Trump on Show: hit opera with young Hongkongers to rerun, eyes global stage

When Cantonese opera impresario and composer Edward Li Kui-ming wrote Trump on Show five years ago featuring the recently re-elected American president during his first term in office, he did not expect the ancient art form to be a hit among young Hong Kong audiences.

It was for this very reason his composition has been chosen as one of the closing performances of the Sunbeam Theatre in North Point, as the institution synonymous with Cantonese opera in the city prepares to lower its curtains for the last time in March after 53 years.

“Trump on Show was the only Cantonese opera that drew many young viewers to our theatre. For many of them, it’d be their first taste of what we do. I was surprised, it’s not something I had expected,” Li said.

When the show was first staged in 2019, young viewers – from teenagers to those in their mid-thirties – would ask for photos with him with their tickets, he recalled, and would enthusiastically clap and cheer “like crazy” during the performances.

“At first, our veteran opera singers were flabbergasted. The audience used to be so quiet you could hear a pin drop,” he said. “But it’s no longer like that, the interactions now are very lively.”

The composition stands out within the repertoire of the classical art form on many levels, not least because it centres around an incumbent American president and is performed in modern-day costumes.