Who is the longest-time pair of cross-talk actors to be paired? It is not Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui. Since the two entered the student class of the Beijing Qu Art Troupe in the 1960s, they have never cracked the hole in the past 60 years. Wang Qianxiang's performance is implicit and fresh in style; Li Zengrui is cold and funny, steady and rigorous. The two also have a relationship with Tianjin, in the 80s, the national quyi excellent program (northern film) observation performance was held in Tianjin, and it was at that performance that the two became a hit.
Wang Qianxiang himself is a native of Tianjin, born in the late 1940s in Dataoyuan, Chengguan Town, Wuqing District, in the same village as the famous Allegro book performance artist Li Runjie. There is an amateur theater troupe in the village, which can sing big plays, and Wang Qianxiang has loved to listen to plays since he was a child. Wang Qianxiang's father is also a fan of drama, working at the Yong'an Tang Pharmacy in Tianjin, opposite the Chinese Grand Theatre, and he goes to see the theater as soon as he has the opportunity.
(Wang Qianxiang Li Zengrui)
In the early 50s, Wang Qianxiang's father was transferred to Baotou to work, Wang Qianxiang was in Baotou Primary School, his father wrote two cross-talks, the content is to praise the "grassland steel city", father and son performed on the same stage, the father gave his son a praise, that is Wang Qianxiang's first time on stage.
Wang Qianxiang, who is in Baotou, can be admitted to the Beijing Qu Art Troupe, and I want to thank one person, that is, Mr. Zhao Shizhong. Wang Qianxiang's father had a friend in Beijing, Liu Xuetao, who sang Xiaosheng, and Zhao Shizhong, who was his neighbor, told him about the Beijing Qu Art Troupe recruiting students. Liu Xuetao knew that Wang Qianxiang liked crosstalk, so he wrote a letter to ask him to come to Beijing for the exam.
From Baotou to Beijing, to the Beijing Qu Art Troupe in the Qianmen Small Theater to take the admissions exam, Wang Qianxiang was only 12 years old, performed a cross-talk "Five Brothers Herding Sheep", there were rap and singing, successfully passed, that class of 60 students, including his lifelong partner Li Zengrui.
(Wang Qianxiang, Li Zengrui, Li Jindou when studying art)
Li Zengrui is an old Beijinger, born and raised in the hutongs of Qianmen. A small child learned the news of the enrollment of the Beijing Qu Art Troupe and pulled Li Zengrui to the exam together. The two performed a piece of "My History", and Li Zengrui sang a song again. Two months later, Li Zengrui received an acceptance letter from the Qu Art Troupe and sent a small drop. For Li Zengrui, he actually did not want to go to the Quyi Troupe because he wanted to become an artist, but because the quyi troupe students had a subsidy of 16 yuan per month, and there were many brothers and sisters in the family, and he wanted to help the family reduce some burdens.
As the only foreigner in that class, Wang Qianxiang was the earliest "North Drift of Literature and Art" - there was no Beijing hukou, accommodation, and other friends could go home on Sundays, but he could not go home. Wang Qianxiang grew up in the Beijing Quyi Troupe, marrying and having children in a dormitory.
(Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui in their youth)
At that time, the old artists who said cross-talk became literary and artistic workers, and the cross-talk circle was no longer popular to worship teachers, but to teachers to teach students. Tan Boru and Wang Changyou, two elders in the cross-talk industry, are the instructors of Wang Qianxiang, Li Zengrui, Li Jindou and Wang Wenyou. Wang Changyou's traditional programs have a deep foundation and like to be original, and Zhao Zhenduo, a cross-talker, is Wang Changyou's disciple; Tan Boru is knowledgeable and highly respected, and both of them are representatives of the "Beijing School" who are elegant and unharmed by typhoons.
