The Taiwan Pavilion at the recent Paris Cultural Olympiad offered something highly unusual: a traditional funeral ritual. Taiwanese artist Lin Tsung-fan grew up near a cemetery in southern Taiwan, where he observed a folk custom in which mourners guide the dead person’s spirit into the afterlife. His troupe, the Feng-Cheng-Teng Spirit Group, performed this in Paris on August 2, 3, and 4 in the midst of the Olympics.
It probably never would have happened had it not been for VMTheatre Company’s hit musical, Don’t Cry, Dancing Girls. It became the hottest stage production in Taiwan since tickets went on sale in 2021 and it premiered last year. The director, Tseng Hui-cheng (“Chris”) has a master’s degree in musical theatre from New York University. In this show, he blends bright modern stagecraft, colourful costumes, and contemporary pop and hip-hop music in telling a story about this ancient funeral tradition.
“We went down to Tainan to talk with this master,” Tseng tells the Toronto Spark over Zoom. “We watched him and we talked to him. I think it’s because of the popularity of our show that people started to know about this.”
On August 25, TAIWANfest Toronto will present a free film screening at 4 p.m. of a staged reading of VMTheatreCompany’s production at the Studio Theatre in Harbourfront Centre. Don’t Cry, Dancing Girls – Special Edition is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The actors speak Mandarin and Taiwanese, with English subtitles.
Don’t Cry, Dancing Girls revolves around two sisters—Guo Zhen and Guo Mei—and their drag queen younger brother, Guo Hao (known as Angela). After their father racks up huge gambling debts and abandons the family, the trio flees their small town in Yunlin County and moves to Taipei.
Dream scene drives Don’t Cry, Dancing Girls
The older sister, Zhen, despises her father. And because she doesn’t have much education, she supports her younger siblings by doing sex work.
“She thinks her father ruined her life,” Tseng says.
Back in the village, her father was a Taoist priest and the family operated a funeral business. It offered mourners the lengthy death ritual, which was recently demonstrated in Paris.
Meanwhile, Zhen has some kind of psychic power. And in a dream, she sees her father’s spirit as a dead person. He seeks his daughter’s forgiveness, but according to Tseng, she tries to kill him in the dream because she’s so full of rage.
“After the dream, she woke up,” Tseng says. “She says, ‘Oh, my father must be dead.’ ”
As a result, she and her siblings head back to the family home in Yunlin County to claim their property.
Tseng praises how the librettist, Zhan Jie, deals with relationships in such an authentic and familiar way. And the director feels that this is a major reason why Don’t Cry, Dancing Girls has resonated with audience in performances in several Taiwanese cities. The characters were inspired by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, which premiered in 1901.
“The older sister is really mean to the younger brother and sister—really mean!” Tseng declares. “But actually, in her heart, we know she loves them a lot.”
To him, this speaks to the reality in so many Taiwanese families where people don’t always show their true feelings.
A generational divide
The death ritual, which traditionally lasts three days, also reveals something to the oldest daughter. The director points out that modern-day funeral ceremonies are much quicker in Taiwan, reflecting the speed of contemporary culture. This stands in contrast to what previous generations experienced over the loss of loved ones.
He suggests that Don’t Cry, Dancing Girls tugs on cultural heartstrings rooted within Taiwanese people, even if they’re not conscious of these influences on a day-to-day basis.
“It’s there but they don’t know it until they see something on-stage,” Tseng says. “Then, they feel really close to it.”
Through this show, audiences also come to realize that different generations see the world from very different perspectives. This is reinforced by music director and composer Robert Kang and fellow orchestra members Wu Kang-chiu, Lin Hong-yu, and Wu Chun-you.
“Our parents’ generation has a way of showing their affection, and it’s different from the younger generation,” Tseng says.
Tseng adds that he was thrilled to see the ancient funeral ritual performed in front of the world in Paris. For him, it was a full-circle moment.
That’s because two decades ago, Tseng returned to Taiwan with hopes of creating Broadway-style productions in his homeland. As a teacher in those early years, he shared Broadway show tunes with his students. But over his career, Tseng has also immersed himself in Taiwanese opera, folk traditions, and puppetry.
These elements came together in his last musical, Reed Unbroken. It’s about a Taiwanese opera troupe, lost memories, and a beautiful romance. Now, he’s sharing these Taiwanese cultural influences with the world again in Don’t Cry, Dancing Girls, albeit with a Broadway flourish.
“This is a really interesting fate,” Tseng comments.
TAIWANfest Toronto will present a free screening of Don’t Cry, Dancing Girls – Special Edition at 4 p.m. on August 25 at the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre. The film is in Mandarin and Taiwanese with English subtitles. For more information, visit the website. Learn more about diverse communities from the Toronto Spark website. Follow the Toronto Spark on X @TOSparkOfficial.
