"Is there a soul?" This famous "Xianglin Sister-in-Law's Question" sounded tonight on the Shanghai Tiantou Yifu Stage. For three consecutive nights, Zhejiang Xiaobaihuayue Theater (Zhejiang Yue Opera Troupe) landed in Shanghai with three classic Yue opera classics of "Jade Hairpin", "Gentleman in the Flower" and "Xianglin Concubine", which made Shanghai opera fans addicted. As an important stop of the "2021 Zhejiang Yue Opera China Tour" national tour, Shanghai looks forward to relying on the celebrity effect and brand influence to attract more audiences for traditional culture.
The three-day performance was kicked off by "Jade Hairpin", which is a representative of the Golden School of Yue Opera, pouring the painstaking efforts of several generations of Yue opera performance artists, among which "Cave House", "Guining", "Three Covers" and "Sending Phoenix Crowns" are the classic singing sections of the popular population, and the singing is not fading. Its artistic style is tragicomedy, which is both tragic and tear-jerking, but also hilarious. The performance is starred by Qiu Jinyuan, a descendant of the Jin Pai, and Liao Qiying, a descendant of the Lu Pai, and the whole drama is based on the original inheritance of the film version starring Jin Caifeng, maintaining the classicity, and modifying and improving the stage, presenting a visual effect that conforms to the modern aesthetic.
The inheritance version of "Gentleman in the Flower" emphasizes classical charm, retains classicity, and has a modern aesthetic, simple but not simple. Using the spirit of the lotus as a metaphor for the style of the characters, through the stories of the previous dynasties, it warns and spurs on the fragile side of human nature, carries forward the excellent character of being upright, honest and trustworthy, and has good conduct in traditional Chinese culture, and advocates the honest and just way of being an official and the spirit of self-renewal.
As one of the four classic repertoire of Yue opera, "Xianglin Sister-in-law" has a milestone significance in the history of Yue opera reform. Zhejiang Yue inheritance re-layout yue opera "Xianglin Sister-in-law" under the original intention of paying tribute to the classic, with the 1978 film version of "Xianglin Sister-in-law" as a reference, while retaining the whole drama style and performance style unchanged, the main core singing section unchanged, the whole drama stage rhythm, stage atmosphere has been appropriately adjusted, in the stage art design, the combination of virtual and real style, broadening the stage performance space. At the same time, the troupe specially rehearsed in the form of "male and female co-performance, three generations in the same hall", and was jointly performed by the plum blossom award actors Hua Weiqiang, Wang Xingfu, Zhang Jing and Liao Qiying with the new generation.
Author: Wang Xiaoli
Image: Courtesy of the organizer
Editor: Xu Yang