Baochun Li in Peking Opera Neo-Classics

On Stage, Off Stage

 —a new in Peking Opera

Onstage, Offstage is a bold new form of Peking Opera written, directed, and played-in-lead by renowned Peking Opera artist Li Bao-chun—winner of the Shanghai Magnolia Award and the Lincoln Center’s Outstanding Artist Award. Other performers include Kong Yue-tzu and Li Long-xian of Taipei Li-Yuan Peking Opera Theatre, musical theatre soprano Lin Tzu-yin, and drama actor Liu Shi-min. The songs were composed by Lu Yu-yong. Acclaimed international composer Chung Yao-kuang, blending traditional Peking opera vocals with Western classical techniques, composed the full scores. The performance will be accompanied, live, by a music ensemble, conducted by Chung Yao-kuang.

Set in the 1930s, the plot of Onstage, Offstage follows a Peking Opera master and his adopted daughter as they rose above hardship and strove for growth. It portrays how a group of opera performers defied oppression and became their own heroes in life.

“All the world’s a stage.” All that on stage mirrors life. Onstage or offstage, it’s ourselves that we are playing and appraising.