Music: Loran Delforge, Rudi Schricke, Didier Laloy & Fabian Beghin, James Holden, Joan Baez Performing: HBSO Choir & Symphony OrchestraĬhoreography: Maïté Guérin, Joost Vrouenraets VŨ VIỆT ANH Excerpts from Musical “Dế Mèn Phiêu Lưu Ký” “Café Saigon” is the creation of two Dutch choreographers, Joost Vrourenraets and Maite Guerin, in cooperation with nine Vietnamese dancers from the HBSO ballet. The performance concludes with the dancers in a line at the front of the stage while the sound system plays Louis Armstrong’s 1967 song “What a wonderful world”. Baez was an American folk singer associated with Bob Dylan and the opposition in America to that country’s involvement in the Vietnam War (known in Vietnam as “the American War”). Protracted affection between one couple then ensues, to the accompaniment of two Joan Baez songs, Plaisir d’Amour and Donna Donna. There are German cabaret-like songs, including “Bella, Bella Marie”, some highly attractive accordion music from Fabian Beghin and Didier Laloy, and some energetic “bopping” music, to which the performers gyrate light-heartedly. The pre-recorded music is evocative of the era of 70 years ago. When the curtain rises we see four couples sitting at tables, with the female narrator we heard earlier now plainly in view.Īs the action develops, slow motion is common, as are affectionate stares that only half-conceal a possible aggression that lies behind them.
The action begins with a one-man mime gesturing in front of the curtain to a narrative spoken in Vietnamese. Girls fall off tables and are caught by boys, a flickering light reveals silent menace, nine dancers run round the stage to music from the 1950s and 60s, and innovative dance movements are everywhere in evidence.
The setting is a Saigon coffee house in the middle of the 20th century.
The performance lasts around 75 minutes, featuring five women and four men. “Café Saigon”, HBSO’s latest creation in contemporary dance, will be performed in the second part of the program. With the participation of the famous director Pham Hoang Nam, choreographer John Huy Tran, the colorful story adventure and cultural elements of East Asian boldly of the “Adventures of a Cricket” promises to deliver a modern musical – a first of its kind in Vietnam. This is a modern opera which was planned for many years by composer Vu Viet Anh. The musical “Adventures of a Cricket” based on the famous story of the same name by writer To Hoai is one of the biggest art projects in 2018 of the Symphony Orchestra.
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