‘Mulan JR’ Opens Friday At Grace Arts Live

It’s a story of strength, loyalty, honor, love, and destiny as the Grace Arts Live cast gears up to open “Mulan Jr” on Friday night in Lake Havasu City. It plays for two weekends.

Jillian Danielson/RiverScene

The stage is set with hanging Chinese lanterns and old stone steps, and the cast is dressed in colorful kimonos while carrying colorful silk umbrellas. The story is of Mulan, who clumsily meets the matchmaker as her family has hope of her to marry. A marriage, which would bring honor to her family. Failing in the face of the matchmaker, she brings disrespect upon her family’s traditions. This makes her feels she is a misfit and a late bloomer.

Meanwhile, the Huns invade China and the army calls upon the men of the country to step forward to fight them. Mulan’s ailing father is among them. Against her family’s wishes, Mulan disguises herself as a soldier man – a dishonorable act that only death can atone – and ventures to take her father’s place as a gesture of saving his life.

It is here the adventures begin with Mulan and her sidekick dragon, Mushu. The dragon, who himself is a mischievous misfit, was disgraced and bumped from his afterlife pedestal in the Chinese ancestral temple. This is his chance to redeem what has been lost to him, and to help Mulan along her journey.

Jillian Danielson/RiverScene

The community play is produced in cooperation with Music Theatre International, Inc. It is based on Disney’s Oscar-nominated “Mulan Jr” film. It is described on www.graceartslive.com as a heartwarming celebration of culture, honor, and the fighting spirit. It includes popular music and a storyline packed with humor, heart, and action that brings ancient China to life with modern sensibilities.

Grace Arts Live is at 2146 N. McCulloch Blvd., in Havasu. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday Jan. 13-14, and Jan. 20-21; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, and Jan. 22.

Adults are admitted for $20 plus fee, and youth 17 and younger are admitted for $10 plus fee. Partial proceeds to benefit Grace Arts Live Youth Theatricals, which is a nonprofit group focused on theatre education and performance opportunities for local youth. For more information visit www.graceartslive.com, or call 928-505-2787.