The packed audience absolutely loved this concert. Presented by the Chinese National Opera and Dance Company (CNODC) it used the idea of the four seasons to look at various ethnic differences in dance ,song, costume and more over the huge sprawling country of China. With over 80 performers ,there were bevies of beautiful girls , stunning costumes , fun singing , some spectacular lighting effects , stunning landscape photos and some exciting male dancing too.

There were screens at either side of the stage which had helpful but cringeworthy very bad English ( and some Russian and Italian ! )translations throughout . From a Western point of view what interested me was that unlike what is usual here in theatres , throughout the show a lot of audience members were using their mobiles and taking photos and also people were constantly moving in and out of their seats throughout the show . The music was mostly recorded , and I found it heavily miked and overamplified.

It was fascinating seeing the costumes from the various regions – and the detail with the beading and headdresses for example is amazing  ! For me I mostly found the dancing ‘fake folksy touristy‘, huge repetitive blocks of movement ,  although I was impressed by the long drum sequence and the Spirit of Water segment . The politics were heavily glossed over , if not ignored ,with the Korean and Tibetan influences and references .

Highlights of the concert included ‘Southern Beauty’ , a parade of gorgeous dark haired beauties in stunning costumes ,with parasols ,meandering down to a river.  ‘Coloured Pottery Flourish ‘ , based on ancient Han figurines , with assorted instruments. There was also the stirring Long Drum Dance , the women all in blue and white .The ‘Spirit of Water’ was tremendous , with incredible glittering  costumes , the girls in blue and silver and rippling .There was wonderful use of sinuous arm movements and choreographically it was a very effective combination of Dai and contemporary dance .

There were also featured singers , hugely popular in China including Baoli Gao, XUe Cao, Leilei Dong, Haiyan Yu  and  Yu’er Li and the audience went wild. Zhentao Li performed an excellent version of ‘Nessun Dorma ‘ ( from ‘ Puccini’s ‘Turandot’) but why did he have to bellow it? Zheng Gong performed a very moving love song ‘You Are My Eyes’. Their duet ‘ You Raise Me Up’ brought the house down. Baoli Gao had a dramatic entrance through the audience with ‘The Song of Luck and happiness/The Red Blossom ‘ that had the audience singing along ,clapping and laughing .( I was one of the very few who didn’t know the words.) There was fascinating use of Maoist pictures and propaganda at one point.

The Chinese audience absolutely lapped it up and had a fabulous time . A fascinating chance to see the current state of Chinese theatre art.

LEGEND OF FOUR SEASONS played the Star Event Centre for one night only Monday 18 November