What's New
Golden Horse, Golden Bell, and Golden Melody Award Winners Join Forces to Deliver Crystal Boys in Weiwuying, Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Literature Master Pai Hsien-yung’s Gay Literature of the Same Name
Crystal Boys, a classic novel written by literature master Pai Hsien-yung, will now be performed on stage at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying). Stage drama Crystal Boys premiered in the 2014 Taiwan International Festival of Arts (TIFA), where its eight performances sold out more than 12,000 tickets and were very well-received. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the novel’s publication, Weiwuying will deliver said stage drama at its Opera House on Mar. 21 (Sat.) and Mar. 22 (Sun.); authorization to remake said stage drama has been given.
Chien Wen-pin, the art director of Weiwuying, stated that “Weiwuying shoulders the responsibility of promoting classic masterpieces, using them to enlighten people in the modern era and showing how performing arts can connect history and future together. Crystal Boys tells the story of how the gay community no longer has to endure oppression and restraint, which it has in the past, as Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. People with all types of sexual orientations should be able to express themselves, and Weiwuying wishes to facilitate communion and understanding between people with different sexual orientations by introducing Crystal Boys.”
Crystal Boys is a classic Taiwanese modern literature and has been voted by Le Monde as one of the top 100 novels in the world. It tells the story of a gay community being rejected and marginalized by its country in the 1970s. Pai remarked that “This year marks the 40th anniversary of Crystal Boys, and we have witness how people’s attitude toward homosexual people changed over the past four decades. The most important subject in Crystal Boys is human relations such as love, family love, and human relationships. It is heartwarming to see the stage drama touching people’s hearts and how gay people can now become married, which are comparable to the characters in the novel finding their Garden of Eden.”
Crystal Boys is directed by Golden Bell Awards winners Tsao Jui-yuan (who also directed the Crystal Boys TV series) and stars Golden Bell Awards winners Ting Chiang and Fan Kuang-yao as well as Golden Bell Awards nominee Kurt Chou and Yao Chang. Its music is composed by Golden Melody Awards winners Albert Leung and Salsa Chen, and its sound effects are managed by Golden Horse Awards winner Tu Du-chih. Additionally, dance director Wu Su-jun and former Cirque Du Soleil dancer Billy Chang collaborate to successfully showcase the violent and untamable personality of A-Feng.