A world-class large-scale musical
A super production team from New York, Spain, Canada, Singapore and Taiwan
Unforgettable contemporary classics plus new songs: a fresh look at Carmen in 2006
In Love with Carmen, adapted from Bizet’s opera, was a major event in Chinese-language entertainment in December 2006: a large musical created jointly by pop singers, a musical-theatre creative team and a pop music team.
The “dream student” every teacher wants to teach — A-Mei
Asia’s pop diva A-Mei took the lead, becoming the alluring, passionate, mysterious and wild Carmen. To make the performance perfect, she went to Pier Studios, Broadway’s professional training school in New York, for gruelling training. Her teachers there said she has a uniquely penetrating voice and irreplaceable stage charisma, and that Carmen seemed already to be in her soul.
Carmen, written by the French writer Mérimée in the 1840s and adapted into an opera of the same name by Bizet, is already a classic of classics. Over a hundred years, in books, plays, dance, film and television, each age has presented her view of love in a different way. In December 2006 at the Taipei Arena, In Love with Carmen began its world tour with a premiere, created by a golden production team from New York, Spain, Singapore, Canada and Taiwan, the largest pop musical of its kind, including New York Broadway teacher Peggy Lewis and Taiwan’s well-known musical producer Serina Chen.
The team also included Wu Ching-lung, a well-known Asian music director and arranger; producer Wu Yu-kang; Cheng Chien-kuo, Taiwan’s leading fashion master; Spanish choreographer Paloma Gomez; vocal arranger Ma Yu-fen; New York vocal coach Julia Mendelsohn; Alain Lortie, the best lighting designer of Cirque du Soleil; and video designers Thomas Gray and Chen Yau. A strong line-up brought together the latest elements of music, dance and fashion in musical theatre.
In the music, a live band reinterpreted today’s classic pop hits with Wu Ching-lung’s arrangements, so that audiences could hear the voices of two pop stars, A-Mei and A-Du, as well as brand-new songs. The dance combined flamenco and tap in large song-and-dance scenes. A cast of a hundred singers, musicians, dancers and actors presented, at the Taipei Arena, a work that takes Chinese-language pop music to a new peak, certain to set off a craze for Chinese-language musicals.
The passionate, wild and mysterious Carmen — A-Mei
“I Just Want to Sing.” A-Mei was on the cover of Newsweek in 2001 and of the Asian edition of Time in 2002, the only Asian artist to appear on both American magazines. With a natural gift for music and dance, she lifts the mood effortlessly and amazes the whole house, and has won over the entire Chinese-speaking world. Her extraordinary achievements have made her a household name, a diva across Asia.
The worldly and deeply feeling He Xi — A-Du
His distinctive husky, worn voice shakes the heart the moment he opens his mouth. A-Du, the king of love songs from Singapore who became popular across the Chinese-speaking world, debuted in 2002 and sold a million records within a year, winning countless music awards. He once served as Singapore’s tourism ambassador and is truly Singapore’s king of pop.
