La Traviata
MORE THAN MUSICAL, LTD., HONG KONG (2017)
World Premiere Adaptation
photos courtesy of Chi Wai
La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, adaptation by N. Muni
Conductor: Wei-En Hsu
Cast: Xu L., Park J.M., Zhou ZZ./Wook S., Fung E., Gordon S./Wong A., Hu J., Wong Sin N. (violin)
Production: N. Muni (stage direction/scenery/lighting/clothes/projections)
“Hong Kong’s More than Musical, Ltd. debuted its first production – an abridged version of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata – in a non-traditional physical configuration. The result was an evening of theatre as much as it was opera. For those who know the opera, this Traviata was an interesting, and in several ways innovative, exercise. The cuts were, on the whole, seamless. The violin accompaniment was used to particularly fortuitous dramatic effect, acting almost as an additional voice. The violin soloist herself doubled as a sort of specter confronting Violetta, especially in the last Act in which she is dying.
It was opera as theatre: operatic aspirations aside, this must surely have been among the best evenings of theatre put on by a local Hong Kong company in quite some time.
– Peter Gordon, Asian Review (June, 2017)