Photo/He Tong Wen/Tian Ke
"Look forward to the continuous color chain flying, listen to the sound of camel bells, watch the oriental dragon take off, do not forget the pioneers, Zhang Qian, Zhang Qian, Zhang Qian..." With the familiar melody, on the evening of November 28, as the participating repertoire of the 7th Silk Road International Arts Festival, the opera "Zhang Qian" performed by the Shaanxi Provincial Song and Dance Theater was staged at the Shaanxi Song and Dance Grand Theatre. The audience at the scene said excitedly: "After three years, watching the opera "Zhang Qian" again, the mood is still very excited. ”
Since its launch in the 1990s, after being re-created by the Shaanxi Provincial Song and Dance Theater, the new version of the opera has been improved in terms of script, music and choreography, and has won the second national spiritual civilization construction "Five One Project" award, the third national "Wenhua Award", the third Chinese Drama Festival "Excellent Repertoire Award", the second National Ethnic Minority Literary and Art Festival "Performance Gold Award", "Creation Gold Award" and "Dance Gold Award" and other honors. This remarkable achievement fully demonstrates Zhang Qian's legendary deeds of chiseling through the western region and creating the Silk Road, and praises the enduring theme of exchanges, integration, mutual benefit and win-win results.
The music rises and the beams light up. On the stage, the great explorer, traveler, and diplomat Zhang Qian took the initiative to invite Miao to the Western Regions and began his great life. The hardships and hardships he encountered along the way, as well as his conjugal love and father-son love with his wife and children of the Xiongnu, showed the patriotic pride and personality of a generation of heroes. Borrowing the feelings of human detachment, he wrote about the great achievements of chiseling through the western regions; with the style of the Silk Road, he praised the pioneering spirit of the nation and the civilizations of the East and the West. The adapted and upgraded "Zhang Qian" highlights the theme of "Silk Road" and gives the repertoire a new era connotation.
The opera "Zhang Qian" is a "big male protagonist" drama, zhang qian's role must be throughout, and all of them must stand, which place "collapses", will affect the interpretation of the role. This is a big challenge for Qiang Yong, a young actor who plays the role of male number one "Zhang Qian" in the play. He admits that although it is not the first time to play this role, it is still stressful to face a new performance every time.
"As the signature play of our theater group, this drama has landmark significance, in the past nearly 30 years, the predecessors have created one after another vivid 'Zhang Qian', which are classics that I cannot surpass, and all I can do is pay tribute to them." Qiang Yong admitted that in order to "eat through" the role, he practiced walking the stage step over and over again, combing the lines word by word, in order to make the appearance more "Zhang Qian", he also watched all the dramas in the film and television drama where the role of "Zhang Qian" appeared, and did enough desk work. "I hope you see Zhang Qian on stage instead of Qiang Hao."
When asked which passage was most impressive in the whole play, Qiang Hao said that in the last paragraph of the first half, Zhang Qian was accidentally captured, and he was forced to marry the Xiongnu princess Fu Yun and have children before helping the Xiongnu people build water canals and water wheels. But when he learned that the Xiongnu were going to attack the Han Dynasty, his feelings were actually very complicated at that moment, on the one hand, the mission of the homeland, on the other hand, his wife and children, he had no choice. Later, with the encouragement of his wife, he re-embarked on the road to the Western Regions, which led the play to a climax. "Zhang Qian's heart at this time is actually very tormented, and the emotional fluctuations are also very large, and how I want to present this contradictory emotion to the audience is very difficult."
Young actress Wang Wenjuan played the role of Xiongnu princess Fu Yun in the play. She is all too familiar with this drama, and since 2014, she has played the role of Fu Yun in this drama. For her, the biggest challenge is to figure out and grasp the psychological changes of Fu Yun. "Fu Yun was first a princess of the Xiongnu, at this time she was somewhat proud, and later met Zhang Qian at first sight, at this time she dared to love and hate, and then later married Zhang Qian as a wife and mother... Her psychological preparation is different, there is a certain level of transformation, this transformation is not easy to grasp, I have been looking for this feeling. ”
Wang Wenjuan said that there is an 8-minute long aria in the play, which is the most touching part of the whole play. Sublimating Fu Yun from a Xiongnu princess to a female haojie, when the stage light falls on Zhang Meng, the son of Fu Yun and Zhang Qian, to maximize the sad atmosphere of the husband and wife, father and son's life and death, which requires a strong support for the actor from consciousness to physical strength. In the play, Fu Yun is Zhang Qian's wife. In real life, Wang Wenjuan, the actor of "Fu Yun", is also the wife of Qiang Hao, the actor of "Zhang Qian". The two are both young actors of the Opera Troupe of shaanxi song and dance theater, and this time they joined hands to stage a husband and wife file in the play "Zhang Qian". In an interview, the two said that it is precisely because they are husband and wife inside and outside the play, so there is a little more tacit understanding in the performance.
"The final chorus and harmony again, just singing the momentum is not enough." "Hurry up at the end of the finale, and step on the beat." "The actors in the back should raise the flag and follow the music to walk again..." At the rehearsal scene, director Zhang Yaming was undoubtedly the busiest one, and even though his voice was already dumb, he was still commanding hard. In order to present a perfect performance to the audience, our actors have been rehearsing for more than half a month, and every day at noon there is an hour of rest, which is very hard. ”
The opera "Zhang Qian" has been put on the stage since 1992, and it has been a peak work in the 1990s, after 29 years, how to make it accept and recognize by contemporary audiences? Zhang Yaming believes that the classic rearrangement should adhere to the principle of integrity and innovation. Shouzheng is to respect the original work, take over the original and completely the classic characters created by the predecessors on the stage, and then pass it on, and do a good job in artistic inheritance and spiritual inheritance. "The rehearsal of this play is not only an artistic practice, but also a continuation and inheritance."
An almost 3-hour opera, all with young actors, was a huge challenge. The creative team looks to the future and is willing to be a generation of "tree planters". "The new generation of opera singers needs a stage to practice, and national opera also needs fresh blood to inherit, which is also our original intention." This performance at the 7th Silk Road International Arts Festival is the first performance of the play "Zhang Qian" after the epidemic, and everyone in our theater has a lot of energy in their hearts, this is a national opera that embodies the feelings of home and country, and I feel very proud that our academy group can present such an excellent work of art to everyone. Dai Yimin, head of the opera troupe of the Shaanxi Provincial Song and Dance Theater, said.
Zhang Qian, who came out of this land in Shaanxi more than 2,000 years ago, has become a world-famous diplomat and explorer. The north-south road from the Han Dynasty to the Western Regions that he opened up has become a world-famous Silk Road. More than 2,000 years later, the opera "Zhang Qian" presented this "first person in the western region of chiseling" on the stage. The vivid performances of the actors on the stage seem to take us back to more than 2,000 years ago, hearing the echoing sound of camel bells in the mountains and seeing the lonely smoke flying in the desert.
Shi Xiang, the Shaanxi people in the lens.
Editor: He Tong