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LAND OF SMILES IN SHANGHAI OPERA

 

The romantic operetta The Land of Smiles by Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehar was shown for the first time in the Shanghai Opera on Wednesday. In a unique development, the performance has been adapted to stage in a Hungarian-Chinese coproduction symbolising “a meeting of the east and the west”, organisers said. The story is also symbolic as it is revolving around the love of a European countess, Lisa and a Chinese prince, Sou-Chong.
The operetta, one of Lehar’s latest works released in 1929, is performed in Shanghai by European and Chinese artists and musicians with the 200 costumes prepared in a workshop near the city. The production will travel on for further showings in China and Europe including Hungary on February 1 and 2.