Butterfly Lovers
Bhaskar’s Arts Academy
Victoria Theatre, Sunday (Dec 19)
Greater than six a long time after it was first staged, Bhaskar’s Arts Academy’s manufacturing Butterfly Lovers returned with an lively new solid and chic fusion of Indian and Chinese language cultures.
Butterfly Lovers, which first premiered in 1958, was Cultural Medallion recipient Santha Bhaskar’s first full-length manufacturing in Singapore, impressed by a movie model of the Chinese language epic she had seen.
Very similar to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the story of star-crossed lovers Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, who sacrifice their love when Yingtai’s mother and father prepare her betrothal to a different man, pulls on the heartstrings.
Within the new adaptation of the traditional, co-presented with the Singapore Chinese language Cultural Centre, choreographer Meenakshy Bhaskar paid homage to the context and intent behind her mom’s earlier work, whereas including a brand new dimension by infusing Chinese language dance actions and music into the sequences.
Musician Neil Chua’s soulful efficiency on the ruan, a standard Chinese language instrument, within the first act transported the viewers to a bygone period.
The set design in vivid tones equivalent to peacock blue and scarlet added a contact of dramatic aptitude.
Whereas the sight of dancers performing bharatanatyam in conventional Chinese language costume took some getting used to, the fastidiously calibrated choreography melded the 2 types seamlessly to current a singular, unconventional routine.
The star of the present was Malini Bhaskar, who disappeared into her function as Shanbo, presenting a nuanced depiction of a masculine but weak hero, a vibrant scholar and a broken-hearted lover.
Malini’s completely synchronised duets with Sarenniya Ramathas as Yingtai have been such a visible delight, it left the viewers desirous to see extra of them collectively.
Acclaimed composer Rajkumar Bharathi took a novel method to the musical rating, departing from conventional carnatic music and complementing the circulation of the drama with intelligent modifications in tone and tempo.
