Chun Yi: the Legend of Kung Fu

[firepalm]

http://www.chunyi-kungfu.com/

If you haven't seen it, go see it. A really incredible show, I've all nature of such shows and similar such productions both in North America and Asia. And this one really is quite outstanding; great performances, spectacular choreography, lighting, music, etc... just an overall outstanding and very professional show. Currently showing in Vancouver, check it out! ;)

[GeneChing]

We brought it up on our shaolin shows thread (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37527). There is a short article covering it in our upcoming issue, currently at press. :cool:

[GeneChing]

...I still haven't seen this one. :(
And we did run a story on it in our 2006 March/April issue (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=646): Live on Stage! Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu By August West

PLAYING AT THE LONDON COLISEUM FOR 27 SHOWS ONLY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NaRD4nmPEI&feature=channel_page)

www.chunyi-kungfu.com

[GeneChing]

Chun Yi made its American debut in 2006. Wheel of Life (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10562) made it's US debut in 2002, but it started earlier in UK and is still going (I think). Shaolin Warriors (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46658) is still going and our earliest forum mention is 2000. I'd have to look at our print archive to get the actual premiere dates of these shows, but I'm not going to do that over this. Besides, that information is probably only based on the international premiere and Chun Yi might have an earlier Chinese premiere. That's doubtful, but I'll entertain the possibility.
Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu (http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/aug/02/chun-yi-kung-fu-review)
Coliseum, London
* Judith Mackrell

Watching this kung fu spectacle, which claims to be China's longest-running show, you rapidly get used to the feel of your jaw going slack, to the sound of yourself yelping crazily. The three little boys doing forward flips on to their heads, in insouciant disregard of their spines; the man barrelling across the stage in a combat roll under a line of jumping bodies – surely the ambulance must be on its way.

London has seen a lot of kung fu in the last few years, and there is no doubt that the cast of Chun Yi are technically astonishing. The risks they take look terrifying, but the effects they create can be beautiful – especially in the sections featuring the traditional fighting forms of kung fu, where the performers transform themselves into elegantly poised leopards and flying frogs, or whip up an electrical storm of fiercely spinning chains and swords.

However, in contrast to a work such as Sutra (the recent collaboration between Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and the Shaolin monks), this is a show that is only about display. A sentimental linking narrative, which tells the story of a young monk overcoming his ego to become a great master, reduces the philosophy of kung fu to the gush of a tourist brochure. Each big effect has to be flagged up with flashing lights and a blast of overamplified music, while key moments in the monk's spiritual journey are choreographed as bad ballet or festooned with floating bubbles.

In terms of its aesthetic, Chun Yi owes more to the bloated productions of Cirque du Soleil than to the zen discipline of the Shaolin temple. And, as with the Cirque, more inexorably becomes less. The cast keep upping the physical ante, but by the end of the show, even the danger of it ceases to amaze.

[GeneChing]

but noteworthy for it's coverage...
Kung Fu Legend makes European debut (http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/90873/6717099.html)
13:39, August 03, 2009

The ancient martial art of kung fu gets a theatrical makeover in a show more similar to Cirque Du Soleil than the Shaolin Temple. The Legend of Kung Fu is now on stage in the U. K., and is being performed from July 29 until August 16 at the London Coliseum.

A dazzling spectacle, the show combines unbelievable feats of kung fu artistry with dance and acrobatics, showing a young man how to reach enlightenment by overcoming obstacles. The obstacles he encounters are from both the outside world and inside his own mind, but after rising above them, he is finally able to become a master of kung fu.

The Kung Fu Legend marks the first time that a Chinese show is able to enter London's high-end performing market, relying completely on commercial operations.

A Canadian company in charge of the show's promotions helped to bring a 90 percent occupancy rate on the opening night at the London Coliseum, which seats 2400 people.

The mature and critical London audience gave the show a 10 minute-long standing ovation. The Coliseum stage director Dewie Evans said the show was "extremely exciting" and "unbelievable!"

The Legend of Kung Fu is the touching story of a young boy on an epic journey to enlightenment. To earn the title of Chun Yi, "the Pure One" in Chinese, the boy must overcome a series of difficult obstacles. The audience follows the trials and tribulations the boy faces on his journey.

The Legend of Kung Fu made its debut in Beijing in 2004. It has been running for more than four years and has staged about 3000 performances for two million audience. A multi-award winning blockbuster, the show has daily performances at the Beijing Red Theatre, located at the east gate of the Temple of Heaven.

[GeneChing]

What an odd move in Missouri...:confused:
Chinese production company buys Branson theater (http://www.news-leader.com/article/20091214/BREAKING03/91214026/1007/NEWS01/Chinese+production+company+buys+Branson+theater)
December 14, 2009

A delegation of producers from China held a ribbon-cutting today in Branson at the recently purchased White House Theatre.

In May, they will open the show “Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu,” with a cast of 60 Chinese performers, some of whom participated in the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, according to a press release from the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce.

The show contains precision acrobatics, modern dance and original music.

The show is a production of China Heaven Creation, founded in 1999 with the backing of the China Travel Service and approval from the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China as a national model for cultural export.

