Hong Kong Ballet.

It is a tale as old as time, only it has a twist. This Romeo and Juliet meets Yentel. The Ballet, "The Butterfly Lovers" is a show that must be seen! The sets, the dancing and the acting are all first rate!

Usually my reviews give very little in way of plot, here, the story must be told because it is a complex one and without the background, a viewer will be confused as to the action going on between these great characters.

The story is billed as a tragedy. The two main characters are Zhu Yingtal and Liang Shanbo. It is also billed as a Romeo and Juliet, however, the plot is more intrinsic than that. The dance and the acting go deeper than just a two lover story.

At the David Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center, "Butterfly Lovers" is performed by the Hong Kong Ballet. In the county's transformation to China, many of its underlings are of Chinese genre. It took three containers to on load to the Koch stage. The sets were both massive and impressive.

Zhu (Xuan Cheng), disguised as a man to get into a all male school in ancient China. There she meets Liang (Ma Renjie). It is there that she falls in love with Liang. After her identity is revealed, Zhu's parents arrange a marriage with a wealthy man, which leads to Liang's death from a broken heart. On Zhu's wedding day, the procession goes by Liang's grave, which then opens allowing Zhu to jump in and join him. Their spirits emerge as a pair of butterfies, forever united in eternal love, hence the Romeo and Juliet comparison.

Unlike Western theater and its writings, the Chinese have a different take on love stories. It is not to say that arranged marriages didn't exist in Western culture, it did. In this body of work, however, the fact that she goes against her father's wishes is highly irregular. The other side note here is that in ancient China, girls were not educated other than given the knowledge on how to be a wife.

In a symmetrical 50 minute first act; second act, the ballet works in that the dance and so tightly coordinates with the story, if you know the story-line; if not, the audience can get lost in the dance alone. While the first act has only four scenes, all are strong and resonant. The second act has six scenes that are a little more pithy.

From the lighting, the sets, the orchestra, "The Butterfly Lovers" is a must see. The choreography is some of the best that I have ever witnessed at the ballet. The dance was very uniformed and contrived, and yet it worked so well. In a valiant attempt by the Chinese, this over-the- top ballet hits a high note. Both complex and easy to watch, the two hours with a twenty minute intermission moves quickly.

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A Rain Out at The Delacorte Theatre.

I was looking forward to seeing the great cast of Twelfth Night when the rains came gushing right before the show. It begs the question... why wouldn't the new renovations include a covering of the stage and audience area? For too long, audiences have been rained on either waiting for the show to go on, or while watching the show. By not at least covering the stage, actors run the risk of being injured, whether by rain, or something falling off the trees.

Broadway Bob Massimi, Delacorte Theatre, The David Koch Theatre, The Hong Kong Ballet, Broadway, Tony Awards, Keanu Reeves, Waiting For Godot, Twelfth Night, Hollywood, Washington DC.