Immersive shows, concerts, flamenco, puppet theater, circus & art in Shanghai (May–Sep). Prices RMB50–880. Venues: The Pearl, Concert Hall, SIDC, Theatre YOUNG.
Tags:
Featured Event
Shanghai, Great World Dream @ The Pearl
Click above to see video
Set in a stylized vision of 1920s Shanghai, Great World Dream takes its cue from the legendary Great World, once one of the city's most famous entertainment venues.
This immersive production brings together singing, dance, magic, aerial performance, gambling, and roaming characters — inviting audiences to explore the show as they move through all three floors of the Pearl Theatre.
Part spectacle, part story-world, the experience is designed around discovery: hidden scenes, unexpected encounters, and moments that unfold at close range.
Brought to you by the producers of Titanic: Ship of Dreams, Moulin Dream, and Pirates of the Pearl, audiences will step inside an imagined old Shanghai—glamorous, theatrical, and full of mystery.
With a cast of over 25 international actors, this show truly has something for everyone.
Language: English
Click below to get yours now:
Sat May 23 & 30, 7pm; RMB333-555
The Pearl, 471 Zhapu Lu, by Wujin Lu 乍浦路471号, 近武进路
Priority Waitlist
10% Off! The Great Gatsby @ The Pearl
The Pearl has announced an exclusive cabaret theater production of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless classic, The Great Gatsby.
The production will take over the historic Hongkou venue at the end of May and over two weekends in June.
Unlike traditional seated theater, this cabaret-style production invites audiences into the world of Jay Gatsby’s legendary parties, featuring moments of direct interaction—without leaving the comfort of your seat.
Guests can enjoy great food and drinks throughout the evening as they take in a thrilling night of live music, dance, and drama.
Language: English
Exclusive Priority Waitlist – Get 10% Off
Before reservations open to the general public, The Pearl is offering an exclusive Priority Waitlist. Those who join the waitlist will receive:
10% off their presale ticket price
Priority reservation access as soon as tickets become available
Email [email protected] now with how many tickets you would like to secure your spot and discount.
Premium Sponsors: Mövenpick & Teuscher
The Pearl is also proud to welcome Mövenpick ice cream and Teuscher chocolates as official sponsors of The Great Gatsby production.
All VIP ticket holders will receive a specially designed Mövenpick ice cream dessert as part of their VIP experience.
Every VIP table will also receive a small box of Teuscher truffles—a touch of Swiss luxury to match the glamour of the Roaring Twenties.
Fri May 29, 7pm
Fri & Sat June 5 & 6, 26 & 27, 7pm
RMB218-268
The Pearl, 471 Zhapu Lu, by Wujin Lu 乍浦路471号, 近武进路
Camerata RCO @ Shanghai Concert Hall
Witness the historic China debut of Camerata RCO, formed by members of the world-renowned Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
This all-star chamber ensemble presents a program of classical masterpieces, including Mozart’s sublime Clarinet Quintet, K.581, a perfect fusion of warm woodwind and string textures, followed by Schubert’s grand Romantic Octet, D.803.
As the first stop on their inaugural China tour, this concert offers Shanghai audiences a rare opportunity to experience the unparalleled and refined artistry of musicians from a top-tier symphony orchestra performing intimately.
Don't miss this culturally significant evening of chamber music.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Thu May 21, 7.30pm, RMB180-680
Shanghai Concert Hall 523 Yan'an Dong Lu, by Jinling Zhong Lu, Huangpu District 延安东路523号, 近金陵中路
Kodály Quartet 60th Anniversary Concert @ Shanghai Concert Hall
Celebrate a milestone in chamber music as the legendary Kodály Quartet marks its 60th anniversary.
As Hungary’s national treasure and a Rosette winner of the Penguin Guide to CDs, this esteemed ensemble carries the legacy of composer Zoltán Kodály.
Their program traces the evolution of the string quartet: Mozart’s elegant String Quartet No. 16 in E-flat major, Kodály’s folk-infused String Quartet No. 2, and Smetana’s deeply autobiographical 'From My Life.'
Founded in 1966 by Liszt Academy students and officially named after Kodály in 1972, the group has recorded over 70 CDs, including complete Haydn and Beethoven cycles.
