"It is very rare to be able to see many classic repertoire performances and special performances of 'Xu Pai' in a period of three or four days. Whenever the actors end the curtain, they always can't suppress their mood and burst into tears. In order to applaud, I didn't have time to take out a napkin to wipe my tears. Ms. Cai, a fan of Jing'an opera, excitedly told reporters.
December 27, 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Xu Yulan, the founder of Yue opera "Xu Pai". From December 28 to February 2 last year, the "Magnolia Blossom" series of performances to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Yue opera master Xu Yulan kicked off in Shanghai. Xu Pai disciples and descendants from all over the country gathered on various stages in Shencheng to retrace the artistic trajectory of Mr. Xu Yulan's life in the form of classic singing and original repertoire performances.
The season attracted many fans to watch, Ms. Cai said, "I have loved to watch and listen to Yue opera since I was a child, especially the 'Xu Pai' sound is sweet, bright, rigid and soft, which has won my heart. This New Year's Day holiday, she and her friends bought four performances in one go, and in addition to reminiscing, they enjoyed the artistic charm of Xu Pai famous artists around the world.
On the evening of December 28 last year, Wang Wanna, the tenth generation of Shanghai Yue Theatre and a young writer and artist, took the lead in performing "King of the Northland" under the mantle of the Grandmaster. On the basis of the complete retention of classic singing segments such as "Weeping Ancestral Temple", this performance has been boldly innovated and re-arranged, with a view to becoming a regular performance of Yue opera.
"In 1947, When Xu Yulan premiered "The Broken Mountains and Rivers of the Country" (current name: "King of the Northland"), she was at the same age as Wang Wanna, and the two generations of northern kings met in time and space on the stage of Yue opera, showing the inheritance of Xu Pai's art." Qian Huili, artistic director of the performance and vice president of Shanghai Yue Theatre, said.
The Yue opera "The Emperor and the Village Girl" staged on the evening of December 29 last year was the last big drama in which Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan personally participated in the rehearsal, when Xu Yulan was more than 60 years old, in which one person played a triangle, and the roles were freely converted and played with ease, fully demonstrating the diversity of the artistic charm of the "Xu School", and the artistic difficulty was quite high.
The re-rehearsal of the play specially invited the famous artist He Shuanglin as the director, combing and compressing on the basis of retaining the classics, and focusing on making the plot more rigorous, the characters more three-dimensional, and the rhythm more bright.
The "Magnolia Blossoms" theme performance staged on December 31 last year was the highlight of the performance of "Commemorating the Centenary of the Birth of Yue Opera Grandmaster Xu Yulan". Narrated by the famous actor Song Huaiqiang, Xu Yulan's artistic experience and the process of nurturing, developing, and disseminating the inheritance of "Xu Pai" art from a third-party perspective are narrated.
The performance not only gathered the outstanding "Xu Pai" disciples and descendants of Shangyue, but also gathered many outstanding "Xu Pai" disciples and descendants from all over the country and other famous masters of major genres, while expressing the remembrance and respect for a generation of Yue opera masters, but also showing the endless life and prosperity of the "Xu Pai" art.
"Dream of the Red Chamber", which was staged on January 1 and 2, is a classic of Yue opera created after the founding of new China, and is also one of the opera plays with the most performances and the largest cumulative box office in China. After more than 60 years of testing by the market and the masses, it has gained recognition and love, and is now a household name, familiar and long-lasting.
Mr. Xu Yulan once said: "The genre itself must flow and change, and only the genre that is constantly changing will show vitality." The younger generations said that they will continue to hold high the baton delivered by their predecessors, remember the sincere teachings of the older generation of artists, and strive to cultivate and continuously explore on the road of inheriting and innovating the development of excellent traditional culture, so that Yue opera will always spit out its fragrance on the opera stage.
(Photo courtesy of the organizer)