Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Colourful Performances At TVB Anniversary Gala
19 November 2007
Credit: Emma Lam@batgwa.com
The TVB Anniversary Extravaganza <萬千星輝賀台慶> is always a colourful, glamorous affair, marking the climax of a month of celebrations and showcasing the talents and achievements of the company and its artistes. This year is a particularly special year because it marks both the 40th Anniversary of the station as well as the 100th birthday of its founder and chairman Sir Run Run Shaw (邵逸夫).
This year's event was held this evening in the usual tradition at the grand performance studio of TVB City in Tseung Kwan O and a VIP drinks party was held before the main show. Sir Run Run was accompanied by his wife Mona Fong (方逸華) when he arrived for the party at around half past six and escorted into the building by Miss Hong Kong runners-up Grace Wong (王君馨) and Lorretta Chow (周美欣).
The main event and show began at around 8:30 pm and in an unprecedented move, Sir Run Run joined the artistes on the stage for a photocall to mark the 40th anniversary. He was in high spirits and stood firmly as he waved to the audienced and the viewers.
A parade of TVB's artistes opened the show, entering the stage in their fineries and lighting it up in a sea of coloured frocks and sparkling jewellery. After the first round of lucky draws, 40 artistes were chosen at random to sing "Happy Birthday" and were each presented with a ruby.
The masters of ceremonies for the show consisted of a mix of veteran and younger hosts: Liza Wang (汪明荃), Carol Cheng (鄭裕玲), Eric Tsang (曾志偉), Nat Chan (陳百祥), Anna Yau (丘凱敏), Amigo Chui (崔健邦), Tracy Ip (葉翠翠), Sharon Chan (陳敏之), Wong Yi Hing (王貽興) and Patrick Tang (鄧健泓). As usual, the MC group presented their own act and this year it was a magic show, where Tracy, Patrick, Yi Hing and Sharon made Nat disappear and then turn into Eric.
Dancing stars from the hugely popular Strictly Come Dancing <舞動奇跡> were the first act to perform their presentation that was titled "The Entire City Celebrates The Anniversary In Dance" <全城賀壽舞得揮>. Michael Tse (謝天華), Carlo Ng (吳家樂), Joe Ma (馬德鐘), Stephen Wong (黃長興), Benjamin Yuen (袁偉豪), Shirley Yeung (楊思琦) Sonija Kwok (郭羨妮), Sharon, Mandy Cho (曹敏莉) and Janet Chow (周家蔚) all looked ravishing in their dancing outfits and showed off the skills that they had gained whilst taking part in the competition and overcoming some initial nerves soon relaxed as they became absorbed into the performance. During a lift in one of the routines, Shirley was lifted onto Michael's shoulders and her skirt was lifted to reveal her shorts underneath in a rather awkward moment. Also, rumoured couple Stephen and Mandy were paired up to dance together.
Comedic talents Johnson Lee (李思捷), Wong Cho Lam (王祖藍) and Louis Yuen (阮兆祥) impersonated some big names from the musical world for their "Musical Superstar Concert" <熱爆巨星演唱會> act, with familiar faces such as Chris Wong (黃凱芹), Stephen Ngan (顏福偉) and Jenny Tseng (甄妮) all making appearances in the act. Johnson's Aaron Kwok (郭富城) joined Cho Lam's Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) to sing the song "Dancing Maiden" <舞娘> and Louis also appeared as a rather ugly version of Korean superstar, Rain, complete with his stripping routine, which revealed a rather rounded belly. The hilarious threesome ended their section on a high, appearing as dancing trio Grasshopper (草蜢), lifting the atmosphere of the evening and winning applause from everyone, apart from Sir Run Run, who remained rather unamused.
The next act was a performance of street drumming, where performers, including Ron Ng (吴卓羲), Fala Chen (陳法拉), Kate Tsui (徐子珊), Kenny Wong (黄德斌), Kenneth Ma (馬國明), Lai Lok Yi (黎諾懿), Charmaine Li (李思欣), Vin Choi (蔡淇俊), Joel Chan (陳山蔥), Charles Szeto (司徒瑞祈), Zac Koo (高皓正), Vivien Yeo (楊秀惠) and Kanin Ngo (敖嘉年), were suspended into the air to beat drums mounted on a metal frame up to 20 feet in the air.
TVB always make the most of a good idea and after the success of last year's "Waxworks Exhibition", the idea was re-used this year, with many more classic characters from over the years presented in the form of a human waxwork exhibition, ready for "schoolboy visitors", Eric and Nat, and "schoolteacher", Michael Miu (苗僑偉), to deface and destroy. Fortunately, Carol was on hand to make sure that there was some order kept and to prevent Yoyo Mung (蒙嘉慧) from having her breasts stroked by Eric, who also offered to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Other "waxworks" on show included Lee Si Kei (李司棋), Moses Chan (陳豪), Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼), Bowie Lam (林保怡), Gigi Lai (黎姿), Bernice Liu (廖碧兒), Amigo Chui (崔建邦), Bosco Wong (黃宗澤) and Myolie Wu (胡杏兒). Most of them were unable to escape being covered in water, ice cream and face cream during the charade, but Myolie managed to get her own back by pulling out a fake glass bottle and chasing Michael with it. Susanna Kwan (關菊英) also sought revenge after being hit by an inflatable hammer and gave Eric a well deserved slap on the face.
Musical performances for the evening were provided by Harlem Yu (庾澄慶), Janice Vidal (衛蘭) and Liu Jia-Chang (劉家昌). Harlem gave a song and dance medley including "Passionate Desert" <热情沙漠> and the theme songs of Meteor Garden <流星花园> and Foodie 2 Shoes <味分高下>. He then wished Sir Run Run and TVB to see even greater achievements in the future. Master Liu and Janice then sang "My Heart In Hong Kong" <心在香港> as the artistes all clapped out the beat for them.
Throughout the evening, numerous cash prizes were handed out to artistes in lucky dips and the top prizes of HK$200,000 went to Eric and Cherrie Kong (江芷妮), who also won HK$1.4 million worth of prizes. Kevin Cheng (鄭嘉穎), Yu Yeung (于洋) and Ha Yu (夏雨) also won HK$40,000.
The evening was brought to a close as TVB director Mrs Christina Lee (利孝和夫人) joined Liza to cut the birthday cake and Sir Run Run and Ms Fong raised a toast for the future success of the company and its staff.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Ronforever Forum
