| ‘Mulan Jr.’ comes to life on stage at Capitol Theatre |
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Posted: Wednesday, August 1, 2012 10:00 pm
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By KEVIN BOWDEN
Staff Reporter
For the next two weekends, a group of 55 local youngsters will be working their magic on stage as part of a summer theater workshop hosted by Union City’s Masquerade Theatre. The youngsters will showcase their talents when they perform “Mulan Jr.” on stage at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Union City.
There are six performances planned through Aug. 12.
For the next two Friday and Saturday nights, the shows will begin at 7:30 and the two Sunday matinees will start at 2.
Tickets for the shows are available at Lanzer’s Printing and Office Supply Co. in downtown Union City and at the box office prior to the shows. Tickets are $10 each.
The cast of third- through sixth-graders has been split into two groups — a ying cast and a yang cast.
The one-act show centers around the adventures of “Mulan,” a young Chinese girl who is determined to keep her father from having to protect China from the Huns. It is a tale that dates back nearly 2,000 years and was featured in the 1998 Disney movie “Mulan.”
The youngsters have been working for the past week and a half on the show as part of the summer theater workshop. The youngsters have learned basic theater skills such as blocking, memorizing lines, choreography and singing. It has been a very memorable experience for the group.
“I love this. It was fun. I only wanted to be in this play because my friends were in it, but now I think otherwise,” Keathley Darnall said. “It’s been really, really awesome and I’ll hate it when it ends. I can’t wait for next year. I love having Shan-Yu as a part. This is the best thing I’ve done all summer.”
“This is my first year and it is really awesome. I love doing this and everybody is nice. I will probably do this next time,” Jayson Alfter said during rehearsals Monday night.
The plot for the show is relatively simple. The young character “Mulan” is concerned about her father’s (“Fa Zhou”) having to serve in the Chinese military and so she transforms herself into a soldier (“Ping”) with the help of her friends. She then embarks on an improbable journey that transforms her into a “wandering hero” as she helps defeat the Huns and has a hand in rescuing the emperor.
Earlier this summer, a theater workshop was held for an older group of youth and it ended with performances of “Footloose.”
Staff Reporter Kevin Bowden may be contacted by email at kmbowden@ucmessenger.com.
Published in The Messenger 8.1.12 |
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