'Spectacular' Animated Backdrops Have Audience in Awe

BOSTON—"The background is quite cool," said Donald Pecora during the Friday matinee intermission at the "Chinese New Year Spectacular" by the Divine Performing Arts touring company. "I liked it and it added a lot to the show." Donald and his wife, Elizabeth, traveled from Rye, New Hampshire, to see the performance.

Susan and Glen McWilliams from York, Maine. (Riordan Galluccio/The Epoch Times)

The "Spectacular," a revival of traditional Chinese arts and culture through classical and ethnic music, song, and dance, is in Boston through Saturday for four shows before continuing its world tour. The production makes use of high-tech computerized graphics, precisely synchronized to the music, to showcase each artistic performance.

Susan McWilliams from York, Maine, called it, "Fantastic." Her husband, Glen, is an architect and this is how he described it: "It's interesting how they integrated film with the dance—particularly effective on the rain scene. The fruits of goodness—water—a transcendental element in the culture of all of us."

Donald Pecora came from Rye, New Hampshire, with his wife to see the "New Year Spectacular" at Boston's Opera House. (Riordan Galluccio/The Epoch Times)

Bryan Hirsch is a Web and software designer from Jamaica Plain, Boston. (Riordan Galluccio/The Epoch Times)

The vibrating backdrop had Boston writer and graphic artist Richard Campbell wondering, and saying: "Technically, it's really a kind of wizardry show. I am still trying to figure out how they did it. I want to know whether that was film or whether that was computers when they did that kind of 3D work on the screen. It was really quite a wonderful show."

Bryan Hirsch, a Web and software designer from Jamaica Plain, in referring to one of the acts observed: "The set looks like a fixed backdrop and then lightning flashes through the rain. The lightning is what kind of grabbed me. When you are looking at it, it looks like a painted picture in the background."

For many viewing the show, the animated backdrop adds a new, thrilling, and unexpected dimension to the colorful and intricate costumes, the varied and diverse choreography, the powerful and stirring drumming, and more. What an exciting and different start for the Year of the Rat in the Chinese New Year, which officially starts on Feb. 7.

(Epochtimes is Chinese New Year Spectacular's media partner.)