Texas attempts to wrangle a Chinese family tradition

The Asia Society Texas' theater was packed on Feb 20 for the opening night of The Big Swim, an opera based on the 12 zodiac animals produced specifically for the Chinese New Year.

The Big Swim was developed by the Asia Society Texas Center and the Houston Grand Opera, says Michael Buening, director of the Asia Society Texas' performing arts and culture department.

"We hoped to develop an annual Chinese New Year-themed piece for families," says Buening. "We want it to be the Nutcracker of the Chinese New Year, something that families across Houston can attend every year to celebrate the holiday together."

The classical ballet The Nutcracker is performed in over a hundred US cities during the Christmas season.

The Big Swim premiered in 2024, and this was its third year. From Buening's perspective, the goal of creating a Chinese New Year tradition in Houston has begun to take shape.

"Last year, the second year, we started to see families return. They're excited to see it again. They remembered their favorite animal. We let them meet the actors afterward and take photos. It's turning out how we dreamed it would, and people are excited to see it again," Buening says.

Creating a whole experience around the opera and engaging the audience were key elements, he adds.

A shadow puppet theater was set up to entertain children before the show. People tried their hand at calligraphy, such as writing words related to the New Year.

A tiger and a dragon also entered the grand hall to sing and welcome the audience into the "emperor's palace" to watch the great race portrayed in the opera.

The Big Swim was written by Melisa Tien, a playwright and opera librettist based in New York, with the music composed by Meilina Tsui from Orlando, Florida.

Tien, who grew up immersed in Chinese culture in the US, knew of the 12 zodiac animals since she was a child.

"The emperor gathered the animals for a race. Their order in the zodiac is because they won the race in this specific order," Tien explains.

To make a simple tale into an hour-long opera, Tien had to fill in details and give each animal a distinct personality.

"Chinese culture has attached the monkey to a very specific legendary character. So, I brought some elements of that into the play," Tien says. In the opera, the monkey is a very energetic character, like the famous Monkey King from the classic novel Journey to the West.

Since the monkey, dragon, tiger, and snake are culturally significant, Tien says she subconsciously created a bit more distinction "in terms of how they behaved and interacted with the other characters."