East meets West

‘Terracotta Warriors 3-D’ explores the worlds in between

0

When sitting down for a performance of Terracotta Warriors, things are a little unclear — and that’s not because it’s a full-length Chinese production in the middle of Denver. At first, the stage seems kind of fuzzy, that is until you slide on your 3-D glasses and everything comes into focus.

Terracotta Warriors 3-D is the first theatrical performance to incorporate 3-D technology as a part of its stage show. Debuting in Beijing last year, it hits the University of Denver’s Newman Center through Sept. 6 for its North American premiere. The show follows the life of Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang (ruling from 220 to 210 B.C.) and features a full cast of Chinese dancers and martial arists as well as an operatic narrator. In a world defined by boundaries, Terracotta Warriors 3-D skates the yin and yang line between East and West, modern and traditional, the past and the future.

This boundary blending reflects the life of the show’s writer and director Dennis Law. Growing up in China, Law came to America for school and spent 20 years as a surgeon before starting his second career in show business almost 15 years ago. Always a fan of the Broadway musical, Law specializes in producing large-scale Chinese productions with stories, songs and performers from his home country.

“I’m not competitive [enough] to do [Broadway musicals]. There’s so many Broadway directors, and producers with so much experience doing it,” Law says. “I happened to find this gap, and nobody was there to fill the gap. I know Western culture, but I’m also Chinese. I knew more about Western culture when I started, and then I became an expert in Chinese productions. [After] I learned, I could do both with ease.”

Law melds the two together to present Chinese culture in a way that’s slightly familiar for Western crowds.

“Chinese dance drama is very slow moving,” he says. “You spend an hour having someone fall in love, and then another hour having someone die, and then you spend the third hour reincarnated. No one in the West is going to pay for that.

“If you’re going to transport your culture to make it more appealing to other people, you’ve got to understand other people’s sensitivities. You can’t just be like, ‘I’m going to shove this down your throat whether you like it or not,’” he says with a laugh. “I spent my second professional life trying to make Chinese things understandable and able to be appreciated by people who are not brought up in that culture.”

Law has done several of these productions all over North America, but this is his first venture into the technological third dimension. As a lover of technology and an eager innovator, Law says he’s always fantasized about how to incorporate 3-D into theater. Considering the drastic improvements we’ve seen in other areas of entertainment, Law feels there’s still more to be done in theater.

“For a theatrical stage, we’ve really run into diminishing returns as to what the audience can experience,” he says. “So I said to myself a few years ago, wouldn’t it be great to marry 3-D cinema with live action on stage? … 

“[3-D] gets me, the viewer, right inside the environment of what the movie is doing,” he says. “It’s much more stimulating and much more impactful. Some people hate it and some just think it’s a gimmick, and to each their own. But I think 3-D motion pictures really enhanced motion pictures. Particularly in films that need it. It won’t enhance a tragedy or [a film] where two people are just talking to each other, but it will make a difference when you are doing some of this fantasy stuff where things are flying around.”

His imagination comes to life in the Terracotta show. The performance takes place in front of a large LED board that has more than 2,080,000 lights. The 3-D effect creates a depth to the background scenery and allows for small touches including smoke rising from fire, birds soaring from the screen and rain seemingly pouring down on the audience. But don’t get Law wrong, he understands that not every show would benefit from the technology.

“It is not applicable for everything — if you’re doing Mamma Mia, it’d be crazy to do it in 3-D,” he says. “But if you’re doing the Wizard of Oz or something that is fantasy oriented, that’s a different kind of subject matter.”

For Terracotta Warriors, the effect adds another thick layer onto an already jam-packed show. Despite the gizmos and doodads, the show still features talented dancers, elaborate costumes, beautiful music and a dramatic Chinese tale. Law aims to feature the best aspects of Chinese entertainment in his shows.

“There’s a Chinese saying, ‘You cook with whatever ingredients are put in front of you,’’’ Law says.

And what was cooking in Law’s pot? Action.

“Asian performers’ biggest skill is action, whether dance, or martial arts or acrobatics,” he says. “Focusing on action as the storytelling medium turns out to be very ideal because we’re not counting on spoken word, which [eliminates] the language problem.”

Law calls this kind of theater the “action musical.” And even with the attention to movement, the performances are still full of emotion.

“These musicals all have points that tug at your heart — whether it’s jealousy, rage, or love, affection, revenge — it uses dance and, when there’s conflict, a little martial arts,” he says.

While in the past Law has only featured Chinese performers, this run at the Newman Center will be the first time that Law will bring in locals: two performers from the Colorado Ballet and a Colorado vocalist.

“I thought, why don’t we make this into a more cultural exchange thing, instead of one group from one country coming to wow and dazzle Americans?” he says. “I want to make it a cooperative effort rather than a showcase effort.

“For years in the West, Madame Butterfly has been sung by a Caucasian woman, right? So why can’t my [main role] be played by an American?” The performers have been able to learn from each other and see the different techniques and approaches, be it how to properly open a fan or the correct pronunciation of Mandarin words.

This mixing and blending of ideas and cultures is the true center of the Terracotta Warriors show. As modern technology meets traditional Chinese theater and as the East meets the West, everyone leaves with a better understanding of the intersectionality that art can create. As Law says, “This is what art is all about.”

ON THE BILL: Terracotta Warriors 3-D. Newman Center, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Denver, 303-871-6200. Through Sept. 6.