THEATER
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, JULY 9 - 14, 2019 (continuing through JULY 27)
8:00 PM TUESDAY - SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY

Chen Shi-Zheng/Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger: Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise
The Shed
545 West 30th Street, Hudson Yards, Manhattan

$25-$99
https://theshed.org/program/5-dragon-spring-phoenix-rise

What is becoming the usual Shed blend of the avant and banal pop, attempting (to put a good face on it) to effect popular outreach while maintaining at least an appearance of artistic cred. So the piece was conceived by Chen Shi-Zheng (of The Peony Pavilion fame) (but of Monkey: Journey to the West infame) -- but along with the guys who wrote Kung Fu Panda. Songs by Sia, a veritable mistress of pop banality -- but remixed byavant-pop electricians The Haxan Cloak and Arca. OK, choregrapher Akram Khan is unimpeachable. On the plus side, the story involves a secret sect in Flushing with the magical power to extend life. On the negative side, the whole thing seems either naive (good face) or meretricious (bad face). Note that they've lowered ticket prices through July 21 (presumably in light of the dire reviews).

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Momofuku Kāwi -- the most explicitly Korean of all the Momofukus (which is not to say it's anything like straight Korean) -- makes it impossible to say that there's nothing good about Hudson Yards.