Leslie Cheung Memorial Activites Around the World: One Year On

HONG KONG – Thousands of heavy-hearted fans from around the world
were gathering in Hong Kong on Wednesday for ceremonies to mark the
first anniversary of the death of the city’s megastar Leslie Cheung.

IN REMEMBRANCE: To mark Hong Kong heart-throb Leslie Cheung’s
first death anniversary, Madam Tussauds unveiled its wax figurine of
the entertainer on Wednesday. It will pay tribute to the Cheung during
a candlelit exhibition. –AFP
The Cantopop singer and actor leapt to his death from the 24th
floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on April 1 last year after a long
battle with depression. He was 46.

Parts of Icehouse Street, the road where he was found dead, will be
closed so mourners can join the Never Forget Leslie ceremony at the
Mandarin organised by fan club Leslie Cheung Cyberworld.

Organisers say 800 fans have bought tickets for the event, which
will screen interviews with Cheung’s close family and friends, some of
whom will be on hand to share their memories of the star.

At 6:41pm, the time Cheung’s body was found, a candlelit memorial,
Memories of Our Legend, will be held at the podium of Jardine House
across the road from the Mandarin.

At least 700 fans from China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore
have indicated they will join local mourners at the open event. White
candles will be handed out by organisers.

On The Peak, Hong Kong’s biggest tourist destination, the
world-famous waxworks museum Madame Tussauds will pay tribute to the
singer and actor with the unveiling of his wax effigy during a
candlelit exhibition.

Cheung’s favourite restaurant, Fusion — where he ate the day of
his death — will also commemorate the anniversary with a special menu
of Cheung’s favourite dishes, including prime ribs.

Date: 2004-02-25 17:43:44

Susanna ( no email / no homepage) wrote:

February 24, 2004

Dear friends,

In the name of Leslie Legacy Association Ltd. (a non-profit making
organization incorporated under the laws of Hong Kong dedicated to
extend the legacy of Mr. Leslie Cheung), we have accomplished our
mission in having Leslie¡|s name on the ¡§Avenue of Stars¡¨ through the
tremendous support from all of you in our appeal campaign in January
2004. Without your signatures, we would definitely not be able to
achieve this. Thanks so much!

Now, we will move on to our next task.

Please read on if you are planning to come to Hong Kong by April 1,
2004 to pray for Leslie, to reminisce Leslie in the place where he was
born and departed, without joining the 4.1 function organized by a
website in Hong Kong. They should have taken care of their participants
in the following items, and we are here to take care of the rest of the
fans who will come to Hong Kong by April 1.

We will be organizing the following:

1. Candle light memorial at 6:41 pm on April 1, 2004, at the street
corner of the Mandarin Hotel (intersection of Ice House Street and
Connaught Road)

We will make the necessary arrangements for this candle light
memorial, as what we did on April 5 last year. We will arrange candles
for fans who will come to this memorial gathering. Please come before
6:15 pm to be prepared for the moment.

Dress code: Black.

Important note: Please do not drop any wax on the ground.

2.    Private screening on April 2, 2004

–    From Ashes to Ashes (RTHK)

–    My Young Concubine (RTHK)

– two other films that bring surprises

Time and place : to be confirmed

Fee : HK$30 (to cover the cost of the theatre rental)

Number of participants: 100

Registration : please register through e-mail, with title ¡§Leslie Legacy¡¨,

to Susanna at wfsljf@netvigator.com, specifying the following:

– your full name

– your e-mail address

– your telephone number

–    your city/country of residence

* one registration for one ticket only

Deadline for registration: March 7, 2004

Deadline for payment: March 15, 2004

Confirmation from Leslie Legacy: before March 22, 2004

(Your registration will be confirmed upon payment on a first come first serve basis.)

Payment method: will be advised via e-mail upon receipt of your registration.

6:41 pm on every April 1 is the darkest moment of our lives and
each candle light would bring us together, heart to heart, coast to
coast, to remember our dearest Leslie how he lived on this earth.

The special private screening is one of the rare chances that you
will be able to appreciate Leslie¡|s early performances in a theatre.
Priority is given to you, as a supporter to our previous campaign to
HKTB and HKFAA. So, don¡|t miss this rare occasion.

Yours truly,

Leslie Legacy Association Ltd.

Nadia, Grace & Susanna

————

Leslie Cheung: Anita Mui is my bosom friend

On the eve of the first anniversay of Hong Kong superstar
Leslie Cheung’s suicide, a recorded audio autobiography of him has
described Anita Mui , another Hong Kong star who passed away last year,
as a bosom friend.

