![]() Your browser does not support the video tag. The Haxan Cloak) and Arca.ĭragon Spring Phoenix Rise was commissioned for the opening season of the Shed, New York. Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise features songs by Sia remixed by Bobby Krlic (a.k.a. His designs put the audience in the belly of a dragon. Tim Yip participated in the original production concept design, which was combined with martial arts, dance, music and narrative in an immersive kung-fu musical. Original Production Concept Designer: Tim Yipĭragon Spring Phoenix Rise tells the story of a secret sect between three generations of a mysterious Chinese family in Flushing, Queens, that possesses the magical power to extend human life. Visit for tickets and information.Co-creators and Writers: Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger the earth cracked while the large claws of the bone dragon arose. Rylander and special effects designer Jeremy Chernick, who make enormous visual contributions to the show.) So even if not everything in this show rises to the occasion, it’s still a one-of-a-kind experience that deserves your attendance.ĭragon Spring Phoenix Rise continues at the McCourt Theatre at the Shed at Hudson Yards (545 West 30 th Street) through July 27. ole spinning dance of flesh on flesh, Fissure young hearts so wounds spring fresh. (Kudos belong as well to the inventive lighting designer Tobias G. Still, there is no substitute for live theater: watching water suddenly appear on Mikiko Suzuki McAdams’ concrete-looking set or having trap doors open and then lit on fire can never be truly replicated on film. 'Rise' The Dragon Spring Sword shook violently. ![]() Indeed, I much preferred the more contemporary choreography exhibited in two nightclub sequences (brilliantly executed by a 12-person ensemble sporting Montano Levi Blanco’s surprisingly sexy costumes).Īnd while some of the martial arts sequences (choreographed by Zhang Jun), especially those in Act Two, are quite exciting to watch, the fact that Shi-Zheng uses a cast made up mostly of dancers doing their best to execute these tricky moves is never really lost on us.įurther, the vocals for the show’s few stand-alone songs (by the pop goddess Sia, and re-arranged by composers Bobby Kric and Arca) could have been “dubbed” by the likes of Lea Salonga or Shawn Mendes, rather than passably sung by the game cast (although Chien-Pott does provide a rather stirring rendition of the anthemic “Courage”). Divine Empress of the Phoenix became more cautious, she cut her palm and slashed at the Dragon Spring Sword. For example, the movement could have been better manipulated cinematically the great choreographer Akram Khan’s ritualized dances for the Asian warriors seem to owe as much to his own work, not to mention Martha Graham and Twyla Tharp, than to its source material. ![]() Indeed, in many ways, the enterprise possibly would have worked better as an animated film. ![]() It’s essentially a good-versus-evil allegory that even a six-year-old might be able to follow. It’s a task that becomes even more dangerous after Doug Pince (David Torok, resembling a second-rate Bond villain), the billionaire husband of Lone Park’s daughter Little Lotus (played as a young woman by a charming Jasmine Chiu and then as a more hardened adult by the excellent Peilu Chien-Pott), teams up with Lone Park’s disgruntled protégé Lee (a properly menacing Dickson Mbi) in a nefarious scheme to gain control of the spring. The story, by “Kung Fun Panda” creators Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, concerns the protection of a Flushing, Queens spring that hides water that can provide immortality, which is overseen by the elderly Lone Park (an effective David Patrick Kelly). As it sounds, this is a tall order (literally, as some sequences begin 80 feet in the air), and while the show succeeds in achieving some of its goals, it often remains frustratingly earthbound. In under two hours, the internationally renowned director Chen Shi-Zheng (“The Peony Pavillion”) and his collaborators want to serve up the theatricality of Cirque du Soleil, offer a display of martial arts that honors (and continues) the legacy of Bruce Lee, and create a tale of family and morality that appeals to all ages that combines the sincerity and pathos of a Broadway musical. Much like its mouthful of a title, “Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise,” now premiering at the massive McCourt Theatre at The Shed at Hudson Yards, is a lot to take in. ![]()
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