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Most Helpful Reviews
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Liked It “Complex, lovely, and Jeremy Irons can be my secret husband if he wants.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “This opera can be done very well, however, it can also just be complete cheese. Anytime one is reading a play, the only thing that can stand up is the writing. However, a play, musical, or opera is never intended to stand alone. |
Newest Reviews
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“Complex, lovely, and Jeremy Irons can be my secret husband if he wants.”
scylla wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I enjoyed this but it was eye opening to say the least. ”
Cassie H wrote this review Thursday, October 8 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“wrote my thesis on it.”
Janet L wrote this review Tuesday, September 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I've been meaning to read this play for a long time, and that perhaps set me up somewhat to be underwhelmed by it.
mrcornie wrote this review Monday, May 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This play is about big ideas of identity, gender, culture love, and definitions. And because of that, maybe the play remains too much more an intellectual experience, and not enough of an emotional one. After finishing I wish I had had more of an emotional response to it, but I was much too aware of ideas then feelings. That is not a negative; anything that makes you think this much tells you its powerful.
I suspect my lack of emotional response would be resolved, as with most plays, if I were to see it as it is intended - live on the stage. I'll have to put this play away for a bit and either see it live, watch the film, or read it again.”
“It’s pretty much impossible to not read this and see John Lithgow and BD Wong in the lead roles (even though I’ve never seen them in the stage version). The characters are so iconic and rooted in those two amazing actors that reading this beautiful and tragic love story is to see the play enacted in the mind’s eye. Absolutely brilliant. ”
wurd nurd wrote this review Wednesday, March 4 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This opera can be done very well, however, it can also just be complete cheese. Anytime one is reading a play, the only thing that can stand up is the writing. However, a play, musical, or opera is never intended to stand alone.
Raliesha Ashenden wrote this review Thursday, February 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
So, go see the live version. If you see a good one, it ought to be very valuable.
Read this after. ”
“A play which is loosely based on the real life relationship between Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei-Pu, and inspired by Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
quiamby wrote this review Thursday, September 13 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Rene Gallimard, a French civil servant in China, falls in love with a beautiful Chinese opera performer, Song Liling, who is in reality a man pretending to be a woman. Song, also a spy for the Chinese government, uses his relationship with Gallimard to get information from him.
A really good play. Where there was, at the very least, an attempt to subvert Western stereotypes and prejudices against Asians or those from the East. It also explores homosexual relationships and the way society reacts to these.
”
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