Recipients of Hungary’s Kossuth Prize, these artists deliver an evening of masterful interpretation and historical depth. Secure your tickets for a night of exquisite artistry.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Sun May 22, 7.30pm, RMB180-380
Shanghai Concert Hall 523 Yan'an Dong Lu, by Jinling Zhong Lu, Huangpu District 延安东路523号, 近金陵中路
Querencia @ SIDC
Experience the soul of Spain as Compañía Antonio Najarro brings Querencia to the Shanghai International Dance Center.
Directed by the renowned former director of the Spanish National Ballet, Antonio Najarro, this 75-minute journey showcases the rich tapestry of Spanish dance.
With 14 virtuosic dancers, the company performs a stylized exploration of Escuela Bolera, folklore, and flamenco.
Querencia, meaning the pull to return to one's roots, is expressed through Najarro’s signature choreographic vision.
The stage comes alive with the beauty of traditional accessories—the Castilian cape, Manila shawl, and the dramatic long-tailed flamenco dresses, or bata de cola—as the dancers themselves master the intricate rhythm of castanets.
This large-scale production, accompanied by the Orquesta de Extremadura, is a celebration of the aesthetic and interpretive depth of Spanish culture.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Fri & Sat May 22 & 23, 7.30pm; RMB280-680
Shanghai International Dance Center 1650 Hongqiao Lu, by Shuicheng Lu 虹桥路1650号, 近水城路
'Twilight' Candlelight Concert @ Shanghai City Theatre
ECM European Chamber Orchestra's second candlelight concert, featuring iconic film music, including themes from Twilight, The Avengers, Titanic, Interstellar, In the Mood for Love, Call Me by Your Name, Pirates of the Caribbean, Game of Thrones, The Phantom of the Opera, Mission: Impossible, and more.
The concert blends emotional depth with energetic highlights. Each piece connects to key movie moments—action, romance, longing, and adventure. The chamber music setting offers a more intimate experience than a full orchestra, with candles adding to the atmosphere.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Sat May 30, 7.30pm; RMB90-190
Shanghai City Theater 4889 Dushi Lu, Minhang District 闵行区都市路4889号保利上海城市剧院
La Tormenta | The Storm @ Theatre YOUNG
A cloud has been hovering over Pablito's head. It hides the sun. It stops him from dancing, from writing, from smiling. Even the thunder hurts his belly.
He knows: for the cloud to disappear, it must first rain.
Winner of Best Puppet Show at FETEN 2025 and the Audience Award at Mostra Igualada, this "neighborhood odyssey" from Barcelona's Zero en Conducta redefines heroism.
Our hero needs no power, no conquest, no kingdom. All he wants is to cry—and to learn that after every storm, calm always follows.
Blending contemporary puppetry, physical theater, and dance, this 55-minute, surtitled visual masterpiece speaks to audiences aged 8 to adult.
It is a delicate, courageous exploration of mental well-being and vulnerability. Through breathtaking imagery and wordless emotion, La Tormenta reminds us that tears are not weakness. They are the first step toward light.
Come. Let it rain.
Language: Spanish with English and Chinese surtitles
Click below to get your tickets now:
Sat & Sun May 30 & 31, 2pm & 7.30pm; RMB180-230 (packages available)
Theatre YOUNG, 1155 Kongjiang Lu, Yangpu District 上海市杨浦区控江路1155号
Assembly Hall @ SIDC
From the visionary team behind the Olivier Award-winning Betroffenheit comes Assembly Hall, the latest genre-defying work by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young.
Performed by Kidd Pivot, this dance-theater hybrid follows a medieval re-enactment society's annual meeting.
As their beloved 'Quest Fest' faces financial ruin, the line between reality and role-playing blurs—ancient forces awaken, and the stakes become far more than a mock tournament.
Hailed by The Guardian as “astonishingly beautiful,” the work masterfully contrasts light with darkness, absurdity with raw emotion, and mundanity with collective fantasy.
With Pite’s breathtaking choreography and Young’s sharp, witty text, Assembly Hall becomes a touching rumination on purpose, grief, and belonging.
Don't miss this radically original, mind-expanding experience from one of contemporary dance’s most acclaimed companies.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Fri & Sat June 12 & 13, 7.30pm
Sun June 14, 2pm
RMB280-680
Shanghai International Dance Center 1650 Hongqiao Lu, by Shuicheng Lu 虹桥路1650号, 近水城路
Rigoletto @ Shangyin Opera House
Shanghai Opera House and the Royal Opera House, London reunite for a powerful co-production of Verdi’s masterpiece, Rigoletto.
