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Puccini in the Fobidden City: "Turandot" Staged in Beijing
by Charles Conte Some 30,000 people attended a most extraordinary artistic event: the staging of Pucinni's 1924 opera, "Turandot" in Beijing's Forbidden City. The opulent production, performed for eight evenings, was directed by three-time Oscar nominee, film director, Zhang Yimou, cost over $15 million dollars and involved more than 1000 people. Zhang introduced elements of Peking Opera in this version of "Turandot," which debuted at Florence's Teatro Communale last spring, also with Zubin Mehta conducting. Promoter Michael Ecker's Opera on Original Site (OOS), a Vienna-based organization whose first project brought Verdi's Aida to the pyramids at Luxor in 1987, was responsible for bringing this extravaganza to Beijing. Tickets went for as much as $1,750. With the 4,000-seat open-air venue, sold out, the event was guaranteed to turn a profit. Hong Kong-based pro audio company, Tom Lee Music, provided the audio system for the production which included 10 Meyer MSL-4s for front fill, with six CQ2s for high-level front fill. "Turandot" is the fable of a Chinese princess who promises to marry any man who can solve three riddles: the punishment for incorrect answers is death. Actually the fable is based on an Italian fairy tale, and little about the opera, except the setting, is Chinese. Pucinni set "Turandot" in the legendary past of the T'ang dynasty (618 - 906). Yimou staged opera in Ming dynasty costumes, in keeping with the vintage of the 15th century Taimiao, the ancestral temple just outside the ancient city's Imperial Palace (now known as The People's Cultural Palace). The last emperor, Pu Yi, was wed here, and new-ager Yanni performed here in 1997. But though there have been many attempts over the years to stage "Turandot" in its original setting, this was the first one to succeed.
November, 1998 |
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