"Soul of Shaolin" mixes sentiment and strength
By Michael Kuchwara
Assocaited Press 01-15-2009
NEW YORK: It's sort of Bruce
Lee - with more noble aspirations.
"Soul of Shaolin," a Kung Fu spectacular, which opened Thursday
at Broadway's Marquis Theatre, is a striking mixture of sentiment
and strength, a soap-tinged, martial-arts tale of a devoted mother
and her virtue-seeking son.
The show uses a particular kind of Chinese physical prowess
called Shaolin Kung Fu, practiced in the province of Henan by the
monks of the Shaolin temple. This movement is the centerpiece of
the production, the first from the People's Republic of China to
appear on Broadway.
"Soul of Shaolin" tells the story of Hui Guang, raised by the
monks after the child is separated from his mother during a time of
war. There is a fierce physicality to his adventures, a journey
that allows Hui Guang to grow to manhood, face challenges and
eventually be reunited with his mother. Is there any other kind of
ending for a strict morality tale such as this?
And the youth's extended journey makes for complicated displays
of Kung Fu, an acrobatic display of movement that often involves
swords, whips, poles and the most astonishing contortions of the
human body.
The suppleness of the cast is amazing - starting with young Wang
Sen who portrays our hero as a boy - and who is followed by two
more performers, Dong Yingbo and Yu Fei, playing older versions of
the lad. Try putting your foot behind your ear as agile little Wang
Sen does with lightning ease.
One of the best moments in the show - it is divided rigidly into
six separate scenes - occurs as the monks demonstrate what they do
with Kung Fu in daily life. Watch what they with a series of
yellow bowls.
The violence in "Soul of Shaolin" is stylized, of course, and
almost balletic in nature. And the villains are obviously bad. For
example, at one point, Hui Guang's mother, portrayed by the lovely
Li Lin, is threatened by a brigand sporting a scary mustache. And
others wear their menace with equally broad strokes.
Subtlety is not apparent in the musical soundtrack either, an
odd mixture of soupy Hollywood-style movie music - that telegraphs
emotions - mixed with more traditional Chinese sounds.
Yet it is the demanding physicality in the show that counts.
That movement celebrates an intense kind of discipline that borders
on the spiritual and proves to be surprisingly sturdy
Broadway entertainment.
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