On the eve of the first anniversay of Hong Kong superstar Leslie
Cheung’s suicide, a recorded audio autobiography of him has described
Anita Mui , another Hong Kong star who passed away last year, as a
bosom friend.

Cheung said, "Anita is the most important woman after my mother."

As the first anniversary of Cheung’s suicide approaches, fans, just like relations and friends, will mark the occasion.

A new album with 37 classic songs, entitled History, will be released on his anniversary.

HONG KONG, Mar 28:

Hundreds of fans of Hong Kong singer and actor Leslie Cheung are
expected to arrive from around the world to commemorate the anniversary
of his death, Press reports said today.

Cheung, best known for his portrayal of an opera star in the 1993
historical epic Farewell My Concubine, plunged to his death from the
24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in the Central district, on
April 1 last year aged 46.

Fans are flying in from mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and
Canada for the memorial, a spokeswoman for Leslie Cheung Cyberworld,
the organiser of the event, said.

About 800 tickets to the function at the Mandarin Oriental have been sold out.

Madame Tussauds in Hong Kong will also pay tribute to Cheung with a candle-lit exhibition of his wax portrait.

Some of Cheung’s works will be shown during the 28th Hong Kong International Film Festival starting from April 6. — AFP

—–

Mar 29:

‘Remembering Leslie & Anita: Two Legends & One Myth’, a
forthcoming stage-play, honours the late ‘elder siblings’ of Hong Kong
showbusiness. RICKY YAP writes.
BOTH were held in such high regard by their peers that they were
affectionately regarded as the "big brother and big sister" of Hong
Kong showbusiness.

Tragically, however, Leslie Cheung Kwok-Weng committed suicide on
April 1 last year, followed eight months later by the death of Anita
Mui Yin-Fong or "Big Sister" from cervical cancer on Dec 30.

Leslie and Anita were ground-breaking entertainers whose careers
each spanned more than 30 years. He was known for his outspokenness,
with his sexual preferences always subject to public scrutiny, while
she was called the "Madonna of Asia" for her flamboyant stage persona
and outrageous costumes.

Their deaths not only sent shockwaves which were felt far beyond Hong Kong, they also left behind their musical legacy.

To pay tribute to the two late superstars, a play will be performed next week at The Actors Studio Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur.

Remembering Leslie & Anita: Two Legends & One Myth is
actually a re-working of Leslie The Legend that was held last June,
with four sold-out shows.

Melvin Lam, who directed that show in memory of Leslie, said he
planned a repeat performance this year due to the overwhelming
response.

"However, the untimely death of Anita prompted me to stage a joint
tribute to the two superstars," said Lam, who is now the producer, with
Low Ngai Yuen, co-host of TV women’s programme 3R, as the director.

MY FM announcer Roland Lee Chee Seng was roped in to be the
playwright of the production, whose dialogue will be in Cantonese, and
with a repertoire of 18 songs.

Lam was quick to add that the new show was not an autobiographical account of the two late artistes’ lives.

"Rather, Remembering Leslie & Anita: Two Legends & One Myth
is a fictional story set against the background of the Hong Kong
entertainment industry 20 years in the future (2023)," said Lam.

—–

Five local Chinese artistes get together to pay tribute to the late
Hong Kong super stars, Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui, in a Cantonese play
Remembering Leslie and Anita, reports RUBIN KHOO.

It is hard to believe but it will soon be a year since Hong Kong
super star Leslie Cheung took his life. On April 1 last year, fans the
world over were grief stricken when the singer-actor plunged to his
death at the age of 46.

And if that wasn’t tragic enough for Canto-pop fans, last December
also saw the loss of another idol, diva Anita Mui, who at the age of 40
succumbed to cervical cancer.

 
Anita succumbed to cervical cancer last December.

The double loss has certainly left a void in the Chinese
entertainment scene, one that is still felt today. It was this that
prompted publisher Melvin Lam to venture into theatre once again, this
time with the production, Remembering Leslie and Anita.

Last June, Lam paid tribute to Leslie Cheung in the play Kam Sang
Kam Sai. The play, which looked at the various aspects of Cheung’s
life, played to packed audiences here. With the passing of Mui, Lam was
prompted to stage another play to pay tribute to her as well.

“Last year, when he (Cheung) died I was upset and the play (Kam
Sang Kam Sai) was my little way of paying tribute to him,” says Lam.
“We had planned to do something for the first year anniversary but we
had not expected Anita’s passing as well. Their deaths affected me a
lot emotionally, I grew up with them. So that’s why I decided to do
this.”

