The musical "Liaozhai", produced by Singapore Practice Theatre and hosted by SAIC Shanghai Culture Square, will premiere in China on March 28 and be performed in six consecutive performances at The Cultural Square. Reconstituting classic masterpieces with arrogant rock music, poignant love stories that transcend human ghosts are highly anticipated by audiences.
As a classic of "ghost stories" in Chinese literature, "Liaozhai Zhiyi" mercilessly satirizes the darkness of feudal society. But from the perspective of modern people, how to view this literary work? Screenwriter Wu Xi joked that he "turned the books upside down", taking the framework of "Lotus Fragrance", the game rules of "Water Mangcao", the character characteristics of "Baby Ning", and drawing different elements from more than a hundred other stories such as "Feng San Niang" and "Laoshan Daoist", the three main lines were reduced into one, deduced countless times, and then split, combined, and reconstructed to produce the most storyful text.
The naïve fox demon Baby Ning, the mercurial scholar Sang Xiao, the water ghost Feng Sanniang, who has always loved deeply, and the jealous and vengeful Daoist priest Cheng Half Immortal... Full of unexpected fate entanglements, it continues the spiritual characteristics of "Liaozhai", and adds the modern literary interest and contemporary interpretation perspective of "new story compilation".
Huang Yunren, a composer who single-handedly created popular classics such as "Paper Airplane", "Hostages" and "Amphibians", compared "Liaozhai" to an "amusement park". He did not know anything about "Liaozhai" before participating in the production, but with the music of The Pegasus Action, he seamlessly connected the traditional classics of the East with the rock style of modern aesthetics.
Why can Chinese classical themes inject the soul of rock and roll?
"Making musicals, it's all new songs, it takes courage and a lot of enthusiasm, not just to make money." Huang Yunren said that doing "Liaozhai" is for innovation and subversion, "not only to take the road of safety, but also to take the road taken by fewer people." ”
"Pu Songling himself was a marginal figure in society at that time, and he repeatedly failed to fail the first place on the way to the exam," xiao Han, the lyricist of "Liaozhai", the "Best Lyricist" of the seventh Singapore Golden Melody Awards and the three E-Music Awards. "Many stories reflect the social phenomena of the time, and the stories of foxes and demons are just packaging. What matters is his message: sometimes vigilance, people are worse than ghosts, crueler than foxes; sometimes beautiful, love can overcome everything... It's all in common with our rock 'n' roll spirit. ”
In 2010, "Liaozhai" premiered in Singapore and was re-rehearsed in 2016. The theme song of Baby Ning's character "What is Love" was performed by Dong Ziyan, a well-known jazz singer in Singapore and the champion of Jay Chou's team in "China's New Singing Season 2", and received rave reviews.
"Shanghai is a cosmopolitan city where multiple cultures coexist, and I hope that the works of "little metropolis" Singapore will resonate with audiences with similar tastes. Xiao Han said. "Liaozhai" not only became the first original Chinese musical in Singapore to go abroad, but also one of the performances of the participating brand "2019 MG Original Chinese Musical Theater Exhibition Season" of the first "Performing Arts World - 2019 Shanghai International Musical Theatre Festival" this year. "It was an honor and a great fit for us to come to Shanghai as soon as Liaozhai made its first stop on the international stage." Xiao Han revealed that in last night's high-definition screening activities, the Shanghai audience was very "understanding the drama", and the problems were more "sharp and sharp".
When it comes to the current creation of Chinese musicals, the creators of "Liaozhai" are very optimistic about China's original potential. Although mature classical musicals in Europe and the United States have been introduced in large quantities and have become the "main force", Xiao Han said that the introduction of foreign works is not a bad thing in itself. "Singapore has also introduced a large number of European and American musicals, and practitioners can absorb their nutrients and understand the rules of musical theater creation." I'm not worried that the audience will compare, because the themes of Chinese musicals are completely different. Artists should explore their own culture, and stories that others cannot replace are the best material. ”
"The diversified cultural environment can absorb the favorable content of Western culture and maintain the foundation of Eastern culture." Huang Yunren said, "It is difficult for many foreigners to make Chinese music and have an oriental taste in their works. Such a charm can only be produced if it is infiltrated for a long time in multicultural areas. The biggest difference between doing musicals and doing pop music is that after the album is recorded, it is "dead" and cannot be changed, while the musical can be adjusted according to the audience's reaction and improved day by day. Shanghai has so many historical traditions and cultural resources, there are too many ideas that can be played, and it is only a matter of time before it can be broken. ”
Wu Xi encouraged young creators to really expand their imagination, release their personalities, and jump out of the safe zone, "Trying is the most important thing." ”
Author: Wu Yu
Image source: Courtesy of the organizer
Editor: Wu Yu