Following acclaimed collaborations on Manon Lescaut and Madama Butterfly, this new staging—directed by Oliver Mears—reimagines Victor Hugo’s tragic tale of curse, paternal love, and fate through a contemporary lens.
Featuring world-class creative forces, iconic music, raw emotion, and stunning visuals, the production stars alternating casts including George Gagnidze and Sun Li in the title role.
Click below to get your tickets now:
June 12 & 13, 7.30pm
June 14, 2pm
RMB224-704
Shangyin Opera House 6 Fenyang Lu, by Huaihai Zhong Lu, Xuhui District 汾阳路6号，近淮海中路
An Ordinary Day in the Life of the Dancer Gregor Samsa @ Theatre YOUNG
What if Kafka's insect became a dancer?
This acclaimed physical theatre piece reimagines The Metamorphosis for the performance-obsessed age.
Lorenzo Gleijeses portrays Gregor Samsa, a 40-year-old dancer on the eve of his most important debut.
Trapped in a relentless pursuit of machine-like perfection, he can no longer distinguish rehearsal from reality, work from life, progress from collapse.
His frantic, twisted body—both unsettling and heartbreaking—shares the stage with a cleaning robot, his mechanical alter-ego.
Directed by legendary theatre innovator Eugenio Barba (founder of Odin Teatret) and co-created with Gleijeses and Julia Varley, this 75-minute, subtitle-aided performance weaves three strands: Kafka's own family anguish, the novelist's fictional creature, and a contemporary artist spiraling into his own cocoon—not of chitin, but of dreams, absurdity, and solitude.
Performed in Italian, it is less an allegory of transformation than a mirror: in chasing perfection, do we become our first victims?
Language: Italian with English and Chinese surtitles
Click below to get your tickets now:
Fri & Sat June 12 & 13, 7.30pm
Sun June 14, 2pm & 7.30pm
RMB100-380
Theatre YOUNG, 1155 Kongjiang Lu, Yangpu District 上海市杨浦区控江路1155号
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet: The Complete Piano Works of Ravel @ Shanghai Concert Hall
On June 13, Shanghai audiences will experience a first: a Ravel piano marathon.
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, a leading figure of the French piano school and hailed by Gramophone as a definitive Ravel interpreter, performs the composer's complete solo piano works in a single concert—nearly three hours of pure mastery.
From early gems like 'Pavane for a Dead Princess' and 'Jeux d'eau' to the pinnacle of virtuosity, 'Gaspard de la nuit,' and the neoclassical elegance of 'Le Tombeau de Couperin,' Bavouzet guides us through Ravel's entire creative universe.
The program unfolds across three sections, separated by two intermissions.
With seasoned artistry and luminous touch, Bavouzet celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ravel's birth, offering a rare chance to hear every note the composer wrote for solo piano—from the familiar to the hidden—in one unforgettable evening.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Sat June 13, 7pm, RMB180-580
Shanghai Concert Hall 523 Yan'an Dong Lu, by Jinling Zhong Lu, Huangpu District 延安东路523号, 近金陵中路
Evening @ Theatre YOUNG
Three elderly villagers. Their children long gone. Their only companions: the sky, the earth, and an old radio.
This is the hauntingly beautiful world of Evening, adapted from Alexei Dudarev's Belarusian classic, now a national treasure.
Premiered in 2024 and presented by the Honored Collective of the Republican Theater of Belarusian Dramaturgy, this 105-minute production transforms everyday solitude into a profound meditation on time, fate, life, and death.
The stage is minimalist and symbolic. Cameras and projections create an intimate 'gaze.'
Suspended table models evoke a fading village, blurring reality and illusion.
Through quiet conversations and folk melodies, the lyrical text unfolds into philosophical inquiry—not merely a portrait of rural Belarus, but a universal question of belonging and loss.
Performed in Belarusian with Chinese and English subtitles, Evening transcends borders; whether you are 10 or a hundred, its stillness and depth will reach you.
This is theater as quiet contemplation: an invitation to sit with the elderly, listen to the silence, and remember.
Language: Belarusian with English and Chinese surtitles
Click below to get your tickets now:
Fri June 19, 7.30pm
Sat & Sun June 20 & 21, 2pm & 7.30pm
RMB180-480
Theatre YOUNG, 1155 Kongjiang Lu, Yangpu District 上海市杨浦区控江路1155号
New Oriental Chinese Music Scene @ Shanghai Concert Hall
The acclaimed New Oriental Chinese Music Scene returns to Shanghai Concert Hall for its seventh residency.
