Wen Ruhua
In the past, the cooperation between the main actors in the Peking Opera class, especially the delicate relationship between the head and the second card, was simply similar to the way men and women in love got along, quite similar.
And because the actor's line is to serve the audience as a "performing art", in addition to the main actors to get along with each other and admire each other, their ultimate goal is still to strive to meet the audience's audiovisual habits and aesthetic tastes of the most demanding, so the following points are as respectful as possible:
First, the voice and singing method of the main actors should be maintained in a state of freedom of use and flexibility. The volume and timbre of the two people need to be integrated with each other. The band could not change the huqin key frequently to suit one of the vocal conditions, distracting the audience from the details of the performance and singing.
In short, tune in the right people and work together.
Second, the artistic style between the main actors must also be as consistent as possible to highlight the overall perfection.
Although it is the same as the old life industry, it is also divided into simple type, cold type, graceful type and old spicy type. The same is true of Danxing. At the same time, the main actors must still take into account each other's staggered layout, and take the initiative to cooperate with the support, giving the icing on the cake. In terms of artistic treatment, we must also try to avoid the artistic expression of hard mountain shelving.
In short, typhoons and people who pursue similarities work together.
Third, the age and figure between the main actors should also be as close as possible, standing together, so that the stage picture shines. Avoid the phenomenon of "camels out of the flock". Make the audience's thinking wander outside the stage.
In short, people with the right height and physique work together.
The effect of the performances of the leading actors is displayed, such as the camera footage of the ideal military couple Wang Xingang and Wang Xiaotang seen on the screen in 1960, so that the audience's minds are constantly stimulated to produce a positive and inspiring chemical reaction.
Through the brilliant display of Li, Yuan, Ye and Du on the stage of the Troupe of the Beijing Opera House in 1958, it is explained that whenever the dazzling spark shines on the stage, it is the result of the joint management efforts of several leading actors. Therefore, the four main actors must take into account their commonalities while maintaining each person's unique personality.
Let's talk about the commonalities of the four people:
First, their height is only 170 centimeters. All four are of medium size.
Second, they are both both civil and military.
There is no trace of "long arms and legs", or the old fighting posture of "knives and guns".
Third, they all have a high and loud voice, and each has a set of distinctive, with their own charm of the bite word, the unique personal singing style.
Fourth, they are also full of passion in their performances, and slightly exaggerated improved styles.
Therefore, the four of them can echo each other and complement each other. In the eyes of the public, the "one-vegetable" style of hugging seems to be inevitably formed.
Try it
Li, Yuan, Ye and Du's "Butterfly Cup"
Li, Yuan, Du's "Wild Boar Forest",
Li and Yuan's "Legend of the Ringing Horse",
Yuan and Ye's "Jiujiangkou",
Li and Ye's "Genealogy of The Elements",
Ye and Du's "Peach Blossom Fan",
Du and Yuan Zhi's "Farewell"
……
The performance effect of these plays in that year was definitely to make the audience feel inspired and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people after watching them.
Speaking of "BieJi", it is impossible not to mention another story from "Wusheng Overlord" to "Flower Face Overlord". This story illustrates that due to the choice of "Yu Ji" actor for the "Lover Xiang Yu" actor, it is decided that the characters in the play performed by "Peking Opera Xingdang" can also be "changed" "from person to person".
Mei Lanfang and Yang Xiaolou, "Farewell to the Overlord"
One hundred years ago (1921), Yang Xiaolou and Mr. Mei Lanfang established a drama class of the Chonglin Society, which was mainly based on the two of them.
The origin of the name of this drama class is based on the fact that the surnames of Yang and Mei are all side by the word "wood", and the boss of the group class is respected by the meaning of "double wood into a forest", so the drama club is named "Chonglin Society".
At the beginning of the establishment of this society, the drama "Overlord Farewell" was discharged.
Mr. Mei is famous for his Zhu Yan yu appearance and heavenly immortalization, and Mr. Yang is more famous for his stable work and magnificent momentum, so whenever many "cooperation dramas" gather, the backstage manager takes this drama as a "hard currency" to squat at the bottom, and has become the Standard-like norm of celebrations and disaster relief activities in beijing during the Republic of China period.
Even on the auspicious day of Puyi's big wedding, he also staged this drama of "wife death and husband death" in the Forbidden City. It can be seen how popular Yang and Mei's "Farewell" was in that year?
A day of celebration, but a tragedy, in the traditional Chinese sense, is simply unheard of! At the same time, it is a precursor to the fact that Puyi and Wanrong will fall apart and have no way out of the way, which is an afterword.
December 10, 1926 Mei Lanfang and Jin Shaoshan, "Farewell to the Overlord"
A few years later, Mr. Mei was personally invited to perform in Shanghai, and when the theater and the audience proposed to invite Mr. Mei to perform "Farewell", because Mr. Yang Xiaolou had not arrived with him, the theater side suggested that Mr. Yang Ruiting, a martial student of the Northern Sect, should play the overlord, and Mr. Mei thought about it a little and vetoed it.
Later, Mr. Mei watched Mr. Jin Shaoshan's performances of "Serial Set" and "Mu Ke Zhai", and determined that Mr. Jin Shaoshan would play the overlord Xiang Yu, thus creating the era of Duracell.
After that, the corner of Xiang Yu became hugged by the two doors of "Wusheng and Hua Face".
Since then, in the history of Peking Opera, it has also created an era of flower faces picked by Mr. Jin Shaoshan and Mr. Qiu Shengrong.
In 1950, after Mr. Mei Lanfang and Mr. Tang Yunsheng co-performed "Famen Temple" in Tianjin, Mr. Mei praised the veteran Tang and put forward the wish to perform "Farewell" together, but Mr. Yunsheng resigned on the grounds that he was "not respectful enough" to Mr. Liu Lianrong after the co-performance, so that Mr. Mei's wish was not realized in the end.
