From November 28 to December 22, 2021, the 10th Hubei Huangmei Opera Art Festival was held in Huanggang.
Under the shores of the Lake, chibi alum head, and Qingyun Pagoda, high-level friends gather; Huangmei Opera Grand Theater, Hubei Huangmei Drama Theater Small Theater, county (city) theater, good drama is connected to the stage.
Huangmei Opera Grand Theatre
This is a grand event of cultural exchange and art appreciation, a festival for the general public to share a cultural feast, and a chapter of great color for Hubei Province to build a strong opera province.
One
Originating in Huanggang, Hubei Province, Huangmei Opera is one of the five major opera genres in China, with a rich and beautiful voice cavity, euphemism, profound humanistic heritage and a broad mass base.
Hubei Huangmei Opera Art Festival is one of the important opera activities in Hubei Province, co-sponsored by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Hubei Province and the Huanggang Municipal People's Government, and held every three years, which plays a major role in promoting the inheritance and development of Huangmei Opera.
The 10th Hubei Huangmei Opera Art Festival follows the principle of "simplicity, practicality, safety and thoughtfulness", with the theme of "Huangmei Singing the World", and is divided into three stages: the opening ceremony, the grass-roots Huimin performance, the Huangmei Opera Grand Theater and the Provincial Huangmei Drama Theater Small Theater.
On the evening of November 28, the opening ceremony was held at the Huangmei Opera Grand Theater, a cultural landmark in Huanggang, and more than 300 people attended the meeting, including Hu Yongzheng, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Provincial Party Committee, Tao Hongjia, member of the party group and deputy director of the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Zhang Jiasheng, secretary of the Huanggang Municipal Party Committee, Li Junjie, deputy secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and mayor, Li Chumin, member of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee and director of the Propaganda Department, and more than 300 people attended the meeting.
Stills from Huangmei's play "Dongpo"
At the opening ceremony, the Provincial Huangmei Drama Theater performed the large-scale original Huangmei drama "Dongpo" starring The National First-class Actor and Winner of the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award, which won the applause of the audience. In this series, Su Dongpo was demoted to Huangzhou's tenacious character and flesh-and-blood connection with Huangzhou when he was in adversity because of the "Wutai Poetry Case", and he shined at the Central Party School and the National Centre for the Performing Arts.
Chen Shaomin, vice mayor of Huanggang Municipal Government, believes that holding the Huangmei Opera Art Festival under the normalized situation of epidemic prevention and control is of great significance and far-reaching influence for polishing Huanggang's cultural business card, enhancing the soft power of urban culture, and promoting high-quality economic and social development.
Tao Hongjia, member of the party group and deputy director of the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, said that the 10th Hubei Huangmei Opera Art Festival is a vivid practice to deeply implement the series of important speeches of General Secretary Xi Jinping on literary and art work and the spirit of the documents of the Party Central Committee, the State Council, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government, to promote the inheritance and development of Hubei Huangmei Opera, and is also a powerful measure to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the people and enhance the sense of cultural happiness.
Two
Huanggang is an important birthplace of Chinese opera. Among the 32 local dramas in Hubei, Huanggang occupies 6 seats: Hubei Huangmei Opera, Macheng East Road Flower Drum Opera, which are listed as national intangible cultural heritage, and Edong Chu Opera, Wuxue Wenqu Opera, Luotian Donglu Opera, and Yingshan Tea Picking Opera, which are listed in the intangible cultural heritage of Hubei Province.
This year's Huangmei Opera Art Festival participated in a total of 16 works. After "Dongpo", the Provincial Huangmei Drama Theater staged the legendary large-scale traditional costume Huangmei drama "Female Horse" and the large-scale Huangmei opera light comedy "Sifan" adapted from the creation of traditional folding plays in the small theater, which made the fans directly addicted.
Stills of the East Road flower drum play "Sister Jiang"
On November 30th, the large-scale red-themed East Road Flower Drum Drama "Sister Jiang" carefully created by the East Flower Drum Theater of Macheng East Road was staged at the City Convention and Exhibition Center, reproducing the image of the communist group represented by Jiang Jie who was full of heroism and patriotism. On December 2, Wuxue City's key drama "Ballad of Jiangshui", which presented the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, was staged at the Wuxue Grand Theater, showing the historical situation from the eve of the Xinhai Revolution to the period of the Agrarian Revolution, revealing the truth that the people can only follow the Communist Party to the light. On December 3rd, the large-scale original Red Revolution historical theme Chu opera "Tomorrow Dawn" created by the Hong'an County Chu Opera Troupe was staged at the Hong'an Film Theater, interpreting the profound connotation of the Hong'an spirit of "unity of purpose, close adherence to the party, park sincerity and courage, and endless victory" through the shaping of important characters such as Tianming and Tianliang.
Local performances of grassroots Huimin are also traditional plays such as "Pearl Tower" of Huangmei County Huangmei Drama Theater, "Qin Xianglian" of Huangmei Theater troupe of Yingshan County, and "Buckwheat Record" of Huangmei Theater Troupe of Puchun County.
