With the U.S. musical ‘Madagascar Live!” debuting in Shenzhen last week, the city’s first International Children’s Art Festival has kicked off. More children’s events will be held until the end of the year.

    Organized by the Shenzhen-based Orange Castle Culture Communication, an affiliated company of local performance and ticketing company A.C. Orange, the festival includes children’s plays by international troupes, young pianist competitions, and free weekend workshops and art salons.

    This month, MTM Puppet Theater from Costa Rica is presenting puppetry “Like Playing” on weekends. With diversified color and music, the life fable elaborates a poetic fantasy story. When the puppet is performing the beautiful story on stage, viewers feel like they are part of the show, their hands dancing with the music and talking together in a whisper. We hope to bring the audience not only a fabulous stage performance, but also a philosophy for living.

    On Sept. 11, Video Games Live (VGL), a concert featuring music from video games spanning all eras, will be held. Created and produced by Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, the concert consists of segments of video game music performed by a live orchestra with video footage and synchronized lighting and effects, as well as several audience interaction segments.

    Music from more recent games, such as “Final Fantasy,” “Halo,” “World of Warcraft,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “The Legend of Zelda,” “Kingdom Hearts” and “Metal Gear Solid” will be performed. Audience members are invited on stage to play video games while the orchestra plays the music that matches the game. Games such as “Frogger,” “Space Invaders,” “Donkey Kong” and “Guitar Hero” will be played live.

    In October, the puppet show “Menut Cabaret” by Sola & Tully from Ireland will be presented on weekends. “Menut Cabaret” tells an interesting and poetic story: Although Mina has only one hand, she learns to survive in this little world, and a wonderful story has begun.

    November’s weekends feature Vlinders & C from Belgium with their puppet show, “Kim, the Black Chick.”

    In addition to the above shows at Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center, a multimedia display of Claude Monet’s work will be held Sept. 30-Dec. 26 at OCT Harbor. The exhibition features huge screens displaying 400 paintings. The exhibit aims to offer visitors a multi-sensory art experience.

    Schedule: www.juooo.com

    Reservations: 400-185-8666

    Venue: Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center, 2106 Nanshan Boulevard (南山大道2106号南山文体中心)

    Metro: Luobao Line, Taoyuan Station (桃园站), Exit B(Cao Zhen)