Taiwan drama director Stan Lai's latest work The Peach
Blossom Land is expected to go on stage in Broadway, with 10
performances in its English version.
The director, who grew up in the United States, will translate
the script himself. He previously worked as a bilingual interpreter
at the US Supreme Court. In the process of translation, Stan Lai
focused on the literature of the Peach Blossom Shangri-La
(Tao Hua Yuan Ji) by Tao Yuanming in order to bring Chinese
culture closer to the US audience.
The mainland version of the stage drama, which has a stellar
cast including top drama actor Huang Lei and actress Yuan Quan,
received wide success both in box office takings and critical
plaudits last November in Beijing and Shanghai.
However, in its English version, the whole crew except the
director will be replaced by another Chinese theater based in
United States.
The mainland version of the drama will be staged again at Poly
Theater in May, as part International Drama Season's "2007 Meet in
Beijing" event.
The drama was first brought to the stage 20 years ago in Taiwan,
again by the Performance Workshop. It was then shortly adapted as a
film.
(CRI March 3, 2007)