Simplicity is not simple, refinement is more exciting. One after another grassroots performances to benefit the people, so that the audience can truly feel the unique charm of local opera.
Three
On December 12, the original red-themed large-scale modern Huangmei opera "Casting Soul Tianshan" was performed for the first time at the Huangmei Opera Grand Theatre, and the 10th Hubei Huangmei Opera Art Festival entered the climax of the new drama.
Stills from HuangMei's play "Casting Soul Heavenly Mountain"
Jointly produced by Huanggang Art School and Huangzhou District People's Government, Chen Tanqiu, one of the founders of the Communist Party of China, made his first appearance in the play, starring Wang Gang, Xie Siqin and Zhang Hui, famous actors of the Huangmei Drama Theatre, and supporting roles and group performances by teachers and students of Huanggang Art School.
On December 14, the Huangmei Opera Grand Theatre staged the revolutionary theme of the new Huangmei opera "Badouwan". The play was created by Tuanfeng County Youth Huangmei Opera Development Co., Ltd., and the image of Lin Yuying, the early leader of our party and the famous leader of the workers' movement, was put on the opera stage for the first time.
On December 15th, the Provincial Huangmei Drama Theater performed the original Huangmei drama "Beauty" starring Zhang Hui and Xie Siqin in the small theater, telling the love-hate relationship between marten cicadas and Wang Yun, Lü Bu and Dong Zhuo, and the performance was exquisite and exquisite, which made the audience fascinated.
On December 16th, Huangmei County Huangmei Drama Theater brought a large-scale costume Huangmei opera "Bronze Love Song" to the Huangmei Opera Grand Theatre, using the feelings of home and country, pure love and the spirit of sword casting as clues to portray the folk customs of Chudi and show the long and splendid Chu culture.
Stills from Huang Mei's play "Love Red Lotus Village"
Produced by Huangmei Drama Theatre in Hubei Province, the large-scale original reality theme Huangmei drama "Love Red Lotus Village" focusing on poverty alleviation was passionately unveiled at the Huangmei Opera Grand Theatre on December 18 after its first performance. The large-scale original campus Huangmei Opera musical "Frost Sky Red Candle", created by Huanggang Normal University, full of honors for the 9th China (Anqing) Huangmei Opera Art Festival and the Beijing National Culture Palace Grand Theater, was re-staged at the Huangmei Opera Grand Theater in Huanggang on December 20.
Stills from Huangmei's play "Qing Qing's Yishui River"
On December 22, the Huangmei Opera Grand Theatre staged the final play of this art festival, and the large-scale revolutionary Huangmei opera "Qing Qing Yishui River" created and performed by the Luotian County Huangmei Drama Troupe. The drama is based on the story of the Red Revolution in Shengli Town, Luotian County, and depicts the touching story of an ordinary housewife, Fang Yuheng, who resolutely decided to take the risk of delivering a letter to the peasant association to break the siege and sacrifice her young life for the revolution when she saw that the peasant movement was about to be exposed.
Four
As the hometown of Huangmei Opera, the Huanggang Municipal Party Committee and the Huanggang Municipal Government attach great importance to the cause of Huangmei Opera, insist on jointly sponsoring the Hubei Huangmei Opera Art Festival with the Hubei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and strive to create a good environment for "inviting Huangmei Opera back to her mother's home".
Most of the 16 works participated in this participation are original plays with red themes presented to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party, and the city's drama theater troupes are full of enthusiasm, fully excavating local characteristic resources, making Huangmei opera bigger and stronger, and showing the latest achievements in the development of Huangmei opera art in Hubei.
Stills of Huangmei's play "Badou Bay"
Huangmei opera is good at the performance of Xiaosheng, Xiaodan and folk customs, and it is a challenge for the grand theme. "Cast Soul Tianshan" and "Badouwan" successfully deal with the collision of small and grand, folklore and epic, drama characteristics and major historical themes, and perfectly present the regional characteristics, sense of age and character fate of the plot on the stage by integrating elements such as ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and music, dance and instrumental music in northern Shaanxi. "Qing Qing Yishui River" adopts a Western orchestra mixed with a traditional ethnic band, and integrates the tunes of Luotian folk songs such as Lotus Boat, Luotian Fang, East Cavity, and Ten Fans, so that the whole drama has a strong Dabie Mountain style. "Love for Red Lotus Village" combines the beautiful and beautiful vocal cavity characteristics of Huangmei opera with the performance characteristics of close to real life, and reflects the major realistic theme of rural revitalization in a dramatic way.
The 10th Hubei Huangmei Opera Art Festival came to a successful conclusion, with the number of plays participating, the length of the exhibition, the new expression techniques, and the enthusiastic response of the audience, which are the outstanding characteristics of this year's Huangmei Opera Art Festival.
(Photo courtesy of Huanggang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism)
Editor-in-charge: Jia Tingyi