The venue will retain the name “White House Theatre” and it will also retain a collection in the lobby of photographs of U.S. presidents.

The show is not related to the “Acrobats of China” which has been performing in Branson for several years.

[Kpower]

Branson is like Las Vegas without the gambling.

[GeneChing]

Vegas without gambling would be the desert. ;)

Fighting fit for U.S. stage (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/14/content_12807819.htm)
www.chinaview.cn 2010-01-14 10:19:03

BEIJING, Jan. 14 -- More Americans will soon be able to see Chinese shows, since a Beijing company bought a theater in Branson, Missouri. Wu Chong in New York and Mu Qian in Beijing report

China has taken over the White House - not in Washington DC, but in Branson, Missouri.

The White House Theater will open on May 1 with the first show Chun Yi: The Legend of Kungfu. Photos courtesy of China Heaven Creation International Performing Arts Company

Last month, the Beijing-based China Heaven Creation International Performing Arts Company purchased a theater called the White House Theater in Branson, a small town in the American Midwest and a popular destination for American vacationers.

The theater will be a base for China Heaven Creation to develop its United States market, and its first show is Chun Yi: The Legend of Kungfu, which has been staged more than 3,000 times at home and abroad.

The White House Theater deal, worth $3.54 million, marks the first time a Chinese company has purchased a theater in the United States. It is the second venue in Branson to feature Chinese performing arts, after the New Shanghai Circus, whose forte is acrobatics.

"We also investigated New York and Las Vegas but found that this theater in Branson was the best deal we can get," says Cao Xiaoning, executive chairman of China Heaven Creation. "A city with a great number of visitors and a strong tradition of show business, Branson is strategically located for developing (our business) in the US."

With a population of about 7,000, Branson attracts approximately 8 million visitors each year, mostly American families. Besides its beautiful landscape and extensive water sports facilities, theater arts is another primary attraction of Branson. It boasts more than 50 live performance theaters in town and even more theater seats than Broadway. With 1,200 seats, the 15-year-old White House Theater is one of the biggest in Branson.

The theater will open on May 1 with Chun Yi: The Legend of Kungfu, a show that blends Chinese kungfu, dance and original music. It involves about 60 performers, besides set designer Han Lixun, chief creative director of set design for the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, among others.

"More than 100 theater works are performed in Branson every year, most of which are nostalgic American-style shows, such as the Andy Williams Variety Show and Peter Pan. I believe that our show will bring something refreshing to American audiences," Cao says.

Premiering in 2004 in Beijing, Chun Yi: The Legend of Kungfu has toured Canada, Japan, Russia and the UK, with 574 performances held outside China. From May, the White House Theater will hold two shows a day.

"We've had people call in for reservations. The local communities are very open to international influences," says Anna Koelling, general manager of the theater.

Koelling was hired only four days before the deal was inked on Dec 16, and is currently one of the few full-time employees there. However, the theater will recruit more Americans, including a chief financial officer and a marketing director, according to China Heaven Creation.

Branson Chamber of Commerce President Ross Summers, who was present at the signing of the deal, says that he believes this is a good opportunity for the White House Theater and is excited about the upcoming kungfu production.

"The show appears to be world-class and successful in other cities. Once word of mouth gets around, the local people will (be drawn to) appreciate a good performance," he says.

But Summers also warns that it won't be easy for the Chinese company. "It will take a couple of years to build an audience. Also, as far as business practice goes, there's a learning curve on both sides (Branson and Heaven Creation)," he says. "But we're prepared to help them."

China Travel International Investment Hong Kong Limited, the main investor in China Heaven Creation, once owned the Florida Splendid China, a $100 million theme park which opened in 1993 near Walt Disney World, but closed in 2003 because of poor business. Cao, who used to work for Florida Splendid China, believes the experience gained there will help him to run the White House Theater better.

"The Florida Splendid China was too nationalistic, but in Chun Yi: The Legend of Kungfu we are trying to present a show of cosmopolitan values with Chinese characteristics, which is easy for people from various cultural backgrounds to accept," Cao says.

The show tells the story of a young boy who embarks on an epic journey to enlightenment after undergoing a series of formidable trials to earn the title "Chun Yi, The Pure One".

Cao says a conflict of roles between the Chinese and American staff also contributed to the failure of Florida Splendid China. To avoid a repetition, the White House Theater will make a clear division of responsibilities: the Chinese will be in charge of the show, and the Americans, the management of the theater.

"We are prepared to lose money in the first year, but we hope to make ends meet in the second year and begin to make a profit in the third," Cao says.

[r.(shaolin)]

For what its worth, to my mind this thread belongs in:
Martial Media and Popular Culture

[5thBrother]

does it come to Australia? ...

only saw London in the website?........

[ekaterina]

nihao.

i was very fortunate to have attended "chun yi: the legend of kung fu" when it visited london, england summer of 2009. it was magnificently beautiful and rendered tears throughout the performance.

my question is, is "chun yi: the legend of kung fu" scheduled/envisioned to be shown in los angeles, california, usa in the future? after hearing me speak endlessly of it, someone i know in los angeles would very much like to see a performance.

kindly, ekaterina
www.abctales.com/user/tretchicovmanicova