Fandom (5)--An idiosyncratic view from the inside

He's a Woman, She's a Man (Part 1)One of the things I find most fascinating about Leslie Cheung is his ability to incarnate a man, a woman or a mix of both at once.  Leslie seems to have always had this quality, which I wouldn't describe as strictly androgyny, as that implies more a blend of both male and female characteristics into some new expression of gender.  Rather, Leslie seemed to be able to express everything on the spectrum from ultra masculine to ultra feminine, changing from one to the other in the blink of an eye, as well as being able to be truly androgynous.Already in 1984 what I would call Leslie's "gender fluidity" was showcased in this marvelous television performance.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKsLWIfKLa4In the original All's Well, Ends Well, Leslie played a stereotypical effeminate man, Hong Kong comedy style.  In an English-language interview conducted while he was in South Korea promoting this film, Leslie described the character he played as "a rather lady-like man."  Given what we now know about Leslie (that by this point in time he had been involved in a serious relationship with another man for a number of years), you have to wonder what he thought of playing such a role.  Still, he appears to have given the role his all and, ironically, plays opposite his former girlfriend, Teresa Mo, who in the film plays his butch cousin.  The intersection of art and life on screen gives this pairing a particular poignancy that may have been lost, however, on most audiences in1992.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvMQ98xNvKc&feature=relatedBut the role that marked a major breakthrough for Leslie was the role of Cheng Dieyi in Farewell, My Concubine.  Leslie played a Peking Opera performer who specialized in playing female roles.  Leslie's transformation into the female roles, in particular that of Concubine Yu, is truly amazing.Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h19QVi-UJP4&feature=relatedIn his 1997 World Tour, Leslie played a series of "characters" on stage, from very masculine to a truly astonishing transformation into a woman.  Yet, in the blink of an eye, he could transform himself back into a man without a costume change but only a change in shoes.Here he is with Shu Qi on his lap in shredded lingerie.  I would definitely call this the "masculine" side of Leslie.  I am sure there were many men in the audience that night who would gladly have changed places with Leslie.Or here is a video of an exhibitionist Leslie titillating the audience with his sexy body.  There was nothing "girlie" about Leslie in this part of the show.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhE7GDdZ82s&mode=related&search=But then what are we to make of this next number?  Leslie uses costume, make-up and acting to transform himself into a coquettish woman who torments her dance partner during a sultry tango with  a decidedly S&M quality to the proceedings.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ldAb8olPXY&feature=relatedAt the end of the number, the instant Leslie changes out of the red high heels and back into his boots, he leaves behind the female persona, and gets up and leads the New Year's Eve countdown as Leslie!  (I'm sorry, but I couldn't find a video of this on YouTube.)The next time Leslie mounted a big show that premiered at the Hong Kong Coliseum and then toured extensively in Asia and beyond was the Passion Tour in 2000.  In this show Leslie plays a succession of characters that represent a journey from Heaven to Hell, embodying an angel, an Egyptian prince, a glam  rocker and then perhaps Lucifer himself.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8AGzfrT7JQ&feature=related[](/batch.download.php?aid=8650720)Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMVDfnCW1Vo&feature=related[](/batch.download.php?aid=8650722)There were also other costumes in the Passion Tour that were even more daring, putting Leslie in skirts.  First, was an interpretation of a Scottish kilt, though paired with a very manly black shirt and tie.Perhaps harder for some in Hong Kong to admire was a beautiful pair of chiffon culottes with an artisanal apron composed of pieces of mother of pearl.  This was paired with a diaphanous black shirt that gave the audience another nice look at Leslie's buffed body.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64AaohcfFew&feature=relatedThe costumes, hair and make-up of the Passion Tour represent a more conscious blending of male and female than at any earlier time in Leslie's career.  Although Leslie has long hair, he has taken special pains to balance it out with other, more overtly masculine elements:  he has a beard and worked with a personal trainer to add definition to his torso, back and arms.  This transformation of his own body is particularly evident when he takes off the white jacket and is dressed only in the white halter jumpsuit, which leave his shoulders and arms bare.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOcGdYZGrI0But regardless of the convincing manner with which Leslie projected different personas, we should never forget that each of these was a self-conscious creation.  Some of those personas Leslie created throughout his career were in large measure the result of the interaction of an actor with a script and a director.  Others were creations for the stage designed to embody different aspects of Leslie's music.  These creations reflect different stages in his career and a continuing exploration of what Leslie could bring to his stage productions that drew upon and grew out of his movie work, but also featured aspects that were unique to live performance.  As he matured as an actor and musician, gaining in skill and experience, incorporating knowledge acquired through hard work and interaction with the best the entertainment world in Hong Kong had to offer, Leslie continually refined his stage presentation.  A major step forward was the Red album and 1997 World Tour.  He took control of his image and his music, crafting daring personas that pushed up against the conservative constraints normally restraining artists in that socially conservative territory.  He presented himself to the audience as first and foremost a physical body to be admired and desired.  He clothed it in glittering and eye-catching costumes.  He bared it at critical moments, inviting the audience to be voyeurs of his teasing self-display, and finally hinted at gender difference by incarnating a woman on stage every bit as convincing as  Cheng Dieyi's female creations in Farewell, My Concubine.  Finally, with the Passion Tour, Leslie combined all of these ideas and elements into a single integrated presentation that was an entirely new creation.  Rather than drawing on his film experience, in the Passion Tour Leslie took his growing interest in directing and producing to a new level, exercising artist control over virtually every aspect of the show.  In place of the glittering, highly theatrical stage costumes created for the 1997 World Tour, Leslie invited noted French designer Jean Paul Gaultier to create his wardrobe.  Leslie was producer and designer, performer and virtual director of this show.  The entire production, not only his stage personas, were an expression of Leslie's most refined understanding of himself as an artist and his relationship with his fans.  In the end, the production was more sober, but more mature; less varied but more unified.  Perhaps the rejection of the Passion Tour by certain sectors of the press cut all the deeper for this personal identification of the production with Leslie, himself.