By a staff writer

HONG KONG'S Canto-pop scene has come of age.  After years of shows specially designed for teenyboppers with sugar-wouldn't-melt-in-their-mouths singing idols, singer/actor Leslie Cheung has exploded on to the Coliseum stage with a show that would make Madonna green with envy.  

Leslie Cheung: back with a stunning stage performance  

The concerts will continue until mid-January, after which Cheung tours various world capitals. Cheung deliberately set out to flirt with and shock his audience in a show heavy with sexual undertones ~ and by the end of the night he had them eating out of his hands.  Even when the concert was over and the stadium lights switched on, most of the 6,000 attending the opening show refused to leave, firm in their belief that their idol would return and sing for them.

Leslie's World Tour '97 was sheer spectacle from the start, with the stage a vast pyramid that opened sky­wards, revealing both or­chestra and singer. There were numerous costume changes, each more audacious than the previous, and even the sup­porting dancers wore gowns or costumes designed to tease, with slits and open­ings that revealed as much as the rest of the garb tried to conceal. But the most daring num­ber came in the closing sequences when Cheung, complete with red high-heels, did a provocative duet with a macho youth, clearly illustrating why he was so natural in his portrayal of the concubine in the award-winning film.

Another beautiful num­ber had a cast of children made up to look like bud­ding Peking Opera charac­ters. If Cheung meant to make a statement about his own sexuality, nothing could have been clearer than his World Tour opening. And the stunning cloak which enveloped him for his final number would have had Anita Mui in tears.