LOS ANGELES---Oscar and Emmy award-winning producer Phil Goldfine enjoyed the performance of Shen Yun so much that it felt as though the two-and-a-half hour performance went by in just 30 minutes.
“This is a show that touches upon almost every single human emotion,” Goldfine said. “I think people will really enjoy it. It’s entertaining all the way through.”
The producer attended the performance with his wife and son at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, on April 13.
Shen Yun Performing Arts is the premier classical Chinese dance company, founded in New York in 2006 with the goal of restoring traditional Chinese culture through music and dance. Since then, the company has grown to six equally-large touring contingents that travel the world every year to share the wonders of this ancient culture to a modern audience.
Goldfine is a Broadway, film, and television producer who has worked in the industry for over 20 years. He has produced more than 100 television and film programs, and won an Oscar in 2014 for the documentary “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” for which he was executive producer. He also won an Emmy for the 2012 television movie “Seal Team Six.”
The producer praised the well-roundedness of the performance.
“It was a great show, great effects, great dancing, great music, great singing, great pianist, I mean just all-around a great show. Very entertaining,” he said.
The storytelling, in particular, stood out to Goldfine.
“Each individual dance was actually its own story,” he said. “I thought that was actually really well done, and you could really understand what was going on in each story.”
Through the stories, Goldfine said he learned a lot about about traditional Chinese culture, going back 5,000 years all the way to the present.
Traditional Chinese culture is deeply rooted in spirituality and belief in the divine. The values and ideas stemming from such a belief can be seen in the stories and texts passed down from generation to generation. These values include benevolence, propriety, and justice, and have been observed by Chinese people for millennia until Chinese society was upended under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party the last seven decades.
“Each one had it’s own special message, about love, and about people,” Goldfine said. “Everybody’s the same, everyone’s looking to be good at the end of the day.”
Goldfine added, “I think it will resonate to a worldwide audience.”
Given this, he had a final recommendation.
“It’s a really good idea that everybody see this show.”
With reporting by Michael Ye.
