Old Shen Liaoju: Starting from Tan Zhengyan's "back play"

A few days ago, a message of Tan Zhengyan's "return play" was reported on the Internet, which attracted people's attention. On January 5, the Beijing Peking Opera House issued an announcement saying that Tan Zhengyan, the star of "Royal Monument Pavilion", which is scheduled to be performed on February 17, could not perform due to physical reasons, and that zhang Jianfeng starred instead. In the pear garden industry, an actor who can't take the stage because of a sudden illness stops performing, called "back to the play", and other actors perform on behalf of the actor called "save the scene". Tan Zhengyan's inability to perform this time is "back to the play", and Zhang Jianfeng's performance is "saving the scene".

The actor's "return to the play" is generally very sudden, often performing that night, and he can't take the stage during the day when he is sick, so he has to withdraw the performance. This time Tan Zhengyan's "return play" seems to be a bit special, Tan booked the performance on February 17, while the beijing Peking Opera House's replacement announcement was on January 5, with an interval of nearly one and a half months. The announcement said that he could not perform for "physical reasons", if he now has symptoms such as cold and fever, can't he be cured in a month and a half? Puzzling.

The Beijing Opera House announced the change of actors in an official announcement issued on paper with a unit logo letterhead, and the red unit seal was stamped after the text, which is very similar to a document announcing the appointment and dismissal of personnel. The Beijing Peking Opera's solemn treatment of this matter is remarkable, which reminds people of an incident that occurred in the Tianjin Youth Peking Opera Troupe.

Recently, several videos came out on the Internet, a video of Meng Guanglu singing, and the text explanation was that "due to no prior notice, the audience applauded." Meng Guanglu, who plays Bao Zheng in the video, stood alone on the empty stage, and the audience shouted and poured out. Finally, Meng Guanglu, dressed in a white python robe, sang a classic singing section of "Judge Of The Harp", "Fu Da Song...". Another segment seems to be the same live performance of "Judge Gong", in which Ma Li, a female disciple of Meng Guanglu, sang "Fu Da Song...". From the singing guide board after Ma Li appeared on the stage, the scene was chaotic, and the good shouting and discussion continued, and it continued until the end of the play, the actor really calmed down, and was stunned to finish the play in the shouting. The strange thing is that the audience also gave warm applause to the actors who sang to the wonderful place. This phenomenon of alternating positive and reverse colors shows that the audience's favor is not directed at the actors on the stage, but is strongly dissatisfied with the arrangement of this scene. Then linked to the text on the video description "Because there is no prior notice, the audience is called down", making people think that the audience may have come to listen to Meng Guanglu's play, and the result was a change of person, and there was no notification. The audience did not agree, and finally Meng Guanglu re-sang this paragraph, and then spared a paragraph of "Locking the Five Dragons", and the audience gave up. (The above views are inferred from several videos, if they are inconsistent with the facts, please forgive me)

This accident was obviously caused by the troupe's failure to respect the wishes of the audience and its failure to make an announcement in advance. The Beijing Opera House has done a better job, and it has announced the change of the starring role in advance to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Maybe some people don't quite understand, the play is still as usual, is it worth such a fuss to change the actor? In fact, this is the rule of the pear garden line. People often say that Peking Opera is the art of the horns, and the audience buys tickets to listen to the plays, but the horns. After the troupe posted the advertisement, the audience had to see who sang it before deciding whether to pay for tickets.

However, now that a new play is promoted, the newspapers focus on how profound the content of the play is, how the screenwriter is generous, how innovative the singing voice is, and how the set is magnificent, while the actors are downplayed and even ignored the actors' introductions. In advertising, planning (often a leader), screenwriter, director, music design, singing design, dance design, art design... Wait for a long list, and the main actor is at the end. As everyone knows, the audience is most concerned about who sang it, not those who came before it. This kind of weight reversal is, in the final analysis, disrespectful to the actors and the audience!

In the past, the famous actors picked the class to sing, selling a reputation, the prominent is the protagonist, the protagonist's name on the play list is a big word, and it is "lying down" (that is, three words horizontally), the general actor is "standing" (that is, vertical row), and even the name of the main actor is made into a colorful neon hanging at the door of the theater to attract the audience.

After liberation, the equality of actors was advocated, and ordinary actors were respected. On the list of plays, the names of the lead actor and ordinary actors are arranged in no particular order, in order of appearance. When Ma Lianliang was the principal of the Beijing Opera School, he made a rule that when the students of the drama school interned and performed, the names of the actors must be published on the advertisement. Mr. Ma said that in this way, small actors can be familiar and recognized by the audience earlier. Because of this, a large number of Beijing Opera School students are already familiar and loved by Beijing audiences before graduation.

The promotion of actors is not only a respect for actors, but also a respect for the audience. It is often said that the audience is the parent of the actor. In the past, actors lost their jobs when they lost their audiences; today, most actors have iron rice bowls, but if Peking Opera loses its audience, it will have no future. Therefore, to revitalize Peking Opera today, whether it is a leader, a screenwriter, a director, or an actor, there must be an audience in your eyes, and you must not forget the preferences and needs of the audience. In this way, the repertoire that the audience really likes can be discharged, otherwise it is disrespectful to the audience, and the revitalization of Peking Opera can only be an empty word.