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Chinese New Year Splendor at Radio City Music Hall

2008-04-21 Author:By: Jordan Hoffman

For years I've seen this show advertised on the side of buses, on phone booths, there's even direct marketing with women in traditional dress handing out flyers in Times Square. This being the first year in a long while where I had some spare pocket change, I figured, why not? What I thought would be an energetic, bright and musical show filled with dragons, drums and excitement turned out to be what I imagine a Carnival Cruise is like if controlled by the Falun Gong.

Yes - this is one big propaganda program put on by those nutcases who stage faux public beatings on our city streets. It starts out subtle, with song lyrics that translate to the "mighty Falun" and the "all wise Dafa" and then gets explicit, you guessed it, some of those torture scenarios. This is for kids, though, so it is done through ballet. Hammer and Sickle-clad men assault helpless women in a prison - until they die and are wisked away to a giant LCD screen paradise. We are then led in song where we are implored to "distrust the crooked Reds" and "await the destruction of this corrupt regime."

All of this, in its own way, is awesome.

But nothing is as awesome as the two hosts, speaking in alternating Mandarin and English, with their Lawrence Welk-style jokes. From fortune cookie jokes to being scared of the big crashing gong, it is as if these two people have been summoned here from the squarest, pre-ironic corner of the Universe.

"We bring you...LOTUS BLOSSOM!!!" they bellow. And it was as if Ann and I were the only people who thought something strange was going on.

Six hours of slow ballet later (no dragons! no acrobatics! very little drumming!) there was an intermission. And we celebrated the Year of the Cab Ride Home.

Comment by Lisa Latimer on February 10, 2008 @ 1:00 pm:
 
Thank you for writing your review. You and Ann were not the only people who thought something strange was going on. There was not much clapping from the audience and I looked around to see many surprised and unhappy people. There were also a number who walked out and didn't come back. On Friday I listened to this propaganda-ran show. Truly I felt like I was tied down by the Falun Gong and made to watch this. My husband and I believed there were going to be spectacular performances. As you mentioned there were no dragons, little drumming, and the scenes where they were dancing as if they were fighting was not well done. The regular dance scenes were good because these really were good students. (Definitely not worth the money I paid though.) BY THE WAY THEY DID ANNOUNCE AT THE SHOW THAT ALL THE ENTERTAINERS WERE FROM THE U.S. AND LEARNED EVERYTHING HERE. Only the singers and the woman who played the ainu instrument were very good. However the singers only sang about the falun gong ways. Everyone in the audience was shang-haid. This was an obvious fundraiser and it should have been marketed as such. With reviews and all. There people respresenting falun gung people were interviewing people to see what they thought. I told them the truth. "I don't mix my arts with politics!" They were shocked. I don't like it when people get me to spend money under false pretenses. People shouldn't waste their money on this AND I WISH I COULD GET MY MONEY BACK!

(Jordanhoffman.com, February 9th, 2008 )

Original text from: http://jordanhoffman.com/2008/02/09/chinese-new-year-splendor-at-radio-city-music-hall/

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