Story and Photos

Seventy minutes is not long enough for a whole Tang dynasty, but it is enough for three parts: how they met, how it peaked, how it fell apart. This page groups the nine acts into three sections with a photo for each. By the end you will know whether this show is worth an evening.

Meeting, glory, loss: plot and photos for all nine acts

Nine scenes, pushed forward in three parts.

Act 1

Chosen for the Emperor's Side

Selected for the Palace

How they meet begins in the most ordinary way: a selection. One line of verse changes a life, and the stage shows the wall between inside and outside.

Act 2

Midnight Whispers

Midnight Vows

At their deepest, the night is at its quietest. One lamp, mist, two people talking on water — and real scenery lets the night itself serve as the curtain.

Act 3

Spring Baths at Huaqing Pool

Baths at Huaqing Pool

Spring baths at Huaqing Pool. Steam comes off the water, and the pink haze keeps hiding and revealing her. This is the most sumptuous image of the evening.

Act 4

Riding High into the Clouds

Songs from Lishan

Lishan lit up as a palace. Performers climb the slope, lamps light upward, and you can feel the stage growing taller from your seat.

Act 5

Drunk on Spring after the Jade Tower Feast

After the Feast

The banquet ends. Lamps warm, the crowd disperses. The first quiet after the peak is the first sign that things are loosening.

Act 6

Celestial Music Drifting Everywhere

Music in the Air

The Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Coat begins and every lamp comes up together. The peak of the evening sits in this one act.

Act 7

War Drums from Yuyang

Drums from Yuyang

The turn is fast. War drums from Yuyang, the colour goes cold, and the stage is still singing the old songs while everyone hears that something is wrong.

Act 8

Fallen Hairpins Nobody Picks Up

The Turning Point

The mutiny at Mawei. The quietest scene: ornaments on the ground, nobody picking them up. The heaviest blow in the show has no words at all.

Act 9

Meeting Again in Heaven and on Earth

Reunion

The close hands the stage to sky and water. They meet again in the sky — separation is not an ending but a different kind of staying together.

剧照来源于公开演出资料，版权归演出方所有，仅供观演参考。