What's on

Frankenstein

When: Dec 24-28 and 31, 7:30 pm; Dec 29 and Jan 1, 3 pm

Where: Beijing Inside-Out Theater

Liam Scarlett's Frankenstein, his first full-length ballet for the Royal Opera House, is an adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic gothic novel. The score, composed for the ballet by Lowell Liebermann, sweeps the dramatic action toward its devastating end, while the detailed and chilling designs by John Macfarlane bring the creature and the anatomy lab to terrifying life.

It tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, who is about to leave home for university, away from his family, and Elizabeth, the woman he loves. Just before he departs, his mother dies in childbirth. Victor becomes obsessed with the idea of bringing his mother back to life, and his relentless studies eventually lead him to animate nonliving matter. Repulsed by the creature he has brought into the world, he flees.

Don Juan

When: Dec 24-29, 7:30 pm; Dec 28 and 29, 2:30 pm

Where: Beijing A33 Theater

Don Juan is the story of the world's greatest lover. He lives big, loves big and doesn't care about the consequences.

The play embraces the audience-performer relationship and makes it transparent, creating a piece of theater that is unique. The actors take turns to play Don Juan, personified by wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap.

Li Yundi Sonata 2020 Piano Recital World Tour

When: Dec 27, 8 pm

Where: Shenzhen Poly Theater

Li Yundi is the youngest pianist to win the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition (at the age of 18). He has long been admired for his technical brilliance and dexterity.

His second recording of Liszt for Deutsche Grammophon, for which he recorded exclusively until November 2008, was released in August 2003 and named Best CD of the Year by The New York Times.

Starting this year, Li plans a run of 100 piano recitals around the world.

The Phantom of the Opera

When: Dec 31, 7:15 pm

Where: Shanghai Oriental Art Center

The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Charles Hart. Richard Stilgoe and Lloyd Webber composed the musical together. Stilgoe also provided additional lyrics.

Based on the French novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux, its central plot revolves around a beautiful soprano, Christine Daae, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, disfigured musical genius living in the subterranean labyrinth beneath the Paris Opera House.

As Christine's star rises, and a handsome suitor from her past enters the picture, the Phantom grows mad, terrorizing the opera house owners and company with his murderous ways. Still, Christine finds herself drawn to the mystery man.

The Cuban National Ballet will perform the dances.

Lord of the Dance

When: Jan 14, 15, 18 and 19, 7:15 pm; Jan 18, 2 pm

Where: Shanghai Grand Theater

Lord of the Dance is an Irish musical and dance production that was choreographed and produced by Irish-American dancer Michael Flatley.

In 1994, Flatley changed the face of Irish dance forever with his breathtaking creation Riverdance. He broke the mold of traditional Irish dancing by incorporating upper-body movement and creating edgy rhythmic patterns that departed from the traditional.

Flatley went on to create Lord of the Dance, which made its debut at the Point Theater in Dublin in 1996. It was inspired by ancient Irish folklore and features the Lord of the Dance battling an evil force for control of Planet Ireland.

Ksenija Sidorova

When: Feb 16, 2:30 pm

Where: Guangzhou Opera House

Ksenija Sidorova is a genre-crossing player described as "the princess of the accordion".

The Latvian-born musician, who was encouraged to take up the instrument by her grandmother, continued her education in Britain, where she became a prizewinning undergraduate at the Royal Academy of Music.

Her debut album is an ambitious recreation of Carmen for the accordion in 2016, incorporating Latin, Asian, European and North American musical styles, which is driven by her identification with Bizet's free-spirited femme fatale.

He Had Two Pistols with White and Black Eyes

When: Feb 18-22, 7:30 pm; Feb 22 and 23, 2:30 pm

Where: Beijing Citycomb Theater

Dario Fo (1926-2016) was an Italian actor-playwright, comedian, singer, theater director, stage designer, songwriter, painter and political campaigner of the Italian left-wing. He also won the 1997 Nobel Prize in literature. The Chinese version of Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist has become a signature work for the avant-garde theater director Meng Jinghui. He Had Two Pistols with White and Black Eyes is Meng's second adaptation from the Italian playwright.

The play starts in a psychiatric institution, where a patient with amnesia is accused of desertion during war. However, a woman named Luisa comes to claim him as her lover, Giovanni, and brings him back home. But then the real Giovanni, a rogue and doppelganger to the patient, comes back from the battlefield and continues his life of crime－while scheming to blame his misdeeds on the amnesiac.