Some people think that young people don't like traditional opera, she did a small theater drama "Xi Jiao"; some people think that the opera story is illogical, she did the beijing opera "Verification" with rigorous reasoning; some people think that the newly compiled opera has no old taste, she did the Peking opera "The Gate of the Big House"; some people think that the opera director is hidden behind the scenes, and the Nanjing Dahua Theater has specially created a "group theater" for her; some people think that the opera practitioners are too old-fashioned, and she appeared on camera to advertise a new series of internationally renowned beauty brands Lancome... Li Zhuoqun, a 36-year-old young director of the Beijing Peking Opera House, can always give you answers beyond your imagination.
In 2013, Li Zhuoqun, who made a stunning appearance with a "Xi Jiao", has successively directed more than a dozen opera works such as the small theater Peking Opera "Nian Yu Guanyin", "Spring Feast", "Good Han Wusong", "Human Face Peach Blossom", Peking Opera "Big Mansion Gate" and "Verification", Sino-Japanese and Korean stage drama "Macbeth", as well as large-scale Yue opera "Yun shui Du", large-scale Gui opera "Broken Array", large-scale Kung Fu Cantonese opera "General Order" and so on. How did she come step by step along the way, and how did she create a series of "blockbuster" works? Listen to her.
The first commercial promotional film for peking opera in the small theater
Reporter: In 2013, your director", "Xi Jiao", shot the first commercial propaganda film of Chinese opera works, why did you do this at that time?
Li Zhuoqun: In 2011, I graduated from the China Academy of Performing Arts and was recruited as a director at the Beijing Opera House, which had not recruited a director for a long time. For a while, the theater was cooperating with well-known directors such as Zhang Yimou and Xu Chunlan, and the dean asked me if I wanted to rehearse the play? What can you take to fight with these big directors? The dean told me that opera is the art of the horns, but also the art of the seat, let me think about how to sell tickets, how to fight the box office, and then I had the opportunity to direct "Xi Jiao". I have worked in a star studio, have some understanding of the film and television and fashion fields, and know the importance of marketing promotion, so I have the promotional film of "Xi Jiao".
Reporter: For you, who were still very young at the time, it was certainly not enough to fight with the big directors at the box office and rely on a promotional film, what else did you do?
Li Zhuoqun: The story of Yan Xijiao, the old drama is already very classic, and it is very difficult to move. I used to see this play rehearsed before the theater, because the pace was too slow, and many young audiences would play with their phones while watching it or simply leave the stage. In fact, the story of Yan Xijiao and Song Jiang is very typical, and it is still remembered by people today. Therefore, to do a good job in this play, from the rhythm of the script and the relationship between the characters, it must be adjusted. When I didn't have a script yet, I found the heroine Suo Mingfang, who was inseparable from her for about eight months, carefully observing how she acted, how to rehearse the play, watch her changes on and offstage, and create the character of Yan Xijiao according to her characteristics. Later, when you see "Xi Jiao", you will feel that this play is very Yan Xijiao, very actor's original self, has an opera program, and connects with modern people.
Reporter: What is the market's feedback on you?
Li Zhuoqun: At that time, the audience did not know who Li Zhuoqun was, and no one knew Suo Mingfang and Wang Mengting. The premiere of "Xi Jiao" was at the Beijing Renyi Experimental Theater, when the Capital Theater was performing Chen Daoming and He Bing's "The Sorrow of Comedy", and the audience lined up all night to grab tickets, but the first show of "Xi Jiao" only sold 70% of the tickets. Speaking of thanks to Chen Daoming, at that time, he really could not continue to perform because of illness, and many audiences who left the Capital Theater came to the small theater to watch "Xi Jiao", and found that it was not bad, and there was a good reputation at once, and the tickets in the back were also sold.
Reporter: After doing so many small theater opera works, have you summed up your own set of experiences?
Li Zhuoqun: I think all opera works should be like a beautiful woman with flesh and blood. The bone is the script, the sense of rhythm and structure of the script is not strong; the meat is a second creation, it is composing and performing, if the meat cannot be pulled up, it is like an actress who has failed to make a facelift; the skin is the skin, that is, the costume, the tao, the sound, the painting, and the beauty of the opera; Mao is the marketing packaging. You are only beautiful in flesh and skin, and this girl is beautiful. Xiqu is not afraid of crane hair, but it is necessary to always maintain a childlike face, and be a crane-haired childlike Tianshan child. "Xi Jiao" is just a study work, but you can also see that the things made with heart are different. From 2013 to now, no one thought of such a controversial drama, and today Li Hongtu, Han Shengcun, Huang Baixue and other big celebrities will perform with stars and stars.
A pie fell from the sky called "The Gate of the Big House"
Reporter: At present, the Peking Opera "Big Mansion Gate" is touring all over the country, which is also the largest commercial tour of Peking Opera in recent years, in fact, it is "Xi Jiao" that made director Guo Baochang know you, and only then did he have the Peking Opera "Big Mansion Gate"?
Li Zhuoqun: Yes, the Peking Opera "The Gate of the Great Mansion" is a pie that fell from the sky and hit me on the head. My second small theater Peking Opera "Nian Yu Guanyin" was performed in the Star Theater, and one day the theater told me that director Guo Baochang would come to see the play, and after the performance, he would also go on stage to comment, but I did not take it seriously. Who knows, as soon as he came on stage, he said, "I want to cooperate with Li Zhuoqun in the Peking Opera "The Gate of the Great Mansion", I don't know if you are willing or not?" "At that time, I was just confused and hadn't returned to God for a long time. I really wanted to direct this play, I dreamed about it, but then for a long time the old man did not contact me again, I think that may be the big director's excitement to say, after watching it will be over. As a result, after more than half a year, one day I received a call from him and asked me how the script was written?
