Best bets

French Comedy L'Avare

Date: June 30-July 1 - 7:30 pm

Venue: Tianqiao Performing Arts Center

Price: 90-580 yuan

A cult piece, played more than two thousand times by the Comedie-Francaise since 1680, The Miser entertains us with its bouncy plot, its fanciful misunderstandings and its hilarious bravura. Ludovic Lagarde gives to this great classic a new energy and highlights how this social and psychological satire is so very contemporary. With spectacular scenography showing the back of a bourgeois house where goods are amassed Ludovic Lagarde orchestrates a physical and merciless battle between Harpagon and his tyrannized relatives. The play, brought to us by a ravishing troupe of actors, is magnified by the extraordinary Laurent Poitrenaux in the title role, as an irresistible and ferocious Harpagon. As scary as it is funny, the comedian creates an unheard-of ambience somewhere between euphoria and discomfort."

Staatstheater Nurnberg Drama The 39 Steps

Date: June 28-July 1 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 180-380 yuan

Staatstheater Nurnberg is one of Germany's largest comprehensive theaters, which is dedicated to all types of music, dance and drama works. 500 employees come from more than 30 countries. Staatstheater Nurnberg consists of four traditional performance venues, i.e., Opera Theater, Drama Hall, Chamber Music Stage and Experimental Theatre. Nuremberg National Philharmonic Orchestra performs concerts in Die Meistersinger Concert Hall. On average, Staatstheater Nurnberg stages 800 performances and welcomes 300,000 visitors during every show season. On September 16th, 2003, it was elevated from the municipal theater to the status of state theater. Since the 2008/2009' Performance Season, Peter Taylor has served as Artistic Director and General Manager of Staatstheater Nurnberg.

Tadashi Suzuki's Drama The Trojan Women

Date: June 24 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Drama Trojan Women is based on the historical story taking place after the end of Trojan War in Homer's Epic. This decadelong war is waged because Trojan Prince Paris follows the instruction of Aphrodite and seizes the most beautiful Greek woman: Spartan Princess Helen. Led by Agamemnon (King of Mycenae), kings and generals of various Greek states send troops to march toward Troy. Both parties are evenly matched. In the tenth year of this bitter war, Hector (Trojan general and also son of the king) is killed by the Greek general Achilles. Before long, Achilles also dies in battle. At last, Greek army makes use of Trojan Horse Trick, invades Troy City, and wins final victory of this war. Then conquerors launch the massacre and plundering of Troy.

Slava's Snow Show

Date: Aug 30-Sept 3 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 99-680 yuan

Snowshow is a universal and timeless theatrical poetic spectacle which has unanimously enchanted and empowered the imagination of audiences and critics since 1993 in dozens of countries, hundreds of cities with multiple thousand performances resulting in millions of ecstatic spectators from all nationalities, genders, beliefs, types and ages, probably like no other show. It is a genre of it's own and remains as spontaneous and magical as on the first day it was performed, systematically catapulting adults back in childhood.

The Epic Horse Show - Troy

Date: July 14-30 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Stadium

Price: 100-1,280 yuan

She will be the grand achievement of the history of Chinese performance, with hundreds of well-known horses and Asian and European artists. She is based on the great literature of ancient Greece that spreads thousands of years-Homer's Epic Poems; She will lead the audience back to the era when man and god were coexisted. Horses and Beauties, Gods and Heroes are the essential elements throughout the performance; She appeared as film, TV serial, play, animation once, but has never entered the world of Show. Now, through the wind and the clouds, she shall meet the horse appearing as The Epic Horse Show - Troy.

Pablo Sainz Villegas Guitar Recital

Date: June 17 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 100-200 yuan

Praised as "the soul of the Spanish guitar", Pablo Sainz Villegas has become a worldwide sensation known as this generation's great guitarist. With his "virtuosic playing characterized by irresistible exuberance" as described by The New York Times, his interpretations conjure the passion, playfulness, and drama of Rioja, his homeland's rich musical heritage.