American lifts curtain on opera

One of the few Western performers to take to the stage in Cantonese opera hopes he can open up the colourful but often impenetrable art form to a new audience.

New York native Lyle Rose first got the chance to take to the stage when a well-known performer heard him humming along as his wife rehearsed her role in a performance of the famous Cantonese opera Dai Nui Fa (or Princess Cheung Ping).

Rose, 59, has since been joined on stage for performances of the show by his 17-year-old son, Leonard, who plays female roles.

'We are two gweilos performing Cantonese opera, but we want to bring attention to the beauty of the costumes and the majesty of the performances,' said Lyle Rose, who regrets that the art is not more accessible to non-Cantonese speakers.

He runs a US-based performance management firm specialising in creative management - and once had to rush to the airport for a business meeting in Las Vegas while removing the remnants of stage make-up from his face.

Rose first immersed himself in Cantonese culture when he moved to Hong Kong in the 1980s, where he married his wife, Cynthia Huie-Rose, a local doctor who performs opera at a professional level.

In 2009, a year after the family returned to Hong Kong after more than a decade living in the US, Rose was given the opportunity to take the stage himself, while his wife rehearsed for a show at the Jordan Community Centre.