This stunning production seamlessly blends traditional Chinese music with cutting-edge lighting and stage design, creating a poetic realm where ancient aesthetics meet contemporary expression.
Nine original Shanghai-style works unfold without intermission, from the primal whisper of a millenary bone flute to drumfire that ignites the spirit, from ink-wash calligraphy in motion to a virtuosic reimagining of 'Flight of the Bumblebee.'
The visual spectacle breaks free from the conventional stage, enveloping the entire theater.
More than a concert, this 60-minute journey awakens the cultural memory buried deep within the soul and reveals the boundless creative possibilities of modern Shanghai.
A radiant highlight of the city’s summer arts season, this is Chinese music reimagined for the digital age.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Tue-Sun July 21-26, 2pm & 7.30pm, RMB180-580
Shanghai Concert Hall, 523 Yan'an Dong Lu, by Jinling Zhong Lu, Huangpu District 延安东路523号, 近金陵中路
Chords of Fate @ Majestic Theatre
The first China-Russia collaborative musical script, Chords of Fate features four renowned Russian musical actors and a live band in original costumes.
In a world where singing determines status and magic, a vanished legend returns. Ivan Ozhogin (Merited Artist of Russia, the only actor to play Graf von Krolock in both German and Russian Tanz der Vampire) reunites with Daria Burlyukalo (the stunning mezzo-soprano Dark Queen Takhisis).
Together, they watch as young graduates Vilena Sokolova and Maxim Rakovsky chase their dreams in the World Vocal Competition—only to uncover a hidden conspiracy.
Language: Russian with Chinese subtitles
Click below to get your tickets now:
Sat Aug 1, 7.30pm; RMB280-680
Sun Aug 2, 2pm; RMB280-880
Majestic Theatre 66 Jiangning Lu, by Nanjing Xi Lu, Jing'an District 江宁路66号, 近南京西路
Invitation of Three Vampires @ Shanghai Culture Square
Shanghai Culture Square Theater celebrates its 14th anniversary with an unprecedented gathering of German-language musical theatre's finest.
For the first time, four stars—Mark Seibert, Jan Ammann, Drew Sarich, and Nienke Latten—share one stage in an exclusive concert: Invitation of Three Vampires.
In a single evening, legendary characters collide: Graf von Krolock from Tanz der Vampire, Tod and Sissi from Elisabeth, Colloredo from Mozart!, and Maxim de Winter with Ich from Rebecca.
Through the voices of these four extraordinary performers, each role—once a universe of its own—becomes part of a dazzling vocal tapestry.
More than a performance, it is a hand-written invitation from the theater to every musical lover—a heartfelt tribute to the golden generation of German-language musicals, wrapped in one unforgettable anniversary night.
Language: German with English and Chinese surtitles
Click below to get your tickets now:
Wed & Thu Sep 2 & 3, RMB580-780
Shanghai Culture Square, 597 Fuxing Zhong Lu, by Shaanxi Nan Lu, Huangpu District 复兴中路597号，近陕西南路
Art Exhibitions
No.223 | Under the Sunlight, There is No True Intimacy @ Fotografiska Shanghai
Fotografiska Shanghai and Three Shadows Xiamen Photography Art Centre jointly present Under the Sunlight, There is No True Intimacy, the first solo exhibition by No.223 (a.k.a. Lin Zhipeng), a defining voice in contemporary Chinese image-making.
Curated by Teng Qingyun and Li Zijian, the show features over 100 works, and traces two decades of No.223's photographic practice, initiating a profound dialogue on intimate experience, visual resistance, and bodily narrative.
The exhibition’s title reflects No.223’s enduring creative philosophy—beneath the seemingly ordinary surface of daily life lies another, more complex topography shaped by the body, desire, and emotion.
His lens moves as a calm yet poetic observer through urban corners, natural fragments, and private scenes, capturing those fleeting, unclassifiable moments often overlooked.
Within contemporary visual culture, desire persists as an ambiguous force of resistance, navigating the space between social discipline and individual expression.
This exhibition unfolds around this very tension, exploring how desire becomes a form of subversive everyday practice.
No.223 is more than an artist’s alias—it is a creative stance: a refusal to be confined to a single identity, insisting instead on dual expression through both image and text.
