On September 8, 1947, Meng Xiaodong, a famous Peking Opera actress known as the "Winter Emperor of the Generation", took the stage at the China Grand Theater, and a play "Searching for Orphans and Saving Orphans" became her stage swan song. In April next year, it is also at the China Grand Theatre that the stage play "Meng Xiaodong" will be unveiled, retelling the legendary life of this famous Peking Opera actor. On December 21, in the old house at No. 168 Julu Road, where Meng Xiaodong once lived, the director of the stage play "Meng Xiaodong" Hu Zongqi, screenwriter Yu Rongjun, and actors Zhang Lu and Lu Liang took the lead in "spoiling" some of the creative details.
"When I entered Meng Xiaodong's world, I not only saw her dramatic life, but also found many places that could touch the audience and provoke them to think. Yu Rongjun's script began at six o'clock in the morning on September 8, 1947, when Meng Xiaodong rushed to the China Grand Theater to hang her voice; Along with Meng Xiaodong's memories, this short 16 hours will involve many old events, about her acquaintance with Peking Opera, and about her confusing emotional world...... At that time, the six main actors, three men and three women, will build a spiritual world of Meng Xiaodong on the stage.
"Make a play worthy of Meng Xiaodong. This is Hu Zongqi's request to himself and to the crew. tells the stories of Peking Opera celebrities, and opera is naturally indispensable on the stage. Yu Rongjun inserted Meng Xiaodong's masterpieces in the play, including "Searching for Orphans and Saving Orphans", "Swimming Dragon and Phoenix", "Hongyang Cave" and other Meng Xiaodong, reflecting her different life chapters with opera singing. At the same time, the actor Zhang Lu, who plays "Meng Xiaodong" in the play, has also entered the state, "I have been reading Meng Xiaodong's biography since the beginning of this year, giving myself plenty of time to really get close to her." "Fortitude, genius, and truthfulness, this is Meng Xiaodong in Zhang Lu's heart," I am so lucky to be able to play such a woman. ”
Meng Xiaodong was born in Guanshengli on Renmin Road, in 1919, only 11 years old, she entered the Qiankun Dajing class of the Great World Playground and officially debuted...... Shanghai is of great significance to Meng Xiaodong, so "Meng Xiaodong" will also be a stage play full of Shanghai style and charm. "The moment the audience enters the theater, the play begins, and looking back at history in the same place, the boundaries between inside and outside the play gradually blur." Yu Rongjun said.
According to Xia Feng, the producer of the stage play "Meng Xiaodong" and general manager of Shanghai Huangpu Cultural Tourism Group, the China Grand Theater will also produce scene layouts and related peripherals with Shanghainese temperament around the work, making "Meng Xiaodong" a carrier for spreading Shanghai stories and local culture, arranging and telling historical fragments with contemporary aesthetics, activating local historical memory, empowering the pulse of Huangpu culture, and showing the audience Shanghai's unique and colorful cultural heritage.