Compared with Chiu’s previous works, which are well-known for their risky topics and performances, “June Bride” will provide a relaxing summer evening’s entertainment and take audiences down memory lane with its soundtrack of more than 30 Mandarin pop hits.

    Cao Zhen

    EILEEN CHANG’S 1940s novels are generally associated with unhappy endings and full of hatred, struggle and revenge between men and women in love. Coming to Shenzhen Concert Hall on Aug. 22 is a Mandarin-language musical comedy, “June Bride,” based on a little-known screenplay by Chang for a 1960 Hong Kong movie.

    Directed by comedy filmmaker Clifton Ko and budding theater director Garrick Wong, “June Bride” depicts the romances of three pairs of lovers, presenting a diverse panorama of urban relationships in the modern age.

    Hong Kong stage queen Perry Chiu stars as Wang Danlin, who is engaged to her longtime boyfriend Dong Jifang. However, since Dong has a life-consuming job and has little time to spend with Wang, Wang begins to feel uncertainty about her prospective marriage. Then, the would-be bride is pursued by another lover and the would-be groom also has an affair.

    Compared with Chiu’s previous works, which are well-known for their risky topics and performances, “June Bride” will provide a relaxing summer evening’s entertainment and take audiences down memory lane with its soundtrack of more than 30 Mandarin pop hits.

    “Music can liven up the audience but acting in a musical is the biggest challenge for me,” Chiu told the Shenzhen Daily in an exclusive interview after the show debuted in Hong Kong on July 30.

    “A musical is not just about singing songs. You have to use the singing to express the lyrical content,” said Chiu, who has starred in and produced more than 20 stage works.

    Chiu, daughter of a Beijing opera actor and a ballet dancer, was last seen in Shenzhen in the Cantonese play, “The Golden Cangue,” also adapted from Chang’s novel of the same name.

    But Chiu’s adaptations, whether of Chang’s novels or other classics, are all produced from a modern perspective, remarkable for the absence of historical detail in their set design.

    “Chang’s portrayal of human emotions is timeless,” said Chiu. “In ‘The Golden Cangue,’ we deliberately made the stage setting to represent no particular historical period because the female lead’s inner torment is universal,” said Chiu.

    “In ‘June Bride,’ we focus on human connections in modern times, which can also apply anywhere,” said Chiu.

    The highlight of “June Bride” might be the 30-plus 1990s pop songs. It is not the first time for Chiu to use pop hits as a soundtrack.

    In “She Came From Beijing” (2009), the Beijing-born Chiu starred as a Beijing native chasing fame in Hong Kong, singing a string of Faye Wong’s hits. In “Age of Aquarius” (2011) and “Sex 4 Play” (2009), loads of Eason Chan’s and Alan Tam’s songs can be heard.

    “Musicals can achieve a broader appeal than stage dramas,” said director Ko, who is Chiu’s longtime boyfriend.

    Ko, 53, is best known for filming a host of Hong Kong comedies in the ’80s and ’90s, including the “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World” and the “All’s Well, Ends Well” series.

    “Directing movies in Hong Kong now is not as easy as in the ’80s because too many producers and investors are involved in production, which leaves directors little space to express themselves,” said Ko, who established his own stage theater company Spring-Time Group Ltd. in 1995.

    Having directed and produced more than 80 stage works, Ko said he is trying to make a combination of art, philosophy and entertainment in his works because he wants his works to be accepted by audiences from Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore.

    “Mainland audiences like dramas with deep implications. Hong Kongers love fun and entertainment. I think ‘June Bride,’ which combines romance, comedies, singing and dancing, will appeal to all,” said Ko.

    Having been Ko’s partner for 15 years, Chiu, 35, also has her own company, Perry Chiu Experimental Theater established in 2005, and musical is far from the only genre that the versatile stage queen has excelled in.

    From her nude stage performance in “Butterflies Are Free” (1999) to sex-themed “Fire of Desire” (2003), “The Vagina Monologues” (2007) and “I Sell Love” (2010), Chiu, a graduate from Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, is labeled by the press not only as “experimental” but also “controversial,” and “bold.”

    “Hong Kongers are very conservative. They say they are socially liberal, but in fact they are not. If it is my body that attracts audiences to watch my shows, I don’t care,” said Chiu.

    Different from Ko’s works which focus more on entertainment, Chiu’s works are noted for dealing with sex and gender and having strong female leads.

    “I am not a feminist. My experimental theater focuses on women’s themes, but I’m not fighting for women’s rights. I’m just trying to help the audience know more about women’s inner world,” said Chiu.