At No. 88 Wangfujing Street, the auspicious building where Yintai Department Store is located is located in the core of this bustling street, the first floor of the building is a variety of well-known international brands, and the seventh and eighth floors of the building hide a modern and traditional theater. After 28 years, the auspicious theater that Beijing opera fans have in mind will be "reborn" in this building and will reopen on May 23.
The first theater in the inner city The premiere of the famous characters
The auspicious theater, as the first theater in the inner city of Beijing, has had too many glories.
Most of the theater gardens in the Qing Dynasty were concentrated outside the front gate, because there was a clear stipulation that the inner city could not open theater gardens, guild halls, etc. But in 1907, Wang Dexiang, the chief eunuch of the Rongshou and Shuo Princess Houses, daughters of Cixi Gan, ignored this rule and built a theater garden in the northeast corner of Dong'an Market. It was completed in early 1908 and named Auspicious Tea Garden.
Courtesy of the auspicious theater
The Auspicious Tea Garden is a new type of drama garden, with two floors above and below, with pool seats and tea tables, private rooms, and scattered seats. Later, the auspicious tea garden was renamed the auspicious garden. Due to the unique location, many famous characters of Pear Garden came to perform in Jixiang garden, including Tan Xinpei, Yang Xiaolou, Wang Yaoqing and other senior masters, Mei Lanfang, Shang Xiaoyun, Cheng Yanqiu, Xun Huisheng "four famous Dan" have also performed here.
Mei Lanfang debuted in the auspicious repertoire "Heavenly Girl Scattered Flowers" stills
It can be said that this opera garden has witnessed most of the peak figures and peak works of Chinese Peking Opera, and the most closely related is Master Mei Lanfang. In 1915, Mei Lanfang premiered his first costume new drama "Chang'e Running Moon" in Jixiangyuan, and later premiered many new works such as "Dai Yu Funeral Flower", "Heavenly Girl Scattered Flowers", "Eunuch Sea Tide", "Deng Xiagu", "A Wisp of Hemp" and many other new works here. Mr. Mei once said in the article: "In those years, I acted the most in Jixiangyuan, so I always performed there for the first time when I rehearsed new plays. It can be said that the relationship between my stage life and the auspicious garden is relatively close. ”
The auspicious garden witnessed how the young Mei Lanfang grew into a master step by step, and also witnessed the growth and development of the "Beijing School" Peking Opera. On October 19, 1918, Yu Shuyan and Mei Lanfang collaborated here for the first time to perform "Dragon Play Phoenix"; on May 23 and 24, 1931, Ma Lianliang's "Fufeng Society" performed "Suwu Shepherd" for the first time in Jixiangyuan; on February 24, 1932, Xi Xiaobo performed the first play of his stage career in Jixiangyuan, "Zhu Curtain Village"; in February 1932, Yan Jupeng organized his own class and performed in Jixiangyuan for a long time; in 1935, Zhang Junqiu, 15, made his first performance on stage with a play "Female Uprising". Amazing debut, also in the auspicious garden...
The Auspicious Garden was later renamed the Auspicious Theater, which barely lasted in the turbulent years until the founding of New China.
Demolished with the renovation of Dongan Market Say goodbye to the Centennial Theater
On June 25, 1949, the auspicious theater held an innovative unveiling, and Li Shaochun and Yuan Shihai's "Wild Boar Forest" premiered here. In 1958, the auspicious theater was assigned to the Mei Lanfang Troupe, where Mei Lanfang continued to create performances and rehearsed "Mu Guiying Hangs Up" with Mei Baojiu and Mei Baoyue. Later, many new generations of Peking Opera people also grew up on this stage.
Until the 1970s, the theater underwent four major renovations in succession, and the interior was renovated to the scale of a modern theater. Due to the convenient transportation and moderate location, the major opera troupes in Beijing, the Kun and Peking opera troupes from various provinces and cities, and the local opera troupes of various provinces and cities such as Hebei Zizi, Yu opera, Lü opera, Yue opera, Huangmei opera and other theater troupes are most willing to perform here. At the same time, it has also performed plays, acrobatics, screened movies, and held many large-scale events.
