''Snow.Wolf.Lake'' () is Hong Kong's first modern musical.

Jacky Cheung Jacky Cheung Hok-yau (born 10 July 1961) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Dubbed the " God of Songs", he is regarded as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong pop music. Cheung is known for his technically skilled vocals, lengthy tours, and ...

, a

cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...

artist, was the artistic director of the show and also played character Wolf in the musical. The running time of the musical is about three hours. It has two versions:

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

and

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

. The title combines the Chinese name of the two main characters, "Wolf", the male protagonist, and "Snow", the female protagonist. "Lake" refers to a plot related element.

Productions

''Snow.Wolf.Lake'' opened in Hong Kong Coliseum on 28 March 1997 for a total of 42 shows. The original version of the musical is in

and Standard Mandarin. Every showing was sold out. The musical later played in Singapore and also received critical success there, breaking attendance records. The last showing of ''Snow.Wolf.Lake'' was on January 7, 2006, in the Beijing

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for a total of 103 performances.

Main cast and characters

Cantonese version *Wu, Long or 胡狼 (

) – Gardener for the Ling family, who falls in love with Ling, Jing-Shu. *Ling, Jing-Shu or 寧靜雪 (

Sandy Lam Sandy Lam (; born 26 April 1966), is a Hong Kong singer, actress and album producer. She rose to fame in the 1980s as a Cantopop diva, before expanding her fan base significantly in Asia, releasing more than 30 stylistically diverse albums in C ...

in Hong Kong, then

Nadia Chan Nadia Chan (; born 21 January 1971) is a Hong Kong actress, singer, model, and spokesperson. Life and career Chan was born to Chinese Ethnic Indonesian parents. Chan's parents are Indonesian Chinese and her family moved to Hong Kong when she ...

in Singapore) – Second daughter of the Ling family, who falls in love with Wu. *Ling, Yuk-Fung or 寧玉鳳 (

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) – Eldest daughter of the Ling family, who also falls in love with Wu. *Leung, Jik or 梁直 (

Michael Tse Michael Tse Tin-wah (born 15 July 1967) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Background Michael Tse graduated from TVB's Dance Training Class and worked with TVB as a dancer for five years. He then left TVB and formed a boy band group called 風� ...

) – A wealthy bachelor who loves Ling, Jing-Shu. Their marriage is arranged by her parents to bring the Ling family out of financial trouble. Mandarin Version *Wu, Long or 胡狼 (played by Cheung) *Ling, Jing-Shu or 宁静雪 (played by Tong Chiang in the showings in Hong Kong, then Evonne Hsu for the remainder of the tour) *Ling, Yuk-Fung or 宁玉凤 (played by

, then

) *Leung, Jik or 梁直 (played by Yu Yiy or 于毅)

Synopsis

Act I: Wu's introverted character prevents him from making friends with anyone except flowers. Unexpectedly, his gentle nature attracts the attention of both the daughters of the Ling house, for which Wu works. Jing Shu's outgoing nature makes it easy for her to get close to Wu, leaving the quieter Yuk-Fung to watch the two from a distance. One night, Wu and Shu gaze up at the sky and see a shooting star; they exchange wishes for the future. Shu wants to be a violinist, and Wu wants to nurture a unique brand of flower that can be a true embodiment of love. On another night, Wu and Shu meet on a boat sailing on a lake. Shu tells Wu that there is a music school by a lake in Vienna, where Shu wishes to study. Wu says that he will go wherever she wishes to go and nurture by the lake his special brand of flower that he names the "Snow of tranquility" (Shu's name—宁静雪 means snow). Leung Jik tricks Wu into setting a fire the Valentine's Day carnival. Act II: A long time has passed since the carnival. Fung has been patiently waiting for Wu even though she knows Wu will never forget Shu. On Silent Night, Wu sees Shu from a distance on a street in Vienna, but he fails to catch up with her. The next morning, news fills the streets of Vienna that a famous violinist, Ling Jing-Shu has died; her body was found at the bottom of a lake.

Recording

The cast recording of ''Snow.Wolf.Lake'' does not include the voice of

due to copyright issues. Instead, Carol Chan from Hong Kong sings the role of Jing-Shu (宁静雪). In 2006 Cheung was nominated for ''Best Mandarin Male Singer'' at the

17th Golden Melody Awards The 17th Golden Melody Awards were held on 10 June 2006 at the Taipei Arena in Taipei, Taiwan. Summary Although Alternative rock, alternative musicians were nominated several times for awards, most of the categories were won by mainstream artists. ...

for his work on the album (雪狼湖創意音樂劇). GIO, Taiwa
17th Golden Melody Awards nomination list
4 July 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2011

References

{{reflist

External links

Hong Kong music 1997 musicals Hong Kong musicals