Unlike the previous production, Remembering Leslie and Anita will
look at the artistes from a different perspective. The play is set 20
years into the future and revolves around young artistes Presley and
Mui Yun Sam, who are being groomed by promoters Chan Kiu (Gan Hui Yee)
and Bobo (Ling Tang) to recreate the legendary status of the late
stars. Playing the younger artistes are drama actor William San and
singer Candy Cheah.

The audience will thus examine the stars’ lives through the eyes of
the two younger artistes and that will add another dimension to our
understanding of them. As the play is set in the future, it will also
give us an insight of how celebrities are remembered.

“We are trying to show more than one side of the two legends,” says
the play’s director, Low Ngai Yuen. “The choices they have to deal with
and the kind of situations they were in when they made those choices.”

Low who played Mui in Kam Sang Kam Sai, says she hopes that the
audience will leave the performance with a greater understanding of
their idols.

“Actually, most of what we go through is not very different from
what they went through, it’s just the choices that you make that make
your life different,” says Low. This is her first commercial
directorial effort and she seems pretty comfortable in the chair.

“Last time I was being moulded for a role, this time I’m creating
it.” she says. “I’d like to do more. I worked under good directors such
as Joe Hasham and Zahim Albakri and that has given me an entire range
to play with.”

The show will not attempt to make judgements on the choices made by
Cheung and Mui. “It’s meant to be a celebration of their lives,” says
Low. “And you can’t do that by introducing morals.”

 
The cast and crew of Remembering Leslie and Anita: (from
left) Low Sin Kai, Gan Hui Yee, William San, Low Ngai Yuen (director),
Melvin Lam (producer), Roland Lee, Candy Cheah and Ling Tang.
If anything, Remembering Leslie and Anita, which will be staged in Cantonese, will probably carry the message of hope.

Lam says: “Don’t give up on life, that’s the message.” 

Whatever the message, the audience should come away thoroughly
entertained. There will be live performances of over 10 of the duo’s
famous songs. The play will also make use of multimedia technology to
project images of the idols’ performances.

“Presentation wise, it will be straightforward, something that everyone can enjoy,” says Low. 

It is also the first time that singer Cheah is venturing into
theatre. The singer with two albums to her name is feeling the
pressure. “It’s totally different from the other things I have done
because in theatre, you cannot miss anything,” says Cheah.

She is, however, taking things in her stride. It is a good
experience, she says, and one that she hopes to repeat in the future.
It is the reverse for actor San who is a familiar face in local Chinese
dramas. San finds himself stressed having to sing in this production.

“For me, acting is not a problem but this is the first time I have
to sing with a live band,” says San. “It’s a bit hard so I have to
train everyday.”

Remembering Leslie and Anita will run from April 1 to 4 at The
Actors Studio Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Show time is at 8.30pm. There will
be a 3pm show on April 4. Tickets: RM100, RM80 and RM40. The show on
April 2 is in aid of the Kiwanis Down Syndrome. Tickets on this night
are priced at RM300, RM200 and RM100. For inquiries call 03-2094
0400/2094 1400 or e-mail: tickets@theactorsstudio.com.my

——-

http://www.chinaview.cn 2004-03-26 17:47:29

BEIJING, Mar.26 (Xinhuanet) — The last few unreleased songs
composed by recently deceased pop singer Leslie Cheung will be released
on April 1st in honour of the first anniversary of his death.

    The posthumous album, titled Yuanjia or Foe, describes a bitter love story.

His commemorative album contains more than 40 songs. Many of his
old friends collaborated to produce some of the album’s tracks.

Hong Kong Movie Star’s Suicide Commemorated on Korean TV 

 
A scene from “Inner Senses” 

 
On April 1 last year, movie fans were struck with the
shocking news that Leslie Cheung, then a 46-year-old Hong Kong actor,
had jumped to his death. Some people laughed it off, thinking that it
must have been an April Fool’s Day joke. However, the next morning when
they confirmed the news in the newspapers, they couldn’t help but
ponder the unfortunate movie star’s life.
Celebrating the first anniversary of his death, Korean cable and
satellite movie channels are planning to broadcast films starring
Cheung, who threw himself from a 24th-floor hotel in Hong Kong. Among
them is the series “A Better Tomorrow,” which helped thrust him into
stardom and “Inner Senses,” his last feature film.