September 28, 1950 "Progress Daily" advertisement
Therefore, the cooperation between the big-name protagonists, as mentioned earlier, is like "free love between men and women", each starring actor has a unique vision, so all kinds of feelings go their own way. Can the lead actors work together? It is really impossible for outsiders to interfere.
For example, Ma Lianliang and Cheng Yanqiu, two predecessors, although they have also cooperated together in "Baolian Lantern" and other students and Dan "children's plays", but after the stage exchange, the two found that the performance style, each other is not adapted, can not blend with each other, after life, no longer get together on the same stage.
After the death of Mr. Mei Lanfang in 1961, Premier Zhou Enlai felt more and more the timeliness and necessity of rescuing the cultural heritage of Peking Opera. The next year, he went to Hangzhou with Vice Premier Chen Yi, and li hired Mr. Tianlao to go to Beijing to shoot the color art film "Wu Song".
In order to ensure the quality of the art, the roles in accordance with the popularity of the old, middle, young and the actors, by the ministry of culture, after research, and with the full consent of both Mr. Gai Lao and Mr. Zhao Yanxia, the following arrangements were made and informed to the society through the news media.
In my memory, I myself saw the photos and published promotional text messages in the 4th edition of the Beijing Evening News that year:
Gai called Tian as Wu Song,
Zhao Yanxia as Pan Jinlian,
Zhang Yunxi as Ximen Qing,
Qian Haoliang as Jiang Men shen.
From the beginning of the rehearsal to the sound studio recording, the performance styles of the two artists, Gai Lao and Mr. Yanxia, could not achieve unified cognition, so they could not continue to cooperate. Director Cui Wei, as the person in charge of the undertaking, in order to protect the reputation of the two artists, he saddled this "black cauldron" and lied to the outside world that he could not achieve the artist's satisfaction due to his own artistic handling problems, so he handed over the filming rights to Shanghai Tianma Studio for shooting, and the main reason was still to change the actors and start a new stove.
At that time, the actress who was also famous as Mr. Zhao Yanxia was stepping up her pace, summoning up all her energy in Beijing, Shanghai and Changchun, and racing against the clock.
Mr. Tong Zhiling filmed the film "You Sanjie" in Shanghai, which preserved the good times.
Mr. Yan Huizhu filmed "Wall Head Horse" in Changchun, which also retained a good time.
Mr. Du Jinfang filmed "Wild Boar Forest" in Beijing, and Mr. Jinfang was about ten years younger than Tong and Yan, and he retained a good time.
But Mr. Yanxia lost this precious opportunity, this is 13 years, when Mr. Yanxia was filmed in 1976, when He filmed "Red Lady" in Beiying, he was nearly 50 years old, and it was no longer the period of Jade Zhu Yan and Yingsheng Yan. The videos circulating today are the video works of Mr. Zhao in his later years, which do not represent the most beautiful era of her art.
I remember that in 1959, when the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China was celebrated, the National Peking Opera Theater and the Beijing Peking Opera Troupe jointly arranged "Xi Yu Ji", and the original role was:
Zhang Junqiu as Cui Yingying
Zhao Yanxia as Red Lady
Ye Shenglan as Zhang Jue
However, the role of the red lady was resigned by Mr. Yanxia and changed to Mr. Du Jinfang.
In recent years, Mr. Zhao Yanxia recalled on tv programs: After constantly pursuing progress and performing modern dramas in 1964, his consciousness has improved. Then he said: The first time I hung up two cards for others was to play He Xiang in the old version of "Cuckoo Mountain", after Mr. Qiu Shengrong, and before that, this situation would never happen. Since then, Mr. Zhao has accelerated the pace of the revolution, caught up with the forefront of the times, dissolved into the revolutionary collective, and played Mrs. Gao in the drama "Breaking the King's Banner", once again hanging up the second card.
It is said that Gai Lao is a well-known stubborn temper, all know that in 1931 Du Yuesheng Ancestral Hall was completed, Mr. Yu Shuyan did not go to participate, and later learned that Gai Lao also refused Du Yuesheng's invitation, so Gai Lao and Mr. Yanxia worked together, and the result should also be expected.
Through the fact that Gai Lao's filming of "Wu Song" in Beiying turned into a bubble, it is explained that not only did Mr. Yanxia lose an opportunity for artistic recording, but also the "traditional drama images" of the two martial arts actors Zhang Yunxi and Mr. Qian Haoliang could not be preserved. The emergence of this result makes today's theater fans feel extremely unfamiliar with the "traditional drama" performances of Zhang and Qian. In fact, like Teacher Yunxi's "short fight, arrow suit" and Teacher Qian Haoliang's "long leaning" and "face play", they were all wonderful in those years!
In addition, it is also a very meaningful thing to be a "three-generation martial arts cooperation" (the second generation of Mr. Yunxi is the son of Mr. Zhang Dejun, a Haipai actor, and Mr. Sanshiro Haoliang is the son of Mr. Qian Lintong, a Haipai actor).
Although Mr. Haoliang was unable to cooperate with Elder Gai, he deeply regretted it. But it doesn't seem to have had any negative impact on his artistic development that year. Because among the long-dependent martial arts students in the country, from having kung fu, having a head, having a voice, and being able to turn over these four things can be taken all, and in the overall measurement, Mr. Haoliang can also be regarded as an outstanding talent that year.
Two years later, in 1964, he shined with the red glow of "The Red Lantern" and reached the top, and soon after fell into a low point.
………
Fall 2021
Teacher Wen Ruhua authorized the publication