Beijing Playhouse -- Snow White

Where have I been the past 10 weeks?  Rehearsing and performing in Beijing's English Language Theater Production of Snow White.

Opening Number, performed to a rendition of Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You"

And a cast song as well.

Two fairy sisters, our narrators.

On the right, Clarissa the Cook, in the employ of the Evil Queen and on the left, her son Muddles.

Queen Evilynn

Her Minions.

Myself in the background.  I am the Queen's Herald, always annoucing her presence.  Here she is asking the Magic Mirror, "who is the fairest in the land"

The Queen and her Minions in a rendition of "I Will Survive" in which she attempts to seduce Prince Valiant.

Any scene with the Queen was a show highlight.  I was lucky to always be on stage with the Queen and be apart of her amazing act.

The Queen molests the Prince and I get molested by a Minion.

The Comic Relief Scene in the Kitchen with Clarissa and Muddles.

Whipped Cream in the face, broken eggs everywhere.  The scene was a big winner with the audience.

Next scene has the Queen finding out from the Magic Mirror that the Prince has met and fallen in love with Snow White.  I didn't have many lines, but I got to make lots of faces!

The Queen ordering Muddles to kill Snow White.

Muddles and Snow White in the forest where he plans to kill her, but devises a plan to trick the Queen into THINKING he killed Snow White.

The Three Kings informing Snow White of the presences of a dwarves cottage deep in the forest.

Meanwhile back at the castle, Clarissa is locked up and watched by two guards.  (That's not me on the right, but my friend Dong Tien)

Alas, this picture doesn't do justice to the scene.  The Queen is given what is supposedly Snow White's heart and releases Clarissa.

The showstopping number, the entrance of the dwarves.  And yes, the dwarf on the left is 6 feet 2 inches tall!!

The dwarves and Snow White.

In my favorite scene, the Queen hatches a plan to drink a magic potion to disguise herself and "deal with Snow White" herself.  I get to waltz with the Queen in this scene!!  And I get to sing as well.

The Queen now as the Old Hag with the Minions climbing overthemselves to get the poison apple the Old Hag has tossed aside.

A Modern Dance deep in the forest.

A recently freed Mirriam the Magic Mirror, Clarissa, Muddles and the Prince hanging out in the forest.

Don't eat the poisoned apple Snow White!!!

The dwarves mourning Snow White's death.

After a kiss from the Prince, Snow White returns to life....

And we sing Jingle Bells as a final number!

So, where have I been these past 10 weeks upon return from the school trip to Gansu??  I've spent three or four nights a week rehearsing with Beijing Playhouse's Christmas Musical Snow White.  Having never really done any live theater, and having nothing else to do but sit at home and watch television, and upon the encouragement of DD, I overcame my inhibitions and went to the auditions back in late September.  I got a call back (which I took to be a good sign) and before the October trip, I got a call from the director saying I was cast!!!  My role was a minor character with few lines "Chop, Chop, The Queen" was one I said on more than one occasion, but I was on stage six times a performance, mostly in a reactionary comic relief character.

Upon reflection, now that I've finished all 16 performances (year, over 2,000 people saw the show over the course of two and a half weeks) I have to say that I could not have asked for a better thing to participate in as an introduction to my life here in Beijing. What was special about it (as are all those things in life that are memorable) is that it was 30 cast members and an equal number of crew ALL WORKING TOGETHER TOWARDS A COMMON GOAL.  There were no egos.  No one was making money off of this experience.  We were all there to have fun and entertain.  And when it came together, it was magic.  It's one of those special feelings when everyone is on the same page, working towards the same goal.

And who were these people I was on stage with.  Chris V., many years ago had a vision to bring English Language Theater to China and he established Beijing Playhouse. It has grown to running kids theater camps and producing two to three shows a year. He has attracted an amazing international cast.  Our cast of 30 had a Snow White from Finland, the Prince from Argentina, and others from Canada, the United States, Hong Kong, China, France, India, England, Indonesian, South Africa, the Philippines and Uganda.  Hell, I got to meet the famed Tim Tebow's cousin as she was our musical director.

As I write this, I'm on the post show high. Just back from the cast party where we all stood around the piano and sang all the songs from the show. We had all heard each others songs that it was so fun to finally belt out another characters song.  The we sang Christmas Carols.  It's just like all those great times in life, I just had to savor the moment as I knew that ALL of us would never be in one place again. We will only have those memories, but great ones they are.  We can be proud of the show we put on and have the smiles on our faces from the grand times we had in rehearsal and on stage.  Thanks to all my fellow Snow White cast members. 

