Xinmin Evening News (reporter Zhao Yue) a song "Ode to Pear Blossoms", a cuipan dance, a long-lasting obsession until death... From March 11th to 12th, led by Shi Yihong and Li Jun, national first-class actors of Shanghai Peking Opera House, and jointly performed by Anping, Xi Zhonglu, Yang Donghu, Guo Yi and Wang Dun, the new version of Peking Opera "Tang Guifei" of Shanghai Peking Opera House will unveil the prelude to the 2021/22 spring and summer performance season of Shanghai Oriental Art Center, and the "13th Oriental Famous Drama Month" will also be launched.
Illustration: The new version of the "Tang Guifei" poster Courtesy of the organizer (the same below)
The new version of "Tang Guifei", which will be staged in Dongyi, is led by the original interpreters Shi Yihong and Li Jun in 2001, playing Yang Guifei and Tang Minghuang respectively. This play vividly interprets the opera spirit of Meipai art with innovation as its connotation, and embodies the persistence of Meipai art in maintaining its true color in the current torrent of collision between Eastern and Western cultures.
"Tang Guifei" was born out of Mei Lanfang's famous masterpiece "Taizhen Waichuan" in the 1920s, and there are countless cover versions of the Beijing song "Ode to Ewha" in the drama in the past 20 years. "From the last performance in Wanping Theater to the Nanchang performance, the audience has always been immersed in the play, especially its theme song "Ode to the Pear Blossom" sang the north and south of the river, I have traveled to many places in the world, wherever there are Chinese people will sing "Ode to the Pear Blossom", so the play "Tang Guifei" should let it perform a few more times in the winter night, so that more audiences can understand." Li Jun said in an interview.
Pictured: Stills of the new version of "Tang Guifei"
The new version of "Tang Guifei" adds a series of new points of view. The Cuipan Dance in Mei Lanfang's "Tai Zhen Wai Biography" also reappeared on the stage after the redesign, and in 2019, the dancer Huang Doudou was invited to design a group dance part for the Cuipan Dance. The design of the cui pan comes from the photo of Mei Lanfang in that year, Mr. Mei danced on a very small cui pan, and later based on that photo, he restored the beautiful cui pan dance of Yang Guifei on the stage today.
This "Tang Guifei" cancels the physical building on the original stage in terms of stage beauty, and uses multimedia video technology to carry the opera performance space, and the transition and actor scheduling are fully integrated with it. For example, in the "Huaqing Pond", after the projection of THE LED, the Huaqing Pool flowing from the hot spring looms in the lush greenery, and the quiet and ethereal environment enhances the beauty of the "noble concubine bathing". The choreography of the play makes the performance of the new version of "Tang Guifei" more beautiful and more immersive.
Over the past 20 years, "Datang Guifei" has continuously attracted old ticketers and new audiences; the Peking Opera "Tang Guifei", which allows old, middle-aged and young audiences to "chase stars" at the same time, is also rejuvenating across the times. Starting with this play, from March 11 to April 30, the Oriental Famous Drama Month will bring spring colors to the Shanghai stage, and the Kun opera "1699 Peach Blossom Fan", the novella "Lin Huiyin", the Huangmei opera "Female Horse" and "Dream of the Red Chamber" will be unveiled one after another.