A Dream of Red Mansions Tickets

Beijing National Grand Theater (NCPA), Beijing, China

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Available Dates: 3 Nov, 2024 (1 events)

Important Info

Type: Ballet

City: Beijing, China

Duration: 2h 20min with 1 interval

Intervals: 1

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast

Performers

Choose the date to see the peformers

Overview

A Dream of Red Mansions is the pinnacle of classical Chinese literature, which was written by CAO Xueqin, a Chinese writer of the Qing Dynasty. On account of its remarkable artistic achievements and profound ideological implications, the masterpiece remains honoured as the encyclopedia of ancient China and the epitome of traditional Chinese culture.

As a globally influential epic work that is set in the rise and fall of four aristocratic families, namely JIA, SHI, WANG and XUE, the book depicts the life experiences of a few beautiful female intellectuals, who have proven to be better than men in manners and knowledge, demonstrating the true beauty of humanity and tragedy.

Sinopsis:

Entering JIA Mansion: All that is seen and heard is what is so unique to a distinguished family. Does any person out of the mortal world know such things?

Dreamland: Life is full of gnawing regrets while the sea is filled with distress. “Falsehood and truth may be transformed into each other, while falsehood sometimes appears more real than truth”. In a dream, there are a group of lonely souls playing fools.

Hardship: Because of predestined love, Baoyu and Daiyu meet each other by chance, gazing at each other as if they have a lot to say.

Homecoming: Flowers colour brocade while raging flames heat oil. Bouquets of flowers constitute piles of brocades in a lively atmosphere. The Imperial Concubine sheds tears for six times as if having many secret sorrows.

Garden Party: The striking clock, dressing mirror… grass and beans, which are tiny, bring out the clamour of the banquet, but suddenly, the mansion collapses.

Flower Funeral: In the city of sorrows, the heart is falling with a blast of wind. Without a bosom friend or intimate, she cannot but make a flower tomb in person show pity for herself.

Lantern Festival: The glow of fire is flushing into the sky over the courtyard, with incense ashes scattered on the ground. What a great mansion it is. Brilliant flames make the world colourful, but everything is already burnt to ashes in a moment.

Jade Loss: Gee! It turned up without casting a shadow and left without leaving a trace, and once leaned against an ancient pine at the foot of Qinggeng Peak. If you want to look for it, you’d better tramp over mountains and walk in my door.

Counter-acting Bad Luck: The people in the world just say that scenery and love are good, whereas nobody knows that the autumn moon and spring flowers are short-lived. She never forgets the Moon Palace!

Reunion: Joy, laughter, sorrow and grief are all false, brought about by blind passions.

Flower Burial: She is my sister, after all. Moreover, she has unique looks and talents. Only the goddess of snow and Chang’e can be comparable to her.

Return to the Distant Place: I have nowhere to go and will only return to the distant place.

Venue Info

Beijing National Grand Theater (NCPA) - Beijing
2 W Chang'an Ave

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) is an arts centre containing an opera house in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The Centre, an ellipsoid dome of titanium and glass surrounded by an artificial lake, seats 5,452 people in three halls and is almost 12,000 m² in size. It was designed by French architect Paul Andreu. Construction started in December 2001 and the inaugural concert was held in December 2007.

The exterior of the theater is a titanium-accented glass dome that is completely surrounded by a man-made lake. It is said to look like an egg floating on water, or a water drop. It was designed as an iconic feature, something that would be immediately recognizable.

The dome measures 212 meters in east–west direction, 144 meters in north–south direction, and is 46 meters high. The main entrance is at the north side. Guests arrive in the building after walking through a hallway that goes underneath the lake. The titanium shell is broken by a glass curtain in north–south direction that gradually widens from top to bottom.

The location, immediately to the west of Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People, and near the Forbidden City, combined with the theatre's futuristic design, created considerable controversy. Paul Andreu countered that although there is indeed value in ancient traditional Chinese architecture, Beijing must also include modern architecture, as the capital of the country and an international city of great importance. His design, with large open space, water, trees, was specially designed to complement the red walls of ancient buildings and the Great Hall of the People, in order to melt into the surroundings as opposed to standing out against them.

Internally, there are three major performance halls:

The Opera Hall is used for operas, ballet, and dances and seats 2,416 people.
The Music Hall is used for concerts and recitals and seats 2,017 people.
The Theatre Hall is used for plays and the Beijing opera. It has 1,040 seats.
The NCPA also distributes filmed and recorded performances of its concerts, plays and operas through the in-house label NCPA Classics, established in 2016.

The initial planned cost of the theatre was 2.688 billion yuan. When the construction had completed, the total cost rose to more than CNY3.2 billion. The major cause of the cost increase was a delay for reevaluation and subsequent minor changes as a precaution after a Paris airport terminal building collapsed. The cost has been a major source of controversy because many believed that it is nearly impossible to recover the investment. When the cost is averaged out, each seat is worth about half a million CNY. The Chinese government answered that the theater is not a for profit venture.

The government sanctioned study completed in 2004 by the Research Academy of Economic & Social Development of the Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, of the upkeep costs of the building were publicized in domestic Chinese media:

The water and electricity bills and the cleaning cost for the external surface would be at least tens of millions CNY, and with another maintenance cost, the total could easily exceed one billion CNY. Therefore, at least 80 percent of the annual operational costs must be subsidized by the government for at least the first three years after the opening, and for the rest of its operational life, at least 60 percent of the annual operational cost must be subsidized by the government.

The director of the art committee of the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the standing committee member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Mr Wu Zuqiang (吴祖强) and the publicist / deputy director of the National Centre for the Performing Arts Mr Deng (邓一江) have announced that 70 percent of the tickets would be sold at low price for ordinary citizens, while 10% of the tickets would be sold at relatively expensive prices for separate market segments, and the 60% of annual operating cost needed to be subsidized by the government would be divided between the central government and the Beijing municipal government.