The famous shelf flower face Yuan Shihai once recalled such an experience when he first debuted, that year he and many famous artists performed "Dragon and Phoenix Chengxiang", the lineup at that time was Mei Lanfang's Sun Shangxiang, Ma Lianliang's Qiao Xuan, Zhou Xinfang's Lu Su, Gai Tian's Zhao Yun, Lin Shusen's Liu Bei, Li Duokui's empress, Jiang Miaoxiang's Zhou Yu, Ma Fulu's Qiao Fu, these people are Yuan's predecessors. Yuan Shihai came to Sun Quan in the front "Ganlu Temple", and finally played Zhang Fei at the bottom in "Lu Hua Dang".
At the end of this play, "Lu Hua Dang" follows the Kunqu opera, Zhang Feiza relies on a variety of dance figures, singing and dancing at the same time, which is a fold play that shows the skills of the actors. Yuan Shihai, who has just debuted, accompanied many old seniors to perform, and naturally had to rivet enough, so that this "Dragon and Phoenix Chengxiang" climaxed again and received the effect of "leopard tail".
From the plot point of view, Liu Bei and Sun Shangxiang fled back to Jingzhou, Zhou Yu led the army to catch up closely behind, kong Ming Ding sent Zhang Fei to ambush at Luhuadang to solve the crisis, and finally defeated Zhou Yu. Zhang Fei was on the scene when Zhou Yu caught up with Liu Bei and was about to kill, at this moment, the lecture of the drama class was called "the tip of the storm", and the audience was looking forward to someone to break the siege! Well, Zhang Fei is here! Qi Li clicked, simply numb and fast, to solve the problem. When Yuan Shihai was in the class, according to the plot, he cut the old acting method and simplified it. Zhang Fei's appearance was also changed, and instead of leaning on, he changed to wearing grass, mangshoe, and fisherman clothes.
Yuan Shihai accompanied many senior masters to perform on the same stage this time, and it was necessary to rivet vigorously, according to the traditional acting method, it was indispensable. However, Yuan Shihai considered that the whole "Dragon phoenix Chengxiang" performance here is nearly the end, if the stage is procrastinating, the audience will not be able to sit still, not to mention so many senior actors waiting for the play to stop, you are here endlessly, begging for money to sell pie, can everyone not get bored. Therefore, Yuan Shihai acted according to the "condensed version" of his own class reform. As a result, everyone on and off the stage liked it. After the play and went to dinner, Mr. Zhou Xinfang patted Yuan Shihai's shoulder and said, "Brother, you can really act!" Mr. May continued, "That's right. Short, small, fine, smart. ”
Yuan Shihai's palm is, in layman's terms, "receiving when you see good", which is also a law of traditional opera performance art. "Receiving when you see the good" is not "lazy" or "sparing force", but good at grasping the rhythm and strength of the performance (that is, singing and playing), not only to let the audience get artistic satisfaction, but also to avoid aesthetic fatigue and annoyance. The drama is not enough, the drama is not successful, here it all depends on a degree. This is a deeply learned "audience psychology". Artistic masters such as Mei Lanfang and Ma Lianliang are not only superb in art, but also good at grasping the audience's aesthetic taste and psychology, so that they can succeed in stage performances.
At that time, Yang Xiaolou and Mei Lanfang formed the "Chonglin Society", and the two of them jointly choreographed and performed "Farewell to the Overlord", which was born out of "Chu Han Zheng", and initially acted until Xiang Yu Wujiang killed himself. The audience is naturally obsessed with the Western Chu Overlord played by Yang Xiaolou, but compared to the fierce martial arts, people pay more attention to how Yang Xiaolou and Mei Lanfang, the two masters, portray the character and express their thoughts and feelings, seeing that Yu Ji, played by Mei Lanfang, killed herself, she felt excited and left the scene, no matter how Yang Xiaolou did martial arts on stage, it could not stop the audience from leaving. This made Yang Xiaolou very helpless: where is the "Overlord Farewell", but it is a bit like "Ji Beibawang". Mei Lanfang's reaction to the audience is very understandable, and he is keenly aware that once the play reaches the end of the place, it will end, and it cannot always drag mud and water as it is broken. Later, after playing "Farewell to the Overlord", Mei Lanfang deleted the last fight scene and acted until Yu Ji killed herself. Such a "good to see" has been recognized by the audience, and "Farewell to the Overlord" has finally become a classic Drama of Meipai that has been handed down to this day. Mei Pai's other classic drama "Cosmic Front" also has a similar treatment, Mei Lanfang only acted until "the Golden Temple pretends to be crazy", and the play that explains the plot later is completely deleted.
"The Great Protector of the Kingdom, Exploring the Imperial Tomb, Erjin Palace", also known as "Dragon and Phoenix Pavilion", is a popular old drama, which is still popular with the audience. It is said that when Xi Xiaobo, one of the four major students, and Wang Yurong, the famous Dan, performed this whole "Dragon and Phoenix Pavilion" with the content of "Beheading Li Liang": that is, when the traitor Li Liang was caught and wanted to ask for beheading, Li Yanfei could not bear to kill her father, and there was a new contradiction and struggle with Xu Yang. In fact, it is more appropriate to act until "Two Into the Palace", because the conspiracy of the traitor to usurp the throne has been smashed, the basic contradictions have been resolved, and after the most exciting part, the actors are too tired to continue acting, and the audience is tired. Therefore, now there is basically no way to see all the "Dragon And Phoenix Pavilion" with "Xu Li Liang".
Mr. Tan Fuying's entire "Wu Zixu" is different, the front does not play "Wen Zhaoguan", and after the "Thorn King", the opening of "Fighting Five Generals" is added, called "Peak Spring and Autumn". However, in the performance, as soon as the "Thorn King" starring the brass hammer flower face ended, it seemed that the climax had passed, and the theater "opened the floodgates". Later, Tan Fuying also omitted the opening after "Peak Spring and Autumn".
There is also a play "Yutang Spring", which is performed by all factions of Danjiao, which is a very popular singing drama for the audience. Generally speaking, it starts from "Female Interpretation" and ends with "Three ChurchEs" and is very complete. However, some performances add Wang Jinlong's "visit to prison" after the "trial", and under the mediation of the red and blue robes, Wang and Su San are married. In this way, the story is complete, but from an artistic point of view, it is always a bit of a "snake painting".
In a broad sense, "receiving when you see good" is not only reflected in the increase or decrease of the drama text, a good actor must be able to retract and relax freely in the performance of singing and playing, and it is necessary to perform fully and leave room for it. "Spelling high-profile" and "spilling dog blood" are all taboos for actors. The famous Wusheng Gao Shenglin one day performed "Pick the Scooter", and some people suggested adding some more difficult actions. Gao said: "I will add more action, then what will the audience see tomorrow?" Some old opera fans recalled watching Tan Fuying, Zhang Junqiu and other live performances when they said that there was no good pomp and circumstance at that time, and it was very good to have two or three applause in a play, but the actors were really level.
It can be seen that the old artists know the truth of "receiving what is good when they see it".