From the TV series "No War in Peiping" to the Peking Opera of the same name, and then to its 2.0 version of the modern Peking Opera "Changing People", the Shanghai Peking Opera House has been grinding a sword for six years, and a group of young actors such as veteran actor Fu Xiru will pick up the beams, "Changing The World" will be unveiled at the Shangyin Opera House on May 19 and 20. Luo Huaizhen, the screenwriter of this drama, said that "Changing People" has achieved the return of vocal cavity and performance innovation, so that Haipai Peking Opera is full of the beauty of the new era.
Pictured: Poster of "Transfiguration" Official Picture
In 2016, the TV series "No War in Peiping" caused a phenomenon-level sensation, and at the end of the year, the Shanghai Peking Opera House visited the original author Liu Heping in Beijing and obtained the right to adapt the work. In May 2019, peking opera "No War in Peking" participated in the 12th China Arts Festival. At the end of last year, Shangjing invited the famous screenwriter Luo Huaizhen to join and made subversive changes to the script.
Set in Beiping between 1948 and 1949, underground COMMUNIST Party members Fang Meng'ao, Xie Peidong, and Cheng Xiaoyun sacrificed their lives to negotiate with the enemy for the peaceful liberation of the ancient city and the happiness and tranquility of the people. The whole drama places the characters in the rolling torrent of history, through delicate depiction of their family affection, love, and family conditions, the emotional cross-section of the fusion of the three is projected into the spiritual map of the macro era, showing the group portraits of the underground members of the CCP and their deep emotions, tenacious character, and firm faith.
This time, the main creative team and the main actors are all new combinations, although it is still the same project, it is "changed" another batch of people to create. Fu Xiru, Dong Hongsong, Gao Hongmei, Lu Su, Yang Yang, Sun Wei... In addition to the main actors all replaced by the same young actors, the main creative team is also all easier, director Cao Qijing, executive director Li Yongzhi, composer Zhu Shaoyu, stage design Luo Jiangtao, Chen Tingting, costume design Yang Donglin and so on are the first time to cooperate with the Shanghai Peking Opera.
Picture: Actor creator Official picture
Luo Huaizhen recalled that the last time he cooperated with Shangjing was "Baolian Lantern" in 1999, when he and the new generation at that time - Shi Yihong, Li Jun, Yan Qinggu, Xi Zhonglu, Hu Xuan, made an exploration of historical themes. After 22 years of working with contemporary young actors again, he saw that Haipai Peking Opera had made another iteration in the performance aesthetics.
Reflected in "Transfiguration", the audience can see the strengthening of the characters' emotions. Fang Meng'ao and Fang Buting's father-son relationship, Xie Peidong and Xie Mulan's father-daughter love, Fang Buting and Cheng Xiaoyun's husband and wife love, as well as friendship and brotherhood, etc., the plot takes place between the most ordinary relatives, but their unusual identity, experience, their fate and mission closely related to the times, so that this play far exceeds the meaning of the family, with the magnificence and grander spiritual temperament given by the times. The female character Cheng Xiaoyun in the play has changed her identity greatly, and unlike the original and previous versions of the TV series, she transforms into a vital "lurker" and becomes a "soul figure" who promotes the development of events behind the scenes.
Pictured: Fu Xiru plays Fang Meng'ao Xinmin Evening News reporter Wang Kai
Musically, "Transfiguration" is the first attempt to integrate Beethoven's symphonic works into Peking Opera. In the climactic scene of the seventh "Parting", Cheng Xiaoyun and Fang Buting will appear on the stage to perform "Farewell to the King" with deep affection under the joint accompaniment of Jinghu and the piano version of "Symphony of Destiny", through the diversified integration of Chinese and Western, to show the emotional world of the characters more broadly and deeply, and to create a magnificent texture of the times.
The three words "changing people" themselves have symbolic meaning, symbolizing the change of regime and the transformation of the times, that is, the establishment of New China and the arrival of a new era. In addition, "Changing People" also expresses the creator's expectations for this new drama, hoping that it will practice "creative transformation and innovative development", enrich the spiritual connotation of Haipai Peking Opera, and promote the artistic transformation of traditional opera in the new era. ( Xinmin Evening News reporter Zhao Yue )