Princess power proves popular in Peking

On Sunday, we went to see Disney Live! – three princess fairytales including Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Snow White (personal favourite). I mean, come on. How could we resist?

I was probably the person in our group who was the most-enchanted during this Disney delight. Riley is young enough to enjoy anything that creates a visual and audio spectacle, Ella isn’t 100 percent convinced, but still really really likes such things, as did the friends who came with us. But it was pathetic, romantic, totally-sucked-in me that had to blink back the tears when love’s true kiss swanned onto the stage with the power to reverse death. Ridiculous. I was even swaying to the music and singing along sweetly, much to my children’s horror.

Yes, one day my prince will come. Oh hang on a second – I already found him 11 years ago (such was the full-immersion moment of the romantic fairytale vision laid out before us, starring the inimitable princess trio – Cinders, Belle and Snow). Incidentally, who knew the name Cinderella could be so perfectly pinyin-ised? “Xin-de-re-la! Ni gongzuo mei zuo wan le!” called the ugly stepsisters, who rollicked and rolled across the stage in slapstick perfection, their vivid frou-frou gowns providing the perfect padded platform for tomfoolery.

Which brings me to the pinyin issue. The whole show was in Chinese. I guess I didn’t even think to check if it would be presented in English. We’d been to Disney on Ice and a Pooh Bear in Beijing show before, both of which were in English – so I guess I just presumed.

What did our parents say? Never presume?

I guess my first clue that English might be off the radar was when we first approached the Beijing Exhibition Centre and were accosted no less than 20 times by mad keen Disney-paraphernalia hockers. It’s a five-minute walk to the Centre from the road, so this provides the perfect opportunity for dozens of fairy-wand and tiara toters to lambaste you with product. We mums resisted, despite the swivelling heads on our children. The strength!

Then inside the hall, my second clue should have been the show’s programme, in Chinese characters, with a faux Beauty and the Beast rose wedged between it’s pages (50RMB!). (No, you cannot buy a cheaper programme, sans rose – I tried.)

My third clue should have been taken from the glaring absence of sub- or sur- or even side-title screens around the stage’s proscenium arch. And my fourth clue? The fact that we were the only ones of, like, three other Westerners in the whole joint.

Still, it wasn’t until the curtain rose and Goofy bounded onto the stage bellowing “Ni hao, xiao pengyou!” that I realised we’d be in for a language challenge. Goofy was quickly followed by Donald, Minnie and the illustrious Mickey – who all provided an excellent Mandarin turn at mimicking the original voices of our childhood friends – all except Donald – but then, how could his unique vocal range survive any kind of language translation?

So, did this Mandarin invasion enhance or hinder our enjoyment of Disney Live? Without question, it only enhanced. All of us knew these three fairy tales well enough to follow the gist of the story (with the exception of Riley, but he got a running commentary from Mum), and Mandarin is surprisingly easier to understand when spoken in a way that’s aimed at 6-year-old Chinese princesses. Not only that, listening to girlhood song favourites sung in Mandarin was a unique and warm experience that will probably never be repeated in my children’s lifetime. And watching this Western cast wholeheartedly lip-synch in Mandarin was a joy. I’m sure each and every performer felt the effort was well worth it, especially after the wonderful reaction of these star-struck Chinese kiddies.

As for the show itself – seamless. Visually stunning, colourful, energetic, beautiful and very very clever. The sets slid about like ice cream on waffles on a hot day, and majestically transformed from one venue to the next, one princess castle to the other, one bustling market to a forest to a witch’s lair, doused in fog one minute, cleared to perfection the next. The costumes were to-die-for, and the clever use of puppetry (like Cinderella’s mice) really made the tales come alive. Even some of the human actors sported wonderful puppetry faces that created a visual connection evocative of the original animated films – the ugly stepmother from Cinderella, the crone from Snow White, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. Wonderful. And so slickly choreographed, its actors are clearly well-trained in the art of dynamic stage presence and movement.

Disney Live! has now left Beijing, but the experience will live on for a long time on our family. Particularly after Riley dropped his Mickey Mouse cherry/blueberry slushy onto my shoes just after half-time (yes, we succumbed to the product bombardment). I also accidentally left our programme (with it’s luscious plastic rose wedged inside) on the theatre seat when the show was over.

Doesn’t matter, I can’t read Chinese characters anyway.

Tania McCartney