Watch Hebe Tian and Jing Boran in their rendition of the classic Beauty and the Beast theme song for the upcoming live-action film. The translations are very non-literal and almost sounds more like a translation of Sun and Moon, but at least they both look gorgeous. Also, if you haven’t heard, Disney’s live-action Mulan is set for a Nov. 2018 release date and is expected to begin filming in April. No news on Sony’s version yet.
Shīzi Wáng 狮子王 the musical will debut in Shanghai in 2015
The Lion King is 17 years old this year. The musical that is, not the movie. The movie is even older, celebrating its 20th anniversary earlier this week. That makes me feel old. I mean, I watched that in theatres.
Since then, after collecting a trophy case of accolades and over a billion dollars in ticket sales, The Lion King is being produced in Mandarin for the first time. Shanghai Disney Resort, the latest in a string of Disney theme parks, is set to open some time next year and will stage the Chinese version of the critically acclaimed Broadway show.
United Asia Live Entertainment, a company backed by the newly restructured Shanghai Media Group and South Korean conglomerate CJ Corporation, is holding open auditions for singers and dancers in the multimillion-dollar Mandarin adaption of The Lion King musical. This is the third international musical production for UALE, which previously brought Mama Mia and Cats to Chinese audiences, and marks SMG’s growing partnership with Walt Disney Studios. Hedging its bets, SMG is also partnered with DreamWorks Animation in Oriental DreamWorks.
Registrations for July auditions in Shanghai and Beijing are now open.
Dancers
Male and female dancers
Between 18 to early-30s
Background in contemporary dance or ballet
Singers
Agile male and female singers
Between 18-45 years old
Before shooting to fame with her hit single Ai Ni 愛你 , Kimberley Chen played Young Nala in the Australian Lion King. In 2006, Kimberley performed in Shanghai as part of the Australian Asia tour. Photo credit: Zorg Lin
Both dancers and singers are required to prepare one of the following songs to showcase their voice and range. A piano accompaniment will be provided at the audition. Sheet music may be downloaded here. (Just so you know, these English song titles are not my translations. I’m not even really sure what “A Hard Waiting” means…) Interestingly, only a few of the songs are from the musical genre, highlighting the short history of musical theatre in China.
You may have heard the four official Chinese versions or the 25-language version of Frozen’s “Let it Go”, but have you heard China’s latest trending version – the fanmade version compiled by 括号君 from netizens singing in a small sample of 26-dialects all loosely falling under Chinese ? Also I love the mainland film version of Love is an open door if you haven’t heard it.
How many versions can you understand?
Video here
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Disney’s ‘Frozen’ has grossed over $750 million at the box office to date. Frozen opens in China, the world’s second-largest movie market, early next month.
Frozen, one of this winter’s biggest box office hits, adds yet another memorable theme song to the iconic Disney musical repertoire. “Let It Go,” originally performed by Idina Menzel, tells of the snow Queen Elsa’s decision to let go of her obstacles and embrace her powerful, icy magic.
Frozen is known as 冰雪奇缘 Bing Xue Qi Yuan (Magical Tales of Ice and Snow) in Taiwan and on the Mainland, and 魔雪奇緣 Mo Syut Kei Yun (Enchanted Snow Tales) in Hong Kong. Following Disney animation tradition, the film has undergone separate dubbing for the three regions of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China.
Hu Weina provides the voice for Elsa in the film version. Listen to it here. The pop versions in the Taiwanese and Mainland productions are provided by two Voice of China alumni, Shennio Lin 林芯儀 and Yao Beina 姚贝娜 respectively, while the Cantonese version is performed by YouTube singer Jobelle Ubalde. Mandarin-speaking fans of Frozen, the two Mandarin language productions are furthermore distinct, with different dialogue and lyrics, so you’ll be able to experience the film twice over!
Unfortunately, Disney is not in the habit of releasing official soundtracks for its Chinese language productons, so you’ll have to bear with the audio quality until a DVD release.
Yao Beina – 隨它吧 (Let It Be)
Mainland China, pop version
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The only thing cuter than a kid is a panda.
By request, we’re posting on this film that was released last week, the second Disney-China coproduction, although definitely not the last, as the company eyes expansion into the Chinese market. The film was primarily shot at the famous Woolong Giant Panda Reserve, which you can’t purchase bus tickets to anymore from the larger Sichuan cities due to a lot of the road infrastructure being rebuilt. The scenery should emphasize the beauty of the western province. The fact that one of its stars, a panda named Mao Mao lost its life in the tragedy exactly one year ago, serves as a reminder of the tragedy. But mostly, I think it should instill in everyone a sense of hope and wanting to contribute to the rebuilding of the hardest-hit areas Sichuan like Woolong.
How can anyone not love pandas? With the earthquake in Sichuan last year and the sending of two pandas to Taiwan, pandas again rose to the spotlight. A salut to all the panda tributes, including those from Jay Chou, Disney, Yang Lei and Huang Xiaoming, coming out recently.
Jay Chou held the press conference for a drama series tentatively named “Panda Men” on the 16th. Jay says that he “loves watching Super Hero movies, but Chinese people don’t have a modern day hero. All Chinese heroes are from the ancient times, so I want to do something that no one else has yet done.” Jay says he came up with the idea long before Kungfu Panda, but never had the time to do it.
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