Kunqu opera without him, get a 'beautiful' word! The beauty of rhetoric, dance, music and human feelings are the concentrated embodiment of Chinese aesthetic ideals, the product of the highly developed classical culture of China, and the world-class art, and all of us must cherish it.
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Kunqu documentary film "Peony Returns the Soul - Bai Xianyong and the Revival of Kunqu Opera"
This is Bai Xianyong's heartfelt words in the Kunqu documentary film "Peony Returns the Soul - Bai Xianyong and the Revival of Kunqu Opera", and it also speaks to the voices of generations of people who love Kunqu opera and silently work hard for its inheritance and development.
Poster of the Kunqu documentary film "Peony Returns the Soul - Bai Xianyong and the Revival of Kunqu Opera"
As an exhibiting film at the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival, the Kunqu documentary film "Peony Returns the Soul - Bai Xianyong and the Revival of Kunqu Opera" written and directed by Deng Yongxing is currently being screened.
The imaginary niche films, the box office is not ordinary, there are three or four full shows on the day of ticketing, and the next few days of film, only thursday At the Maggie Theater screening field there are still tickets. This pleases the young "insects":
"Kunqu opera is finally no longer a 'sleepy' song, and I hope it can be opened all over the place."
Bai Xianyong (right) wants to use the power of youth to make "Peony Pavilion" beautiful
People who love beauty bend their waists for beauty
I don't know what happened,
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Bai Xianyong and Kunqu were only 8 years old when they met, that is, in the autumn of 1945, Mei Lanfang, who had not appeared on stage for many years, finally returned to the stage and performed a fold of "Garden Dreams" with Yu Zhenfei at the Majestic Theater, and the beauty of Kunqu opera was rooted in Bai Xianyong's heart.
Film set
In 2001, Kunqu opera was listed by UNESCO as the "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity". In 2003, I don't know where the courage came from, Bai Xianyong, with a sense of love and a strong sense of cultural responsibility in his heart, let go of everything at hand and was determined to fight for Kunqu. He suddenly realized that perhaps the little bit of fate and emotion that he had saved in his life and Kunqu was for this moment.
Bai Xianyong (left)
In that year, Bai Xianyong had a new identity - Kunqu Volunteer. For yu jiulin, Shen Fengying and other young actors of the "little orchid class", he invited Wang Shiyu, Zhang Jiqing, Cai Zhengren and other Zhejiang "Shi" generations, Kunqu "Ji" characters, Kun Daban and other national treasure-level artists to give oral instructions; he plunged into the rehearsal hall of suzhou Kun Opera House, ate and lived with the main creators and actors for a year, and wanted to use the power of youth to make "Peony Pavilion" beautiful and new.
On April 29, 2004, the youth version of "Peony Pavilion", which was created by Bai Xianyong and Suzhou Kun Opera House, "following tradition without following tradition, respecting modernity but not abusing modernity", came into being, which opened up a new situation for Kunqu opera to revitalize in contemporary times.
Youthful "peony" returns the soul
In the past 18 years, the youth version of "Peony Pavilion" has been performed nearly 400 times, and its footprints have spread all over the world.
Stills from "Peony Pavilion"
Bai Xianyong, who had rarely socialized before, repeatedly bent his waist and "changed his edges" everywhere, poured everything he had - funds, connections, and influence, and took the youth version of "Peony Pavilion" to the north and south, to major universities to do guided tours and lectures, so that the most beautiful "peony" in Chinese Kunqu opera bloomed all over the world.
And this work also lived up to expectations, from the initial difficulty to break the ground, to the later word of mouth, the ancient Kunqu opera in the younger generation gradually revived, rejuvenated.
At the Sichuan University performance, the assembly hall of more than 7,000 people was afraid that students would sneak away, the front door was guarded by the teacher, and the back door was quietly locked. Unexpectedly, the ancient Kunqu opera, youthful appearance, leisurely water mill cavity and elegant lyrics easily captured the audience's heart. At the end of the scene, the two lead actors Yu Jiulin and Shen Fengying were "escorted" by the security guards before "breaking through" from the enthusiastic audience.
Touring at the University of California, whether it is Los Angeles or Irvine, although two-thirds of the seats are non-Chinese audiences, but because of the solid preliminary preparation work such as guided tours and lectures, the ancient Kunqu opera is "circled" in the world.
In 2018, the campus version of "Peony Pavilion" performed by students from 18 universities in Beijing came out, and college students came out with a love and self-consciousness for traditional culture, immersed themselves in learning Kunqu opera, and confidently stood on the stage. Their love for Kunqu opera is like traveling the world to appreciate the fragrance of roses and tulips, and then suddenly looking back and finding that the most beautiful peony was originally in their own back garden.
The revitalization of Kunqu opera has a long way to go
The filming of the Kunqu documentary film "Peony Returns the Soul - Bai Xianyong and the Revival of Kunqu Opera" stems from Bai Xianyong's persistence.
This documentary uses a retrospective approach to show the innovative experience and thinking enlightenment of the youth version of "Peony Pavilion" in the past 18 years from its birth to its popularity. This is not a documentary based on a timeline, but more of a video record with a "Kun flavor" and poetry.
Deng Yongxing used Tang Xianzu's texts, Bai Xianyong, kunqu's workmanship, and the mission of inheritance as materials to arrange when they would play and when they would be invisible. Through this film, the audience can carefully observe the beautiful singing and performance of the youth version of "Peony Pavilion", and can re-understand the inheritance and promotion of Kunqu art and the innovation of Shouzheng from the perspective of Bai Xianyong's literary artists.
In order to make this film, Deng Yongxing conducted a four- or five-hour interview with Bai Xianyong at the Suzhou Kun Opera House, in which he visited Wang Anqi, Wang Tong, Wang Shiyu, Zhou Qin, Yue Meiti, Xi Song, Liang Guyin, Zhang Jiqing, Chen Yihao, Fan Mannong, Wang Yueyang and nearly 50 artists, scholars and promoters to review the rise and fall of Kunqu art in the past century and discuss how to inject new vitality into ancient Kunqu.
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Although he gave everything for Kunqu Opera, Bai Xianyong repeatedly stressed in the film: "The revitalization of Kunqu Opera absolutely cannot rely on anyone's own strength, that is the result of 'everyone collecting firewood and the flame is high'." ”
Some people are pleased that the youth version of "Peony Pavilion" has made the average age of Kunqu audiences 30 years younger; Bai Xianyong stressed that
New Performing Arts Studio
Author: Zhu Yuan
Editor: Wu Xuying
Image: The official image of the film
© Xinmin Evening News Cultural Department