Mei Lanfang debuted in the auspicious play "Dai Yu Funeral Flower" stills
In 1993, the Auspicious Theater was demolished with the renovation and expansion of dong'an market in the Wangfujing area. From October 1 to 4, 1993, people from the theater and opera circles jointly launched the farewell performance of the auspicious theater. Jingyun big drum taidou Luo Yusheng ended the performance history of the old auspicious theater with her "Ugly End YinChu". The tickets for that show sold out early, and everyone rushed to say goodbye to the most auspicious theater in their eyes, and dispersed, and the crowd refused to disperse for a long time.
"Auspicious" Returns To Many Bumps In The proposals of Committee Members Mei are made every year
The old auspicious theater is located in the northeast corner of the Dongan Market (near the center of Macau today), next to The Old LaiShun, Wonton Hou, Senlong Restaurant and other time-honored brands, even Mei Lanfang mentioned the auspicious theater and did not forget that "there is a restaurant on the north side of the road outside the auspicious garden, called the Huiyuan Hall, the fire is burned, the pot stickers are very beautiful, and those who listen to the play often call dim sum there."
Today's new auspicious theater has been moved to the upper floor of Yintai Department Store across the road. This is because later Dong'an Market was converted into a shopping mall, and the municipal government set the location of the auspicious theater to be relocated and rebuilt across the road, which is now the location of Yintai Department Store. In 2000, the municipal government organized a number of units to jointly build a new commercial complex "Auspicious Building", and reserved the 789 floors of the building for the reconstruction of the Auspicious Theater. In 2008, the auspicious building was completed, but due to various reasons such as unclear property rights, the site reserved for the auspicious theater could not be started.
In those years, Mei Baojiu, who was a member of the CPPCC National Committee, insisted on raising the issue of the reconstruction of the auspicious theater every year in the CPPCC proposal. In 2012, under the leadership and care of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government and the Propaganda Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and the Beijing Municipal State-owned Assets Management Co., Ltd. jointly funded the reconstruction of the theater. After multi-party coordination, in September 2019, the auspicious theater obtained the real estate registration certificate, and in May 2020, the reconstruction project of the auspicious theater was officially launched, and the project was completed in April 2021.
At present, the property rights of the auspicious theater belong to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and the Beijing Municipal State-owned Assets Management Co., Ltd., and the two sides jointly entrust the Beijing Peking Opera House and the Beijing Municipal Performance Co., Ltd. to form a professional team to jointly operate the auspicious theater. Duan Siming, general manager of the auspicious theater, said that the rebuilt auspicious theater emphasizes "high precision, small and beautiful", not only to inherit the classic image of the old theater, but also to attract young audiences in line with the current fashion trend.
The new auspicious tradition is compatible with modern Wangfujing re-engineering cultural tourism landmarks
Walking into the new auspicious will have a feeling that is both traditional and modern. As soon as the elevator door opens, the first thing that catches the eye is a very modern metal "shadow wall" and a gauze screen, on which are hollowed out the five characters of "Auspicious Grand Theater". In the mezzanine layer of the gauze screen, it is a silhouette of Mei Lanfang's classic stage image familiar to the public, telling the origin of Mei Lanfang's master and this theater.
The theater hall is lined with floor-to-ceiling windows, and the walls are white and log-colored, bright and open. The west side of the hall is a coffee leisure area, through the floor-to-ceiling glass can see the bustling street scene of Wangfujing and the cornices of the Forbidden City in the distance, the pavilion of Jingshan Mountain, and the white tower of Beihai, which can be said to be sitting on an invincible landscape and has the potential of Internet celebrity.
When you enter the theater, you immediately return to the feeling of the old opera garden. The new theater is still divided into two floors, with a total of 320 seats. There are about 290 seats on the first floor, of which 36 are ancient tea seats, and on the second floor there are 30 VIP sofa seats. The main color of the venue is scarlet, and there are a large number of hand-drawn decorative paintings in the aloi above the stage and theater, and a large number of "ten thousand words less than the head" pattern with auspicious meanings are added to the traditional "spin-shape painting", which echoes the name of the auspicious theater.
