Known as the world’s first real-scene musical drama with the high mountains and deep valleys as the stage background, Tianmen Fox Fairy was put on at the foot of Tianmen Mountain, Zhangjiajie in September, 2009. Originated from a traditional Chinese myth and folk tale- “Love between Man and Fox”, the drama integrates the elements of folk music and modern art. As the story progresses, you will find settings everywhere from the foot of the hill to the peak, be it spotlight, stage for the chorus, background houses…everything. The visual presentation is spectacular and amazing, the music is impressive, and those dancers and singers are also charming.
Every night except harsh winter months it will be on show at the Grand Valley of Tianmen Mountain. Here you can listen to sweet singings, admire colorful lighting scene, and experience the strong folk custom of Tujia and Miao minorities. Since this open-air drama is only performed at night, when the weather gets cold you had better bring a coat to enjoy it.
With an investment of 120 million Yuan and a cast of 530, the wonderful drama has attracted bout 150,000 travelers from home and abroad since its debut performance. Tickets are available from most travel agencies or hotels.
The Tianmen Mountain and Tianmen Cave are grand and magnificent. A 5km valley with altitude difference of more than 1000m nestles in the magnificent and extraordinary Wuling Mountain Range. The valley boasts fragrant grass, chattering stream and mist wafting from the valley, which make the valley like a heaven of peace and happiness.
The main stage of the A Fox Fairy of Tianmen Mountain – the New Story of Woodman Liuhai blends with wonderful mountains, valleys, forests, streams and waterfalls to form the only large stage against the background of towering mountains and valley in the world, measuring all over 1 kilometer in depth, width and height respectively. The central stage of the play is built above the brook, looking like an inverse ancient tree floating on the bubbling stream, which blends with surrounding natural landscapes perfectly. Occupying a total area of 10000m2, the stage is the largest stage for performance in the world up to now. Moreover, it is designed to be made of glass steel, which becomes transparently bright under lighting effect to create fantastic scenes with color variations.
● Production Team:
Planner & Chief Director: Mei Shuaiyuan, creator of China landscape live-action and general producer of Impression of Sanjie Liu, Zen Music ShaoLin Grand Ceremony, Jinggang Mountain, Dreamlike Glory of the Song Dynasty, Proud Son of Heaven - Genghis Khan, Chinese Mountain Tai - Grand Ceremony of Worship and other live-actions.
Music Art Director: Tan Dun, the most influential Chinese composer in the world and the winner of Grammy and Oscar original music prizes.
Composer: Zhang Xiao, young composer, one of the composers of Impression of Sanjie Liu and composer of Jinggang Mountain and Dreamlike Glory of the Song Dynasty.
Playwright: Zhang Rensheng, famous playwright who has won the "Best Works Award of the Ministry of Publicity of CPC & Wenhua Playwright Award of the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China" for many times.
Executive Director & Editor: Min Rui, one of the executive editors of the opening ceremony and closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.
Chief Stage Art Designer: Yan Wenlong, famous art designer, chief stage art designer of the opening ceremony of Shanghai Special Olympics and other large-scale performances, and the stage art designer of Chinese Mountain Tai-Grand Ceremony of Worship, the Interpretation of Dujiangyan and other large-scale performances.
Lighting designer: Wang Yugang, lighting designer of Impression of Sanjie Liu, Dreamlike Glory of the Song Dynasty and other live-actions.
Digital video producer: Beijing Crystal Digital Technology Co., Ltd, digital technique producer of the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympic Games.
● Project Implementation and Stage Design:
A Fox Fairy of Tianmen Mountain – the New Story of Woodman Liuhai is unveiled against the background of a valley measuring about 5km in length stretching from the mountain gate of Tianmen Mountain scenic spot to the top of Tianmen Mountain, with altitude difference of 1100m. The main stage is built at the lower end of the valley in the mountain gate; tens of extraordinary mountains alongside the valley as well as the towering Tianmen Cave are the profound background of the main stage. The main stage blends with the valleys, wonderful mountains, forests, streams and waterfalls to form a super-large stage measuring several kilometers in depth and over a thousand meters in width and height difference.
The auditorium and main stage occupy a total area of 19880 m2. The panoramic stage made of glass steel occupies an area of 10000m2, which is transparently bright with lighting effect to form a fantastic scene. The performance areas are divided into five parts: central stage, mankind's world on the left, fox's world on the right, the singing platform in the front left and the live-action of terrace and timber bridge at the back.
The central stage is built on a brook with an inverse ancient tree floating on bubbling stream to form an integral live-action stage together with protruding stone bed. As to the mankind's world on the left, many Tujia wood huts with black tile carved windows and wooden fences are built along the mountains as stage art landscapes. And these simple wood huts are connected with each other to form a distinctive village of western Hunan. In the fox's world on the right, bizarre rocks are built amid forests, and rare flowers and grass are embedded to form a fantastic natural fox paradise. In the singing platform hanging on a hill, more than 100 girls wearing traditional costume, silver adornment and silver bells of Tujia Rthnic Group sing to offer people with wonderful aural enjoyment. The live-action of terrace and timber bridge with rich pastoral characteristics at the back echoes with the village from afar. The whole stage is natural as if it has been standing there for thousands of years at the foot of Tianmen Mountain to tell a legend.
