TORONTO—Peter Meffe was delighted with the Mid-Autumn Spectacular, a unique Chinese cultural show currently playing at Toronto’s John Bassett Theatre.
“I’m absolutely impressed. It was an incredible performance and it’s obviously a wonderful experience and certainly a depiction of 5,000 years of Chinese culture,” Meffe said.
“This is something that everyone should come to see and it certainly provides us with a very entertaining and enlightening experience of Chinese history. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would certainly see it again.”
The Vaughn city councilor said that there were too many enjoyable performances to pick one as a favorite. However, he said that listening to the orchestra was “wonderful” and “a pleasure to the eardrums.”
Mr. Meffe was also impressed with the drumming acts, Victory Drums and Drummers of the Tang Court.
“I think the drums were certainly something that all of us felt were incredible.”
As someone who has been in China and learned a lot about the Chinese culture, Councilor Meffe thinks that China has a wonderful culture and that any society that has lasted for 5,000 years is something to be proud of.
“It’s one of the great cultures in the world and certainly here in Canada we should try to experience it and make sure that all of our children recognize some of the wonderful culture that’s available. The art is simply amazing, the costumes are wonderful, the music was spectacular and certainly the Chinese community should be very proud of what we saw here tonight.”
The piece, The Loyalty of Yue Fei, involved martial arts as it told the story of a famous general protecting his country. Mr. Meffe “enjoyed that considerably.”
After so many years of communist rule in China, many of the traditional arts have been lost or used to promote communist ideology. The New York-based Divine Performing Arts, the performance company who present the Spectacular, is reviving the best of the ancient and traditional dances and music.
The show features authentic costuming, dance theatre and music played by the 50-piece orchestra which blends Western instruments with Chinese instruments such as the zither, pipa, and erhu.
“It was a pleasure to anybody’s ears to hear tonight and I’m certainly interested in seeing, and finding out more about the instruments in the Chinese culture,” said Mr. Meffe.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of China’s most ancient and cherished holidays. The Spectacular expresses Chinese classical dance and showcases authentic traditional Chinese culture. Through background scenery, costumes, and choreography, the Spectacular expresses truthfulness, compassion, and pure beauty. China’s history comes to life in this gorgeous performance that is entertaining, inspiring, and uplifting. The show’s content is presented in both Chinese and English. For more information, visit :http://www.divineshows.com/Toronto