Thanksgiving -- Beijing Style

Thanksgiving 2012.  Thursday afternoon, the school treated us (students and faculty) to a Chinese banquet at a local restaurant.

No turkey, but since a bird is a bird, Beijing Duck!!

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To add a Thanksgiving touch, the school ordered Apple and Pumpkin Pies.  You should have heard the cheers when the annoucement was made!!

Eating Pumpkin Pie with chopsticks.....life in China!!

P.S.  File this story under the "Ernie is a total bachelor" file.  A couple of the other American teachers here are cooking Thanksgiving turkey for their advisees.  I felt bad that my students got the raw end of the deal being assigned to me as their adviser, who can't really cook.  Therefore, I devised a scheme where they would cook for themselves.  I invited them over to a "make your own calzones" dinner on the Friday after Thanksgiving Thursday.  I simply would make the dough, they would choose their own filling from broccoli, mushrooms, onions, spinach, shredded mozzarella, tomato sauce and sausage.  Easy right?  I should be able to pull this off without a hitch.  UNTIL, the girls decided that they wanted to bake before hand.  So off we go to Jenny Lou's (where you can get all your western products) to purchase baking materials.  Friday afternoon, right after school, I go home to make the dough to give it time to rise.  The girls come over, the kitchen is a tornado of activity.  Everyone wants to do something in the kitchen.  I turn on the oven to heat it up and then........nothing.  Kids start arriving.  I fiddle with the stove/oven and....nothing. I call my colleague (thanks P-C) and we figure out I tripped the fuse.  I go and flip the switch, it stays on for 5 seconds then trips again.  I start unplugging EVERY household item.  The switch keeps tripping. The kitchen is out of commission with 20 students in my living room.  Then, LIGHTBULB moment.  My stove is gas!!!  So what do I do?  I pan fry the dough into mini-pizzas while wearing a headlamp.  The kids didn't really care.  They were happy with food and a place to hang out.  I guess I should have done a test run of using my kitchen, since I hadn't turned anything on since I moved in back in August.  Lesson learned.

The Yellow River at Lanzhou

Lanzhou is the ONLY Chinese provincial capital on the Yellow River (the big Muddy)

On our last day, before getting on the train back to Beijing, the students had a scavenger hunt around town to find local landmarks.  This was one of them, the statue of the "Mother of the Pearl River"

A second one was the Zhongshan Bridge.

It was designed by Germans....

...built by Americans...

...and was the first bridge built across the Yellow River (1907).

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Lanzhou Shi Wai Guo Yue Gao Ji Zhong Xue

The picture above is on the uniform of the school we visited in the city of Lanzhou.  It's a school that students apply to if they have a particular desire to study foreign languages.

A pair or trio of our students was met by the representatives of a number of 10th and 11th grade classes.

Our students attended classes with the Chinese students.

Peeking into classrooms, I saw a large percentage of students hiding their cell phones behind those stacks of books playing games.  It made me smile to know that those students are the same as all around the world.

The students stay in one room the entire school career and the teachers come to them.  Each class has up to 50 students.

Lunch!!

Every student has to go through exercises.  You would think that the Chinese students would take these seriously and do them to the nth degree.  Nope.  Kids are the same everywhere and most of the students just go through the motions.  It's fun to watch.

PE Class!!!

On the right, a Chinese Literature Teacher and on the left a kid who is learning German and when he found out I learned German in high school started talking to me in German.

During our day at the school, I was given a chance to wander around and I ended up spending some time talking to some 11th grade teachers about the Chinese education system.  The Chinese teachers were fascinated by the lack of the "Gao Kao" or the Chinese college entrance exam.  I tried to explain to them that our SAT was simply one of many factors in college admission.  But that in China the results of that one exam determine college placement or college acceptance.  Turns out that there simply aren't enough places in Chinese universities to meet the demand of college bound students.  The teachers were amazed that any students who wants to go to college (and can pay) in the US can go. 

The other interesting question I was asked by a Physics teacher was how come if the US has a lower level of academic rigor in their classrooms and thereby students enter into college with less "knowledge" how can he US produce such an amazing amount of cutting edge technology and innovation?  I really couldn't answer that question but I did think about it and tell him that the US does have a long standing system of valuing research at the graduate level because we have so much funding for research. 

There were so many other questions that I wanted to ask, such as whether or not teacher pay is a deterrent for the best and brightest Chinese to entering the profession as I believe it is in the United States.  I also wanted to ask about how they deal with the fact that they don't track their students by ability.  So many questions, so little time.