Around the two old gentlemen, Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui laid a very good foundation. Their teaching methods are not injected, and they rarely do demonstrations, and the students watch the program during the day and at night, learn to perform while learning, learn one or two paragraphs and audition on the stage, and perform with the actors of the Beijing Qu Art Troupe. There are problems with the audition, and continue to consolidate and modify after going back. Rely on students themselves to understand the rhythm of language in the performance, and slowly understand how to deal with the lines.
(Wang Qianxiang, Li Zengrui)
In this atmosphere, Wang Qianxiang did not have the idea of visiting the teacher, so he missed an opportunity to join the famous teacher - in the late 1970s, Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui often performed the program "Luo Cheng Plays Sable Cicada" to learn to sing Peking Opera. Mr. Guo Rongqi came to Beijing from Tianjin to perform and watch programs with the Beijing Qu Art Troupe. At the end of the performance that day, everyone got on the car together and walked back, Guo Rongqi pulled Wang Qianxiang aside, let him sit next to him, and said: "Very good, there is a voice, there is also a look on the stage, and I have practiced on my body, right?" You, when you have time to go to Tianjin, you don't live outside, just live in my house, I will tell you a few pieces of work. ”
Mr. Guo Rongqi's meaning is very clear - he wants to take Wang Qianxiang as an apprentice. But at that time, no one had the idea of worshiping the teacher. In addition, Wang Qianxiang was also worried, thinking that if Mr. Guo accepted himself, Mr. Guo was a shouzi generation, and he was equivalent to a generation of Mr. Hou Baolin, was this okay? In the end, he politely rejected Mr. Guo Lao. Later, when he thought about it, he was very sorry, at that time, he could be completely flexible, learn the program with Mr. Guo Lao, whether to worship the teacher or not, what generation is secondary. But after this incident passed, there was no chance to save it.
(Wang Qianxiang, Jiang Kun, Liu Wei)
(Li Zengrui)
Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui first became famous in Tianjin. In the early 1980s, the National Excellent Program of Quyi (Northern Film) sponsored by the Ministry of Culture was held in Tianjin, and Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui performed the work "Wind Disaster" by cross-talk writer Lian Chunming. This show was all based on his words and won the first prize for performance. Other cross-talk programs performed at the same time included Hou Yaowen and Shi Fukuan's "Long Talk on Opera", Su Wenmao and Ma Zhicun's "Before the Arrival of the New Bureau Chief"; and Liu Lanfang from the Anshan Qu Art Troupe in Liaoning Province performed the commentary "Yue Yun Hammers the Golden Cicada".
In the 1980s, Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui participated in a series of cross-talk competitions, including the National Cross-Talk Works Competition, the National Quyi New Repertoire Competition, and the National Television Cross-Talk "Xinghai Cup" Invitational Competition, and their popularity increased steadily.
Although he began to learn cross-talk as early as the 1960s and was also a professional cross-talk actor of the Beijing Qu Art Troupe, Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui did not study for a teacher until the 1980s. Fortunately, they eventually fell under Mr. Maji's door and got their wish.
In the mid-1980s, through the introduction of cross-talk writer Lian Chunming, Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui became acquainted with Mr. Ma Ji. Mr. Ma Ji gave them a piece called "Discussion of Laughter", which is still performed to this day. In 1987, Mr. Ma Ji set up a performance team for his own works, and Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui went out to perform together for several months.
Before the 1990 Asian Games, in Suzhou, Mr. Ma Ji's disciples held a "Xie ShiHui", and Jiang Kun, Zhao Yan, Feng Gong, Huang Hong, Wang Qianxiang, Li Zengrui and others were there. During the day, the "Xie ShiHui" is considered to be a formal acceptance of apprentices, but there is no prostration, no knowledge, and no "introduction of protection". Mr. Ma Ji was reluctant to prostrate himself, he was a disciple of Mr. Hou Baolin, but there was no prostration ceremony. After the "Xie Shihui", he performed in the gymnasium in the evening, and the proceeds were donated to the Asian Games. Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui officially entered Mr. Ma Ji's door. (Text: He Yuxin)