Best bets

Shadow Play: Mulan in Shanghai

Date: Dec 23-Jan 13 - 10 am/2 pm

Venue: Ciro's Performing Arts Theater

Price: 80-120 yuan

The story of Hua Mulan, a girl who disguises herself as a man and goes to war in place of her elderly father has been adapted into numerous film and television works. This new shadow play version of the beloved story includes stunning sets, sentimental music and fantasy elements that breathe fresh life into an age-old art form. Shadow plays using silhouette puppets have a history of more than 2,000 years in China. These puppets are projected onto a backlit curtain while their articulating limbs are manipulated by artisans behind the screen, typically to the accompaniment of music.

Familie Floz: Teatro Delusio

Date: Dec 21-24 - 7:30 pm

Venue: Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center

Price: 99-380 yuan

Familie Floz has created a small family, whose home is the theatre itself: the efficient Bob is young, strong and unpredictable, the chronically tired and sickly Bernd is constantly bossed around, and the idle, always hungry Ivan is permanently anxious not to loose control over the shows. Separated from the radiant stars on stage by nothing more than a sparse scenery the three untiring helpers are fighting for their own happiness in a different universe. Yet in a magical way the glamorous world of pretence connects and is blended with the down to earth life backstage.

Spanish Ballet of Murcia in Beijing

Date: Dec 16-24 - 7:30 pm

Venue: Mei Lanfang Grand Theater

Price: 100-880 yuan

This powerful and passionate four-act show is a celebration of authentic Spanish dance, as well as a timeless tale of love, jealousy, death and individuality. Carmen a classic opera written in 1847 by French composer Georges Bizet, is one of the most performed operas in the world. It tells the story of love, jealousy and death between the soldier Don Jose and the gypsy Carmen, who has become a symbol of tragedy. The passionate yet melancholic Flamenco ends up revealing the true nature of this half-angel, half-demon gypsy woman.