Dragon’s Tale; music by Chan Ka Nin, text by Mark Brownell,  premiered at Harbourfront last night.  It’s a rather clever mash up of two stories which, taken together, address how we face the future without abandoning the past or, alternatively, getting stuck in it.  The first story concerns a young Chinese Canadian woman in Toronto, Xiao Lian, whose widowed father is dying.  She is torn between her desire to “get a life” and his obsessive insistence that the “old ways”, meaning essentially here looking after him, come first.

The second story concerns the Warring States era poet Qu Yuan.  He is a minister to the king of Chu but is exiled to a remote fishing village due to the intrigues of a rival.  There he is adopted by the villagers but when he learns of the destruction of Chu because the king has ignored his advice he drowns himself in the river.  The villagers rush to save him, establishing the legend of how dragon boat racing was created.

The stories are very cleverly connected. Xiao Lian’s father and Qu Yuan are both played by the same singer and in the first few scenes we see him clearly as one character or the other.  However after Xiao Lian  is transported back in time to the village where Qu Yuan is in exile the two characters merge in complex and subtle ways.  Ultimately it leads to Xiao Lian leading the rescue attempt, and Qu Yuan’s death is paralleled by that of her father. aOn her return to “now” she persuades her friends to take up dragon boat racing with her thus fusing “having a life” with “the old ways”.  It’s impressively constructed.

Just as the libretti merges modern and ancient and China and Toronto, the music works with both modern and traditional elements.  There are western and Chinese instruments in the ensemble.  Some of the writing is highly chromatic, modern and western; some of it works with traditional folk melodies.  Most of the characters sing in classic western operatic style but the treacherous minister Zhang Yi is given the Peking opera treatment.  All in all it hangs together very well although I think the ending could use some restructuring as it quite confusing (both dramatically and musically) as to whether it has ended or not!

The staging, by Michael Hidetoshi Mori, is effective.  Essentially the whole space of the large, amphitheatre shaped Harbourfront outdoor stage is used.  Obviously it’s miked so that doesn’t present any acoustic problems.  The transitions of time and place and, especially, the character switches between the father and Qu Yuan are very skilfully managed and t’s all quite colourful and visually engaging.  Scene shifts are seamlessly managed by the four person on-stage chorus who also play a multiplicity of characters.

Performances are excellent.  Todd Jang sings powerfully and plays his two parts; parent and poet, with enough separation; managing both a whiny old man and a Chinese aristocrat very nicely.  Alicia Ault is is a bright, lively, engaging Xiao Lian who has a lot to do and does it well.  Evanna Lai plays several roles.  In Western style she portrays the dead mother and a village woman but she completely shifts gears to Peking style and a completely different movement vocabulary for the sneaky bureaucrat Zhang Yi.  Michael Eusebio also manages two very different characters.  He’s most dignified as the King of Chu but also doubles up as Xiao Lian’s clubbing buddy.  The four person on-stage chorus of Grace Lee, Alyssa Nicole Samson, Mike Fan and Keith Lam make a big contribution.  They have a fair bit of singing to do but they also shift scenery, race around with banners, dragon boat race and a lot more.  Further choral support comes from Choir 21 singing off book with the orchestra.  The eighteen piece ensemble mixes western and Chinese instruments and is excellent.  David Fallis on the podium navigates the range of styles most effectively.

Dragon’s Tale is co-presented by Tapestry Opera and Soundstreams and presented as part of the Luminato Festival.  It runs about ninety minutes without intermission and is very worthwhile.  It’s outdoors of course so take a warm jacket if you go and try to ignore the helicopters!  There are three more performances tonight through Sunday at 8pm and it’s free but ticketed.

Photo credit: Dahlia Katz