The creator of the Cantonese opera sensation Trump on Show has said a sequel is in the works, and is set to be performed as part of a trilogy at one of Hong Kong’s premier performing arts venues.
Edward Li Kui-ming, the playwright (and feng shui master) who penned the sold-out work, promised a sequel centered on US President Donald Trump and his bitter 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton, the Standard reports.
“We have confirmed that we will have shows at the Xiqu Centre in the West Kowloon Cultural District for 14 days, and we will play Mao Zedong, Trump on Show, and the third episode, Trump versus Hillary, and this will cause a rarely seen phenomenon in Cantonese opera history,” Li said.
Li wasn’t just being hyperbolic. The aforementioned Mao opera, 2016’s Chairman Mao, and his fantastical take on Trump drew global attention unheard of in the traditional Cantonese opera world.
Trump on Show’s four-day run in April sold out, and became a media sensation, even if its plot bore more resemblance to “Monty Python” than the Mueller report. (It involved, among other things, a magical goblet, an alien abduction, and the ghost of Abraham Lincoln.)
A representative of the West Kowloon Cultural District acknowledged to Coconuts HK that they were aware of the news reports of the purported planned performances at the Xiqu Centre, but could neither confirm nor deny their accuracy.
In addition to the Trump sequel, Li claimed he would also be producing a series of operas based on “modern Chinese history,” starting with the late Qing Dynasty.
If the sequel does indeed come to fruition, all that remains to be seen is how Li will manage to top the outlandish spectacle of Trump on Show. Bill Clinton as a sax-playing cultist charged with protecting Catholic relics? Putin as human-suit-wearing reptile king? Trump as a “very stable genius”?
The only thing that’s certain is, whatever he comes up with, it can’t be weirder than actual American politics.
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