When moonlight falls, the legend begins.
On May 30, LEGENDS: Chang’e Flies to the Moon comes to Segerstrom Hall, awakening the timeless tale of Chang’e and Hou Yi through live music, dance, martial arts, aerial performance, animation, and theatrical storytelling.
Stage Awakes · Light Shapes
South Coast Chinese Orchestra Artistic Director Yu Jiangli says this year’s Chang’e Flies to the Moon stands out for its seamless design, where dance, movement, lighting, screen animation, and live music move as one.
The audience will see more than dance and hear more than music. They will enter an immersive stage experience where a thousand-year-old myth comes vividly to life.
In six chapters—from Hou Yi shooting down the suns to Chang’e’s moonward flight and the final Mid-Autumn reunion—the production moves through disaster, heroism, love, separation, longing, and reunion.
It is more than a retelling of a myth. It is a cultural journey across time.
Drums Thunder · Suns Fall
The opening chapter, Hou Yi Shoots Down the Suns, will be one of the production’s most powerful moments.
Yu Jiangli describes a cracked, barren earth under blazing suns, with people struggling in the heat. As the music builds, a trumpet signals Hou Yi’s arrival.
Four large drums thunder across the stage, their beats merging with the dancers’ steps.
What makes this scene striking is Hou Yi’s interaction with the screen. As he draws, turns, and releases his arrow, the sun bursts and falls on screen, letting the audience feel the impact of his victory.
“This is not simply playing a video,” Yu said. “The character is truly interacting with the screen.”
As the final sun falls, light and music turn warmer. The earth revives, people gather again, and the mood shifts from despair to hope. Hou Yi becomes more than a mythic hero—he becomes a living figure onstage.
Scroll Blooms · Love Begins
In the second chapter, A Romantic Encounter, the stage turns soft and lyrical.
Yu describes the scene as a living classical scroll. Chang’e dances within the painted world as Hou Yi appears with his followers. Their meeting reveals not only love, but also Chang’e’s kindness, innocence, and grace.
Through scroll imagery, dance, and music, Chang’e seems to step out of an ancient painting, bringing tenderness to the myth before moonlight arrives.
This year, Huangmei opera became a storyteller within the show. Through dialogue between an adult and a child, it leads the audience into the legend like a moonlit bedtime tale.
The pair even returns between scenes, adding warmth and humor. Their playful exchanges make the audience feel not just like spectators, but part of the mythic world.
Heaven Gazes · Time Glows
This is only the beginning of Chang’e Flies to the Moon’s six-part journey.
Next, The Queen Mother’s Elixir reveals celestial mystery through dance and animation. Chang’e Flies to the Moon lifts Chang’e from earth to the moon through aerial performance, screen transitions, and live music.
In Longing Across Worlds, heaven and earth split onstage as Hou Yi and Chang’e gaze across distance, with lanterns, moonlight, and dance creating the production’s most tender scene.
The finale, Mid-Autumn Reunion, carries the story across time—from ancient legend to today’s shared Chinese memories of mooncakes, moonlight, and family reunion.
Yu says this year’s production goes far beyond “dance plus music.” With Bin He’s original score as its backbone, dance, animation, acting, and stage imagery give the myth its living body and soul.
For audiences, the magic lies in seeing a familiar myth reborn. Through drums, moonlight, painted scrolls, sky lanterns, and aerial flight, Chang’e and Hou Yi become more than legends—they come alive onstage.
This May, a thousand-year-old myth takes flight at Segerstrom Hall. On May 30, bring your family into the moonlit wonder of Chang’e Flies to the Moon, where Eastern mythology meets modern stagecraft. Seats are limited—reserve early.
On May 30, Chang’e Flies to the Moon will bring the myth back to life at Segerstrom Hall—and leave audiences moved.
Tickets: www.sccca.org/legends
Date: May 30, 2026
Venue: Segerstrom Hall