In an era shaped by social media and instant visual stimulation, his work, marked by subtle endurance, reawakens the viewer’s connection to their own experience.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Until June 14
Daily, 10.30am-11pm; RMB50-100, ticket covers all ongoing exhibitions in Fotografiska
Fotografiska Shanghai 127 Guangfu Lu, by Jinyuan Lu, Jing'an District 光复路127号, 近晋元路
Vivian Maier | Unseen Work @ Fotografiska Shanghai
Unseen Work, the first Shanghai exhibition of legendary nanny-photographer Vivian Maier (1926–2009), marks the centenary of her birth.
Dubbed "the most mysterious photographic genius of the 20th century," Maier worked as a nanny for five decades while secretly creating over 150,000 photographs.
Discovered by chance in 2007 when her negatives were purchased at auction, Maier lacked formal training yet possessed an uncanny ability to seize the "decisive moment."
Walking the streets of American cities between childcare duties, she captured fleeting moments of ordinary life with masterful composition and social observation.
Her work blends compassion, humor, and acute social insight, prompting The New Yorker to hail it as "an achievement that rewrites photographic history."
Her travels extended globally, including to Hong Kong and Macao.
This show presents over 200 vintage and modern prints, including previously unseen images from her travels in Asia, along with her 8mm footage and personal artifacts like her Rolleiflex camera.
Structured thematically, the exhibition traces her career from introspective self-portraits through reflections to later color experiments.
Maier never printed most negatives nor sought recognition—she created purely from inner calling.
This show invites visitors into her solitary, richly expressive world for a dialogue across time.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Until July 19
Daily, 10.30am-11pm; RMB80-120, ticket covers all ongoing exhibitions in Fotografiska
Fotografiska Shanghai 127 Guangfu Lu, by Jinyuan Lu, Jing'an District 光复路127号, 近晋元路
Huang Peishan | Crack in the Curtain @ Fotografiska Shanghai
Crack in the Curtain, the first institutional solo show by Huang Peishan, explores the evolving dialogue between image and space in the digital era.
As AI and post-processing reshape photography’s claim to truth, Huang transforms images into tactile presences.
Using digital editing, AI generation, composite printing, and resin, she creates works that resemble documentary evidence, yet reveal deliberate fissures—becoming “interfaces of illusion” between reality and fiction.
The exhibition reconstructs everyday elements—shower curtains, mirrors, flowing water—into landscapes both familiar and strange.
These destabilize boundaries between private and public, intertwining shelter with discipline, intimacy with exposure.
The “crack” is the curatorial motif: apertures in curtains, ruptures in fabric, fractures in mirrors disclose fluid truths beneath surfaces, offering new ways of seeing.
Suspended between revelation and concealment, this liminal space defines Huang’s creative terrain.
Ultimately, the exhibition invites viewers to reexamine the authenticity of images and the politics of vision itself.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Until July 19
Daily, 10.30am-11pm; RMB80-120, ticket covers all ongoing exhibitions in Fotografiska
Fotografiska Shanghai 127 Guangfu Lu, by Jinyuan Lu, Jing'an District 光复路127号, 近晋元路
Last Chance!
Michael Najjar: Morphing Equilibrium @ Fotografiska Shanghai
"We are not bystanders to change; we are immersed within it." — Michael Najjar
In his major solo exhibition, Morphing Equilibrium, artist, explorer, and future astronaut Michael Najjar presents a powerful video inquiry into humanity's relationship with a changing planet.
The exhibition features monumental works like liquid landscape and arctic dystopia, created from the German's expeditions to Iceland's volcanoes and the High Arctic.
Najjar transforms flowing lava and fracturing ice into visual metaphors for a world in a state of dynamic imbalance.
Through cutting-edge imagery, he examines our 'liquefied' global order, inviting viewers to contemplate their role within Earth's profound transformations.
This is more than a visual spectacle; it is a call to reflect on our shared future.
Click below to get your tickets now:
Until May 17
Daily, 10.30am-11pm; RMB50-100, ticket covers all ongoing exhibitions in Fotografiska
Circus
Era 2: Spirit of Shanghai @ Shanghai Circus World
Acrobatics, dance, theater and even extreme sports – long-running Shanghai multimedia spectacular Era's second season is in full swing at Shanghai Circus World.
Tickets
Tue-Fri, 7.30pm Sat & Sun, 2pm & 7.30pm
Click below to get yours now:
¥50 ONLY!
Sales on Tees, Sweatshirts & Hoodies
Dentistry
5 Dental Deals to Put
a Smile on Your Face
Food & Drink
Tastiest Restaurants
Irresistible Prices
No comments:
Post a Comment