On the evening of April 18, the Peking Opera "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" premiered at the Shijiazhuang Grand Theater, and the picture shows the performance site. Photo by Hebei Daily correspondent Du Chuan
Looking at the client news (Hebei Daily reporter Tian Tian) "Baiyangdian has a good scenery, and the lotus flowers are full of fragrance." On ......the evening of April 18, the Peking Opera "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" created and rehearsed by the Hebei Peking Opera Art Research Institute premiered at the Shijiazhuang Grand Theater. The play tells heroic stories from the perspective of children, sings classics with Peking Opera, leads the audience into the beautiful "Baiyangdian", and revisits the heroic deeds of the little soldier Zhang Ga.
On the evening of April 18, the Peking Opera "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" premiered at the Shijiazhuang Grand Theater, and the picture shows the performance site. Photo by Hebei Daily correspondent Du Chuan
Peking Opera "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" is adapted from the novel of the same name by the famous writer Xu Guangyao, written by the famous screenwriter Liu Yuchen, with first-class director Zhang Manjun as the chief director and Li Huiqin as the director. The play is based on the 1943 Baiyangdian military and civilian resistance to the Japanese invaders in the Jizhong Plain, and tells the story of the 13-year-old boy Zhang Ga who grew up to be a soldier of the Eighth Route Army.
On the evening of April 18, the Peking Opera "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" premiered at the Shijiazhuang Grand Theater, and the picture shows the performance site. Photo by Hebei Daily correspondent Du Chuan
On the night of the performance, the curtain opened, and the sound of gongs and drums sounded. On the stage, lotus pickers carry baskets in their hands and shuttle among the fluttering reeds and green lotus leaves, and there are people rowing boats on the lake not far away...... At the beginning of the performance, a vivid pastoral picture slowly unfolded in front of the audience, as if they were on the edge of Baiyangdian Lake, immersively listening to the stories of young heroes that happened in this hot land. During the performance, the actor Jiang Tao who played Zhang Ga also showed skills such as "small flip", "flying feet", "leg sweeping" and "spinning", presenting a witty, brave, lively and lovely image of Gazi to the audience. In addition, classic characters such as the calm Luo Jinbao, the kind and brave grandmother, and the honest and cute Fat Dun also reappeared on the stage, and the actors vividly presented these characters in front of the audience through superb acting skills and singing, which attracted continuous applause from the audience.
On the evening of April 18, the Peking Opera "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" premiered at the Shijiazhuang Grand Theater, and the picture shows the performance site. Photo by Hebei Daily correspondent Du Chuan
"The story of Little Soldier Zhang Ga can be said to be a household name, influencing several generations, we want to make a breakthrough in the expression of Peking Opera "Little Soldier Zhang Ga", so we integrate the traditional quyi allegro into the play, and use the character of Allegro Liu throughout the play. He is both a character in the play and the narrator of the story, driving the plot forward. Director Li Huiqin introduced that on the basis of following the traditional procedures of singing, reading, doing and playing opera, the play integrates traditional opera Allegro into it, aiming to bring the audience a refreshing feeling.
Li Pingfang, president of the Hebei Peking Opera Art Research Institute, said that the academy began to plan and rehearse the Peking Opera "Young Heroes" trilogy in 2020, showing the classic image of anti-Japanese heroes on the stage from the perspective of children and the language of Peking Opera, among them, "Young Heroes: Wang Erxiao" and "Little Heroes Come in the Rain" premiered in 2021 and 2023 respectively, and were deeply loved by the audience after the performances and gained many fans.
It is reported that the Peking Opera "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" is a large-scale stage play and work creation funding project of the National Arts Fund in 2024, which is jointly produced by the Hebei Peking Opera Art Research Institute, the Xiong'an New Area Publicity and Internet Information Bureau, and Zonglan News. The play was also performed twice at the Shijiazhuang Grand Theater on April 19 and 20.