Big Bang gigs sell out, and Sandra Ng's stage debut a hot ticket too

Big Bang tickets go boom

Three years after they set local industry records by becoming the first foreign band to sell out three concerts in the city, K-pop giants Big Bang have done it again. Local fans of the mega-popular boy band snapped up all 36,000 tickets to their three shows from June 12 to 14 at AsiaWorld-Arena less than two hours after they went on sale — even faster than in 2012. The band's 2015 "Made Tour" kicked off in Seoul on April 25, and after next month's Hong Kong shows they move on to mainland China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan. Fans who still don't feel as though they have enough Big Bang for their buck after paying from HK$488 to a whopping HK$1,888 for tickets can spend HK$300 by EPS and register for an online lottery to win tickets to the "soundcheck party" events being held before each show.

Sandra Ng set to make stage debut

Tickets for Dionysus Contemporary Theatre's upcoming production of Le Dieu du Carnage (God of Carnage) are also expected to sell like hot cakes once its box office opens mid-June. Playing the two couples in this black comedy by Yasmina Reza will be the company's co-founders, Olivia Yan Wing-pui and Anthony Wong Chau-sang, as well as veteran Poon Chan-leung and award-winning screen actress Sandra Ng Kwan-yu (pictured). This is Ng's first professional stage role, according to Yan, who will be co-directing the Cantonese adaptation of the French play. "She came to see our last production Equus [2014] and told me afterwards how much she enjoyed it. She then expressed interest in collaborating with us, that was before we decided on what we'd stage next," Yan says. "She has confidence in what we do." With a name like Ng — coupled with Wong, another award-winning actor — the production, running from August 7 to 16, is likely to sell out. Actually, quite a number of shows have already sold out since priority booking opened earlier this month. "It's good to have big names attached to a production," Yan says, "as that guarantees bums on seats. And if that means getting more people into the theatre and supporting the local performing arts, why not?"