Our School Musical- Mulan Jr.

For our school musical this year, we will be performing Mulan Jr. (The Disney version). If you think that you know what the play will be like – you’re wrong. Because we are going to put an exciting new twist on Mulan, so it won’t be the Disney version…it will be OUR version!

Below are the similarities and the differences between our play and the Disney movie:

The characters and their qualities are basically the same in both the play and the movie. You get the same idea of each character’s personality in both, but in the play the actor gives more life to the character. Also, in the play you are able to sculpt your character in whatever way you want, while in the movie the characters are only what the animation made them to be.

In the play, you really get connected with the strict traditions that the characters had to follow, and the Chinese culture. In the play, Mulan’s Ancestors seem more important to the story while in the movie, you don’t get a very good idea of what they mean to Mulan and her family.

Performing in Chinese

Another cool thing about Mulan Jr. is that it will be bilingual. The three major leads (Mulan, Mushu, and Captain Shang) will be performing all their lines and one song in Mandarin Chinese. Also, there will be a Chinese Chi Fu and maybe a half – Chinese ensemble.
As the main Chinese performers, we believe that we can do this, but we will have to sacrifice a lot of time.

It will be difficult. For one, we have to speak our lines at the same time as the English performers. Sometimes it will be easy – for example, when the English Mushu says, “What did I miss? Am I late? Am I early?” and the Chinese Mushu says something of similar length. But other times it will be pretty hard, like when the English Mushu says “Poor kid!” and the line in Chinese is about twice as long. However, we are all willing to step up to the plate and get down to business (to defeat the Huns!).

The performance will be on May 8th, 9th, and 10th. That means that we have about three months to memorize our many lines…but we can do it! Please come and see our show. The cost is about $5.00, and children under three years old are free. If you comment, we can e-mail you our school name and address.

by Sam (Mushu), Luke (Qian-Po), Emma (Mulan), Toby (Captain Shang), and Zahra (Subar-Tu, Hun)