《纽约时报》刻意引用一个儿童读物作家来质疑晚会中的“法轮功内容”。

看过一月三十一日晚会的Chiff.com网站的娱乐评论者十岁的吉姆斯（James）和母亲罗丝 （Mary Rose）则分别向其读者推荐晚会。

http://www.chiff.com/a/chinese-new-year-splendor.htm

吉姆斯写道：“我真的认为(晚会)很棒，我绝对要向同龄人推荐。我最喜欢的节目是打鼓和二胡独奏，我认为《威风战鼓》、《筷子舞》、《大唐鼓吏》非常有威力。鼓是中国文化重要的一部份，当你近距离欣赏它们时就会明白这点，你可以感到那音乐在你体内震荡。而二胡要演奏起来一定很难。”

罗丝写道：“我听说有人抱怨晚会充满了宣传。你会自始至终意识到中国人民在强权下仍被‘真、善、忍’引导着。我是这么看这个问题的：任何时候你表演一台有关历史、精神、艺术表现和社会问题的演出，你就得冒着被扣上宣传帽子的危险。但如果你就单纯来欣赏这台晚会，你会经历丰富的娱乐、视觉享受和愉快及有魅力的文化，你可以从中得到任何你想要的东西。”

“对于我们来说，晚会是一个非凡的经历，是由神话传说混合现代穿越中国历史旅程，是中国传统表演艺术奇观，令人为之倾倒的演员、完整的乐队和眩目的高科技天幕。这一歌舞音乐的舞台视觉盛宴，帮我们打开了对中国文化、历史、民俗和艺术更多的知识与欣赏之门。”

“舞蹈是这个伟大制作的心脏，女演员像在舞台上飘，轻且优雅，男女演员都训练有素，以跳、旋等展现各种才能。蒙古舞男演员以筷子敲出复杂的旋律，动作像奔马或雄鹰。艺术家与颜色、服装和道具等都融入舞蹈成为晚会的一部份。主持人以中英文介绍，与观众互动，甚至教几句中文。”

Chinese New Year Splendor

What James says: We went to see The Chinese New Year Splendor, at Radio City Music Hall. I really thought it was pretty awesome. I would definitely recommend it to other kids my age.

The dancing was really cool but my favorite parts without a doubt were the drummers and the erhu solo. I thought the "Victory Drums", "Chopstick Zest", and "Drummers of The Tang Court", were really powerful. The drums are an important part of Chinese culture and you really get why when you see, and hear them up close. You can actually feel the music pounding through your body.

The erhu is like a two-string violin that is held vertically, on the lap of the person playing it. There is no fingerboard for finding the right key, and the strings are pressed but shouldn't touch the neck. I imagine it is a very hard instrument to learn how to play.

Do you know why there are twelve years of the traditional Chinese Lunar Calendar? Or why they are named after animals? Well according to legend the Chinese Zodiac is named for the 12 animals that responded to Buddha's call. They arrived in this order: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and boar.

Each year in the 12-year cycle is named after one of these animals. In the Chinese culture if you are born in the year of a certain animal then you have sort of the same personality traits as that animal. So I guess being a Rat isn't all that bad, because they are respected for their cleverness, ambition, leadership skills and sociability.

The Year of the Rat holds a place of honor as the first in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. This year is the year of the Rat. Chinese New Year usually occurs anywhere from late January to mid-February. It is the most significant holiday in Chinese culture.

What Mom Says : I have heard some complaints about the show being a three hour long propaganda fest. Throughout you are reminded that the Chinese people, in spite of a totalitarian government, remain guided by the principles of "truthfulness, compassion and forbearance". My take is simply this, anytime you have a cultural show that showcases history, spirituality, artistic expression and social issues you run the risk of being labeled propaganda. However, if you go to the show and view it as it was meant to be seen then you come away with the feeling of having experienced a richly entertaining, visually pleasing, cultural encounter that hopefully delights and charms. You may take from it whatever lessons you desire, if you learn a little something about the culture then that is all the better.

For us The Chinese New Year Splendor was a marvelous experience. It is a journey into China's past, where myths and legends mixed with reality every day. It is a spectacular array of classical Chinese performing arts. Mesmerizing dancers accompanied by a full orchestra and supported by dazzling, high-tech imagery. The visually stunning stage experience of dances, songs, and symphony opened the door for us to come away with a greater knowledge or at least appreciation of Chinese culture, history, folklore, and the arts.

Dance is at the heart of this great production, with both the male and female dancers exhibiting the various disciplines, the female dancers appeared to float around the stage; most dances reflect lightness and grace, they demonstrate multiple talents with vigorous jumps and dazzling spins. A large contingent of Mongolian men beat out intricate rhythms with bunches of wooden chopsticks, as they imitate the movements of eagles and horses. The colors, costumes, and flowing materials that were incorporated into the dances were as much a part of the show as the artists. Everything was in English as well as Chinese, you are guided through the program by two hosts who introduce each scene and share the bilingual introductions. There were a few times during the show when the emcees would ask questions of the audience to encourage audience participation; and even teach a few Chinese words.