Reporter: What was the mood at that time? It's not easy to do a coliseum work for the first time, right?
Li Zhuoqun: At that time, I thought it was too good, and I could finally write the big scene I dreamed of, and I immediately had the big song and dance scene in "Moulin Rouge" in my mind, and I was particularly excited to tell the old man. Unexpectedly, the old man said to me, "This is not the Li Zhuoqun I know!" What I like is "Xi Jiao" four or two thousand pounds, the freehand to the extreme, do "Moulin Rouge" like the play, what do I look for you? After that, the old man said to me, "Child, to do art, you must have reverse thinking, others don't write much, I want to write, Lin Daiyu is "Dream of the Red Chamber", Jiao Da is also "Dream of the Red Chamber". This sentence of his woke me up at once, and the grass and wood cats, cats, dogs and dogs of "The Great Mansion Gate" are all "The Great Mansion Gate", and I went back and reconsidered a version.
Reporter: Why did you choose Yang Jiuhong to be the heroine of the Peking Opera "The Gate of the Great Mansion"?
Li Zhuoqun: I have watched the Yue opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" since I was a child, a magnificent masterpiece that only chose Bao Dai's love, because opera should take into account both lyricism and storytelling, and cannot tell too many stories. The old man told me that they had done a survey, the elders liked the second grandmother in "The Gate of the Big House", the young people liked Bai Yuting, the boys liked Bai Jingqi, but everyone liked Yang Jiuhong. Later, I listened to the old man tell a lot of real Yang Jiuhong's story, and finally it became the story of the mansion door from Yang Jiuhong's point of view, and the old man was also very satisfied with this adaptation, thinking that this was the perspective of Peking Opera.
Reporter: Peking Opera "The Gate of the Big Mansion" was very successful, what kind of changes and influences did it bring to you?
Li Zhuoqun: "The Gate of the Big House" made me trusted and concerned, and let me know the three words "possibility". At that time, I felt that there was a wall between the big theater and the small theater, and when I could do the big theater depended on when I could do the small theater well, but before I could finish the small theater "Man Ghost Love Trilogy", I came to the invitation of "The Gate of the Big House". Later, I always thought that I could not embarrass Teacher Guo Baochang, my play was on this step of "The Gate of the Big Mansion", I could only go up little by little, not down, so I now do every play with a sense of awe to do, the more I do it, the more cautious.
Use strength to fight doubt
Reporter: As a bold young female director, you have done more than a dozen plays in ten years, you can imagine how many difficulties are behind it, and what kind of doubts have you encountered?
Li Zhuoqun: There was a time before, there was no photo on my resume, no age. Because someone will think that the photo is so good-looking, it must be P's, this person is not honest and can't use her, some people will feel too young to use her. When I was rehearsing the Yue opera "Yun Shui Du", I made up a dance, and some critics said that the thighs were exposed, and you were going to finish our opera in this way. When the Guilin platoon told the "Broken Formation Song" of the "Great Rear" cultural resistance war, some experts said that you are so young, what do you know? I would tell them that I checked the latitude and longitude of the protagonist's sacrifice, conducted a field investigation, and investigated what kind of shells would blow up what kind of holes would be blown out of the place, and the house next to it would be half destroyed. Of course, I don't want to offend the experts, I will treat each play as if it were my last play, so that I can make a good impression on others and continue to cooperate. I will be particularly rigorous in making plays, some historical dramas do not have much information, I will use various ways to find, some materials have not even been seen by experts.
In my pen, whether it is an emperor or a heroic model figure, I first regard them as living people, let them speak human words and do human affairs in the play, and they are not born heroes. The Cantonese opera "General Order" that I did in Guangdong, some people commented that it was "the martial arts version of the "Age of Awakening"" ("). The character of Wu Qin in "General's Order" was originally the third person, but because he wrote about his growth process and also wrote about the righteousness and enthusiasm of young people, it attracted the attention of many young people at once.
Wu Qin's master and apprentice are from the martial arts hall, and during the creation period, I will go to see Korean gangster movies, watch the "Huang Feihong" series of movies, see how they talk about brotherhood and blood, and watch Hollywood movies how to start fighting. "Yun Shui Du" is a textile industry theme, I will go to see textile professional books, international trade wars, but also let the actors watch Leonardo DiCaprio's "Cat and Mouse Game", looking for that sunny and handsome feeling. When rehearsing "Forensics", I let the lead actor go to see the Korean TV series "The Forced Landing of Love", to find the feeling of love and not being able to, to tell the actors that the actor must guide the actors to really feel the role, although the age is different, the country is different, but people's emotions are common. When I received the task of creating "Deng Jiaxian", I also found the image of a Chinese scientist's version of "Heroes of the Crowd" in the 1950s and 1960s, and when I wrote it, I also watched "Sunny Days" to find the feelings of that era and the tone of people's feelings at that time.
Reporter: Why do you think internationally renowned makeup brands will find you?
Li Zhuoqun: Mainly this series of products focuses on the concept of "internal and external double repair", so it will find some industry KOLs who have both appearance and talent. In addition to Lancome, there are other brands that have also found me, I do not want to make money from advertising, but I hope to use this way to let everyone see that opera and people who do opera are not isolated from fashion, I stood up and was seen by everyone, and Wang Peiyu also stood up and was seen by everyone. But we are not leaving the industry, and we must continue to work this land.