of the lyrics, translated and projected on the backdrop, "almost sounded Christian" to her. She noted that some of the lyrics mentioned a "Messiah coming."
She noted the values present in another way. The obvious repressive nature the Chinese communist party was clearly depicted with symbols of a hammer and sickle. It was clear that the message in the show, she said "would not please the Chinese government." But she found the whole experience thoroughly enjoyable.She felt herself "relaxing. I felt my blood pressure going down, which at my age," she joked, "is important."
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Divine Performing Arts performances. For about their world tour visit: http://www.divineperformingarts.com/sy
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