The Paper's reporter Pan Yu
Stills of "Home" Picture of this article Hui Quality Photography
After 11 years, the "Prince of Yue Opera" Zhao Zhigang returned to the big drama stage of Shanghai Yue Theater, starring in the masterpiece "Home", which has been in violation for 13 years, and he was on the same stage as the "first generation" Mei cousin Shan Yangping and the third young master Xu Jie, and this time on the same stage, it has been a full 13 years since they last joined hands with this play.
On this night, the Shanghai Grand Theatre was full, and scalpers appeared at the intersection of Tibet road hundreds of meters away. At the end of the curtain, the audience applauded thunderously, and almost no one left. Zhao Zhigang stood in the center of the stage, choking up several times with excitement. And every actor in the crew is also full of emotions, just a few words of testimonials, but it is more than ten years of emotions, experiences and dreams.
"Over the years, our screenwriter Teacher Zhaofen has been telling me, Zhigang, when will you act in "Home". There has been no chance. Today I finally had the opportunity, and this dream has finally come true. But Teacher Zhaofen was already gone. I think today's performance is the best consolation for her. Zhao Zhigang said with tears. Then, he and the actress Shan Yangping hugged each other tightly, speechless, but let the audience move.
On January 4th, the Yue opera "Home" opened the prelude to the "Yue Ju Golden Generation - Yue Opera Famous Artists Famous Drama Series Exhibition" with such an atmosphere.
Stills from "Home"
Zhao Zhigang's re-performance of "Home" after 13 years is a special "homecoming"
The work "Home" is very special to Zhao Zhigang. Backstage at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, he once again lamented that this work may be the most important work in his artistic career.
And this time, the performance of "Home" at the Shanghai Grand Theatre is even more special to Zhao Zhigang. "It's been 10 years since I left the Yue Theater, which is a long time, and this time "Home" may really have a three-layer 'home' meaning for me, first of all, "Home" on the repertoire is back, and then I am back to the Shanghai stage Shanghai audience's home, and the Shanghai Yue Theater is also my eternal home." 」
In that year, in order to commemorate the centenary of Ba Jin's birth, Shanghai Yue Theatre created this "Home". Zhao Zhigang, the main actor in the play, Can be said to be the "initiator" of this drama, during which he raised his own funds and completed the production and creation of this modern Yue opera. This was also his first attempt at being a producer, followed by a series of works such as "The Orphan of Zhao".
In 2003, "Home" premiered at the Shanghai International Arts Festival, and later won the Wenhua New Repertoire Award, and Zhao Zhigang also won the plum blossom award and the Wenhua Performance Award, the highest honor of Chinese drama, for this play.
In 2010, Zhao Zhigang and Chen Xiang left the Shanghai Yue Theatre, and since the last performance of the play 13 years ago, Zhao Zhigang has not acted in "Home". However, this play has now become the inheritance of the younger generation of Shanghai Yue Theatre, and it is also a classic repertoire of co-performances by men and women.
Recalling the creation of that year, Zhao Zhigang said, "I think that in the series of works I created in that year, "Home" may be the best one. He also said, "Teacher Li Xiaolin, Ba Jin's daughter, once told me this, this is one of my favorite works I have seen in the adaptation of Ba Lao's works, I hope you will not easily throw it away, I hope to be able to innovate in the long run." ”
This drama is also the representative work of Wu Zhaofen, a famous screenwriter of Yue opera, and the fresh and mournful style of the whole drama is not only the characteristic of Yue opera, but also the characteristics of Wu Zhaofen's drama. "The cave room quietly shakes candles, the world is like a dream", "Loneliness is also light and interesting", "There is no regret in paying for love", a beautiful and elegant singing lyric reads eloquently; and Aunt Chen's "eighteen 'sons'" when she advised Mingfeng to remarry are full of worldly humor.
The understanding of the original work and the understanding of the actors make Wu Zhaofen's Mei Fen and Juexin not only reflect the characteristics of ba lao's characters, but also carry the shadow of the actor himself. Shan Yangping, who plays Mei's cousin in the play, said that her favorite stage characters are two - one is Lin Daiyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber" and the other is Mei in "Home". Because these two characters are "most like themselves".
Zhao Zhigang also said: "Many people think that I am a combination of Juexin and Juehui, and I think so myself. ”
The director of the whole play, Yang Xiaoqing, has given the play an ethereal stage, a beautiful Yue opera poetry and painting, and a narrative and rhythm that is more in line with the aesthetics of the current audience. The two composers, Lan Tian and Chen Jun, make this Yue opera extremely memorable.
For more than ten years, Wu Zhaofen and Yang Xiaoqing would always meet Zhao Zhigang and ask when they would see you play "Home" again. After 13 years, this wish was finally achieved in the "Yue Ju Golden Generation".
The original team reunites, and the actors will cry as soon as they hear the music
In this reunion of "Home", 4 of the 5 main actors are the original team, including Zhao Zhigang, Shan Yangping, Xu Jie, and Chen Xiang. Because of years of expectations, the rearrangement process of this play is also full of special emotions, and everyone "holds back" a lot of energy, and must dedicate the most perfect stage presentation to the audience.
Zhao Zhigang said that we rehearsed together, and the actors came out with tears as soon as they heard the music. It is really very touching, we found back the kind of youthful vitality that everyone created together more than ten years ago. I also hope to be able to bring this love of "Home" on the stage again, and let everyone see how each other is artistically. ”
It is especially happy to cooperate with Shan Yangping again. "It should be said that Yang Ping is the Mei Fen in my mind, and I feel particularly happy to be able to join hands again to perform such a classic masterpiece as Ba Lao, we rehearsed together every day the week before, recovered, but there will be a lot of new passionate things on the stage." 」
"Xu Jie is my old classmate and brother. The two of us in the performance I think have always stimulated each other, infected each other, it all depends on whether the opponent is particularly familiar with the person. ”
After more than ten years of life and stage precipitation, each actor has a deeper understanding of the role. The mourning of the "cave house of the two places", the sadness of the "reunion of Merlin", the poignant beauty of "Mingfeng throwing the lake", the confrontation and reconciliation of "brotherly competition", the pursuit in the snowy sky... Every scene in the play is very moving, and each actor's singing is still "the sword is not old", and every few sentences will attract thunderous applause.
An audience member who had seen this "Home" more than a decade ago was full of emotions after watching the performance that night, "Today, walking into the theater again, it is still the familiar "Home". Years never defeat beauty. None of them seems to have changed. More than ten years have passed, or they were... And we, moved by this "Home" that has been violated for more than ten years, are not because of searching? Looking for those good memories, those lost youth? Tonight, I was touched by a singing word - even if the past is difficult to find, it can be found, and there is still the heart of Merlin's youth. ”
After "Home", the enthusiasm and nostalgia of the "Yue Ju Golden Generation" will continue. (Yuan Fan version) "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", "Zhen Huan" (Shangxia Ben), (classic version) "Dream of the Red Chamber" will be staged at the Shanghai Grand Theatre.
Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia
Proofreader: Shi Gong