MBC Movies will air “Inner Senses” at 11 p.m. on April 1. Released
in Korean theaters in June last year, immediately after Cheung’s
suicide, the movie was rumored to have offered an indirect motivation
for him to kill himself. “Inner Senses” is the story about a
psychiatrist who doesn’t believe in spirits but later becomes possessed
by an evil spirit in the process of healing his girlfriend. According
to some Hong Kong media, Cheung was seized with hypochondria after
shooting the movie and even told friends that he might kill himself
because of the ghost from the movie.

In the last scene of “Inner Senses,” the psychiatrist tries to kill
himself by throwing himself from the top of a high-rise building to
escape the ghost chasing him.

Cine-On-TV, a satellite movie channel, will also broadcast
“Moonlight Express,” which he starred in in 1999, at 11 p.m. on April
1. Cinema TV will air four of Cheung’s movies on April 1 from 5 p.m.
They are “Moonlight Express,” “Tristar,” “Speed 4 Seconds” and “The
Phantom Lover.” Superaction TV will broadcast the first and second
episodes of “A Better Tomorrow” on April 7 and 14.

Remembering Leslie

On the first anniversary of Leslie Cheung’s death, fans flock to Hong Kong for memorial ceremonies

HONG KONG – Thousands of fans have flown in to commemorate the first death anniversary of Leslie Cheung.

FAN FARE: Tributes to the late entertainer include a wax bust…

They are from Singapore, mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Canada.

Cheung committed suicide on April 1 last year, at the age of 46, by
leaping off the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in downtown
Hong Kong.

Yesterday, his partner Daffy Tong kicked off the activities by
attending the unveiling of the actor-singer’s statue at Madame
Tussaud’s Wax Museum at The Peak.

Tong selected the pose and items included in the exhibition.

Today, parts of Icehouse Street, where Cheung was found dead, will
be closed so that some fans can attend a ceremony at the Mandarin
Oriental, organised by a fan club.

Organisers say 800 fans have bought tickets for the event which
will screen interviews with his family and friends, some of whom will
be on hand to share memories.

At 6.41pm, the time when Cheung’s body was found, a candlelight
memorial will be held at Jardine House across the road from the hotel.

… a bouquet from South Korean fans left at his home…

White candles will be handed out to those who attend.

Messages from fans who cannot attend will be read.

One, from a fan in Italy, says: ‘It’s been one year already since
you left us… I’m sure you’ve already become a wonderful angel. Down
here, we still really miss you.’

A CD, containing a song with lyrics penned by Cheung’s former
manager Florence Chan Suk Fun, goes on sale today at HK$15 (S$3.20).

She has not disclosed who the singer is, saying only that he is a new artist.

She writes on the back of the CD’s pink cover about the song and
music video: ‘Fireworks Soup, for the friend I miss more and more. This
represents my deep gratitude and is for all who love him.’

… and tears shed near his death anniversary. Photos: APPLE DAILY, AFP

Chan will also hold tours for fans to Cheung’s fave spots, such as
his favourite salon and Hong Kong harbour, Singtao Daily reported.

Another CD, History – HisStory, containing 37 tracks, will also be released.

Movies starring Cheung will be screened at the Hong Kong International Film Festival from April 6-20.

It contains 51 Leslie Cheung songs in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, with a never-before-released track, Yuanjia (Foe).

Only 1,000 copies are available for the initial release.

Rock Records also issues a three-CD set today in which singers
Wakim Chao, Johnny Chen (Xiao Cho- ng), Kenny Bee and Winnie Hsin
perform a medley of Cheu- ng’s hits.

The album is a live recording of Rock’s 10th anniversary celebration concert in Hong Kong last year.

Meanwhile, in Shanghai, a multi-media play, Leslie Cheung – Touching The Distant, opened at the Grand Theatre yesterday.

It will run till Saturday.

Taiwanese singer Benny Chen, a former member of the Little Tigers
band of the 1980s and who is said to resemble Cheung, plays the star in
a story about two fans who reminisce about Cheung.

‘Some years ago, I also suffered from depression, which was really
painful. So I quite understand his feelings and struggles,’ Chen
reportedly said.

IN HONG KONG…

Yesterday, a statue of Leslie Cheung was unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum at The Peak.

Today, a ceremony will be held at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, where he was found dead.

At 6.41pm, the time when his body was found, a candlelight memorial
will be held at Jardine House across the road from the hotel.

Fusion, Cheung’s favourite restaurant where he ate on the day of his death, will launch a special menu of his favourite dishes.