All in all this show is a wonderful introduction to the outstandingly rich Chinese culture. I believe it is really worth seeing; by the 8-and-up crowd. I will say that for youngsters it was a bit too long, the show was 3 hours long and started at 7:30pm. There were a few too many solo performances, that were slow moving and you could see the younger audiences attention wandering. We did not see the "Chinese New Year" experience, per se. So if you are looking for the dancing dragons and fast paced "New Year" tempo that is not what The Chinese New Year Splendor delivers. The Chinese New Year Splendor is presented by Divine Performing Arts, which employs some two hundred performers, including dancers, soloists and musicians with an impressive display of scenery. Radio City Music Hall has one of the largest indoor LCD screens; it reaches across the entire width of the great stage. The visual 3D animation integrated into the projections brings lifelike dimension to breathtaking vistas, snow-capped mountains, waterfalls, blossoming gardens, pagodas and temples that serve as backdrops for the many dances and musical numbers.

我通常不在这里写剧评，但我感到有必要破例。这个星期三我在纽约无线电城音乐厅观看了中国新年晚会，让我渡过了一个非常愉快、难以忘怀的夜晚。

尽管早知中国人对色彩的惊人运用能力，及超级的舞蹈与古老传说的壮丽，但是我仍然没想到我会见到如此绚烂的背景、服装和有力而优雅的舞蹈动作。

更让我惊奇的是西方很难见到的、只有艺术形式才能如此强有力表现的音乐舞蹈中体现的政治。舞蹈表现了女性的美丽、优雅，男性有力却灵敏，正是两性角色与态度在当代变得模糊之前应该那样的。而对法轮功的压迫亦在这一奇观中展现，从微妙到有力。

在所有的美好感受中，我必须指出戚晓春演奏的二胡如泣如诉深深感动了我；男高音洪鸣有力抒情的声音穿透了听众思维的最深处；《仙女踏波》和《水袖》充分利用丝绸模仿水，十分逼真；《迎春花开》美丽优雅，精致地描画了迎春花，舞蹈演员的动作传递出希望与更新的信息；压轴《威风战鼓》则有力地加强了希望与战胜邪恶的信息。

总的来说，我经过了一个充满美丽、壮观、希望和力量的愉快夜晚！我要喝采，真是好极了！

I do not, as a rule, do theater reviews on these pages… but I feel compelled to make an exception. This past Wednesday evening, I had the pleasure of watching the Chinese New Year’s show Splendor presented by Divine Performance Arts, at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Being well aware of China’s penchant for unbelievable color combinations I expected a magical pageantry filled with superb choreography and the recreation of ancient legends. I was not quite prepared for what I saw, however. While the colors of the background, the colors of the costumes, the powerful yet graceful movements of the dancers more than lived up to my expectations there was more…

The unexpected element came as a total surprise, it consisted of injecting politics into a performance of dance and music in a format we rarely see in the West, in ways only art forms can so powerfully express. Through song (in Chinese, with English subtitles running on the background screen), and through dance the message of oppression by the current leaders of mainland China was fully conveyed, subtly at first, openly and forcefully at the end.

Tracey Zhu from The Epoch Times. approached us during intermission. She is a delightful interviewer whose charm, warmth and skill got us to express our feelings both on the political message and the greatness of the performance itself. She is a very charming young woman, indeed.

The choreography showed women as beautiful, graceful and delightfully feminine. Men were portrayed as powerful yet sensitive… just as the genders were meant to be before the roles and attitudes blurred as in today’s society. The political message of the regime’s persecution of the Falun Gong benefited from the pageantry as it crescendoed from its initial subtleness into a very powerful finale!

Among the many great parts of this show I must single at least out a few. Xiaochun Qi performance on the erhoo, a Chinese instrument, at times reminded me of a human cry and touched me deeply; tenor Hong Min’s powerful, lyrical voice reachedfar within the innermost fabric of his listeners. The Nymphs of the Sea and Water Sleeves segments made ample use of silk to mimic the movement of water with unexpected realism. Forsythia in Spring, beautifully, gracefully and delicately portrayed the blooming forsythia - ying chun hua - as it welcomed the spring. The dancers movements and their symbolism wove a message of hope and renewal. The final segment, Victory Drums powerfully reinforced the message of hope and final overcoming the evil of the current ruling elite.

Over all, it was a delightful evening filled with beauty, splendor, hope and power! Bravo, bravissimo! ◇

著名摄影师的博克
二月六日纽约新唐人华人新年晚会观众：著名摄影师福瑞曼（James Fraiman）和现做图案设计师的考恩费尔得（Sherry Kornfeld）。（摄影／徐竹思）