According to a press release from Lively Arts at Stanford, Hong Kong Ballet has cancelled its Northern California tour for the 2001-02 season, due to "scheduling conflicts." Instead it will begin its tour in Los Angeles on October 12.

I wonder if the cancellation is due to the terrorist attacks in America last month. The National Ballet of China has cancelled its US tour altogether.<BR>HK Ballet is only doing one ballet - Wayne Eagling's 'The Last Emperor' - for the whole tour. <P><BR><p>[This message has been edited by Kevin Ng (edited October 04, 2001).]

From the Los Angeles Times:<P><B>Recalling History in 'Last Emperor'<BR>The Hong Kong Ballet's dance drama follows a disjointed epic on the life of China's final imperial ruler.</B><P>By LEWIS SEGAL, Times Dance Critic<P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>In "The Last Emperor," a cadre of capable, mismatched collaborators produces a woefully ineffectual ballet about a woefully ineffectual head of state: Pu Yi, who first sat on the imperial throne in Beijing in 1908 at age 3 and remained a puppet ruler for most of his life. <BR> Like its subject, this historical dance drama is continually pulled this way and that, sometimes yielding to the demands of mime-based narrative (no dance) and elsewhere offering a series of exotic divertissements (no drama). And like its subject, Pu Yi remains a puppet character, despite the charismatic and inappropriately heroic dancing by Michael Wang of the Hong Kong Ballet.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.calendarlive.com/top/1,1419,L-LATimes-Search-X!ArticleDetail-45274,00.html?search_area=Articles&channel=Search" TARGET=_blank><B>MORE...</B></A> <BR>

A review from Florida:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Hong Kong Ballet takes subdued approach to the Last Emperor<P>Guillermo Perez, South Florida Sun-Sentinel<P>Although its source and subject matter suggest exotic splendor, Hong Kong Ballet's The Last Emperor, at the Broward Center Saturday night, turned out to be a model of restraint. This proved a virtue, save for some limp plot line. In fact, the biggest misstep in Wayne Eagling's dance story -- using the Su Cong score from Bernardo Bertolucci's same-titled film -- came with the tacky spectacle of the finale.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/stage/sfl-hongkongrevoct30.story?coll=sfla%2Dentertainment%2Dstage target=_blank>More</a>

A short review in the Miami Herald:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>FINE CHINA<P>Jordan Levin, Miami Herald<P>...<P>Choreographed by former Royal Ballet star Wayne Eagling, it was an uneven drama set to music by Su Cong -- who did the score for Bernardo Bertolucci's film of the same name -- and beautifully costumed by Wang Lin Yu.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.miami.com/herald/content/features/critics/dance/digdocs/083113.htm target=_blank>More</a>, halfway down the linked article.

<B>From Hong Kong Comes 'The Last Emperor'</B> <BR>Preview by Lori Fischer in The Washington Post <P><BR>"The Last Emperor," the tragic story of Pu Yi, who became emperor of China in 1908 when he wasn't yet 3 years old, will come to the stage Saturday and Sunday with the Hong Kong Ballet at George Mason University.<P>The lavish and colorful dance drama, based on the Oscar-winning 1987 epic film by Bernardo Bertolucci, is choreographed by Wayne Eagling and features music by Su Cong.<P>Pu Yi was ousted by revolutionaries in 1912, then declined into poverty and obscurity.<P>Combining Chinese culture with traditional ballet, the sets are designed by Liu Yuan Sheng, the dean of stage design at Beijing's Central Academy. More than 160 ornate period costumes are designed by Wang Lin Yu, chief designer at Beijing's Central Opera Ballet Theatre.<P><A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29229-2001Nov14.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

<B>The Emperor's New Mode</B> <BR>An interview with Stephen Jefferies of Hong Kong Ballet with Lisa Traiger in The Washington Post<P><BR>WHEN the Hong Kong Ballet's production of Wayne Eagling's "The Last Emperor" is performed tomorrow at George Mason University's Center for the Arts, the cinematic scope of the full-length ballet will be much in evidence. That's because the work is based on Bernardo Bertolucci's epic 1987 film, which traces China's evolution through the eyes of a deposed boy emperor. The film's grandeur and sweep encompass both political -- China is forced to become a modern nation-state -- and personal history.<P><A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34600-2001Nov15.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

<B>Hong Kong's 'Emperor' With No Close</B> <BR>Sarah Kaufman is unimpressed in The Washington Post <P><BR>The most enduring ballet stories follow a sublimely simple formula: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back -- she may have died in the process, but that doesn't stand in the way of an emotionally satisfying ending.<P>As well suited as dance is to express feelings and ideas, unless intelligently handled it falters when it comes to complicated narrative and the interrelations of lots of characters. Freight a ballet with too much narrative, and you can easily get lost in a morass of mime and histrionics. Or worse: You could end up with "The Last Emperor," a full-length ballet based on the story of Pu Yi, who in 1908 ascended China's throne as a toddler, was expelled while still a teenager and lived most of his life in various forms of captivity.<P><A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50786-2001Nov18.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

Paula Citron - Globe & Mail, 11.24.01:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Audience with the Emperor</B><P>What elevates the work beyond its unadventurous nature is the company itself. The dancers, representing twelve countries, are a mostly Asian polyglot, the majority from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and the Philippines with a smattering of Caucasians. They are well-schooled, and have a real sense of character.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>To read more search <B>Paula Citron</B> on the <A HREF="http://www.globeandmail.com" TARGET=_blank>Globe & Mail's</A> 7 Day Search<P><p>[This message has been edited by Marie (edited November 24, 2001).]

William Littler - Toronto Star, 11.25.01:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Last Emperor crams too much story into ballet</B><BR>Dance almost an afterthought for Hong Kong Ballet <P>The problem with Eagling's ballet is that it is literal-minded to a fault. Instead of telling the tale through dance, he has told it mostly through mime, with dance numbers incorporated almost as interludes in the unfolding of the plot.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>To read more go to the Entertainment Section of the <A HREF="http://www.thestar.com" TARGET=_blank>Toronto Star</A>.

Our friend Kevin Ng has a review in the Asian Wall Street Journal on the 3 companies - Shanghai Ballet, HK Ballet and Tibetan dance.<P><B>However, the article is only available to you if you are a subscriber.</B><P> <A HREF="http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB1008900984617625880.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB1008900984617625880.htm</A>

Thanks Stuart. I regret this limited access to the Journal's website. However Criticaldance members in Asia and Australasia if interested may purchase a copy of this weekend's edition of the newspaper which should be on sale till Sunday.