According to the contractor of the reconstruction project, Beijing Zhuzong Group, the shaped walls of the theater, the painted algae wells, and the golden-looking bucket arches are very similar to traditional wooden buildings, but in order to comply with the strict fire regulations in public places, a large number of new building materials GRG - pre-cast high-strength glass fiber gypsum board are used. This is a special plaster decoration material that can be shaped by designers at will to make a variety of panels and functional products, while also resisting damage, deformation and cracking caused by the external environment. Such a large area of this material and combined with traditional painting techniques to present a suspended ceiling is very rare in the country.
Duan Siming introduced that the "acoustic theater" is also a major feature of the new auspicious. The acoustic design and sound and light equipment inside the theater have reached the international advanced standard, the sound reception and sound effects are very good, and the actors can even perform acoustic performances without microphones, which is the first in the small theater in Beijing. In addition, the audience is very close to the stage, and it can be said that every position in the venue is a VIP. At the same time, the theater has designed multi-functional facilities such as retractable seats, and the venue space is flexible and changeable, creating conditions for holding various types of performances and commercial activities. In the future, the auspicious theater will become a high-end performance venue gathering famous artists in Beijing and Kunming, a demonstration and experience base for the inheritance of national art and a platform for multicultural activities.
Fu Boyang, chairman of Jixiang Theater, is a professional Peking Opera actor and stage supervisor. He has a deep affection for the auspicious theater, he performed here when he was 12 years old when he was still studying in the opera school, and after graduation, he was assigned to the Mei Lanfang Theater Troupe, and when he was the deputy head of the troupe, he always followed Mr. Mei Baojiu around, and also saw the old man running around to rebuild the auspicious. Now returning to the auspicious theater in his new capacity, he hopes to strive to run this old theater with its former glory into a new cultural tourism landmark in Wangfujing and even Beijing, so that his beloved Peking Opera cause can have a new communication platform.
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The "auspiciousness" in the memory of famous artists
Ye Jinyuan: That is a blessed place for traditional opera
(73-year-old son of Ye Shengchang, a famous martial artist)
When I was a child, I liked to go to Jixiang to watch plays, because before going there, I could go to Dong'an Market, and I could also eat in Donglaishun and Wonton Hou, and sometimes my father and uncle also took me to eat Western food, and the Wangfujing Snack Shop was next to the theater, where the cream fried cakes were particularly delicious.
Auspicious can be said to be a blessed land of traditional opera, although the theater at that time was not large but it was compact, the sound was also very good, plus it was in a central position, not too far from the various urban areas, and the audience liked to go. The fame of many artistic masters is inseparable from auspiciousness, and the elders of the family often act there. For me, it was also a very important theater, and in 1988 I held my first special performance in Jixiang, performing four Wusheng plays in one night, and the effect was very good.
The Mei family and the auspicious theater have a deep relationship, and Mr. Lao Mei (Mei Lanfang) and Mr. Xiaomei (Mei Baojiu) have both performed importantly there. Jixiang demolished for so many years, but Mei Baojiu has not moved away from Ganmian Hutong, just because it is close to Jixiang, and looks forward to Jixiang's early reconstruction. When he was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the matter was mentioned almost every year in the proposal. 2013 is the 120th anniversary of Mr. Mei Lanfang's birth, Mr. Xiaomei especially hopes to hold commemorative activities in auspicious, pulled me there to see several times, unfortunately the wish was not satisfied in the end.
I was particularly happy to hear the news of The re-opening of Jixiang, happy for Jixiang, and also happy for Mr. Mei. Although today's auspiciousness is not as big as before, I believe it will find its own position again and become a blessed place for traditional opera again.
Ma Xiaoman: The auspicious audience knows a lot about drama and can give good advice
( 74-year-old daughter of Ma Lianliang, a famous Danjiao artist)
I started going to Jixiang to see plays when I was about six or seven years old, and I saw a lot of plays performed by my father there. However, I was taken by my father and rarely sat offstage to watch the play. He always took me backstage to the dressing room, and when he was acting, I would move a chair and sit on the stage to watch, and after he finished the performance, I would follow him back to the dressing room, and I was not allowed to run around. Later, after graduating from the drama school, I also acted in many plays in Auspicious, such as "Broken Bridge" and "Shiro Visits His Mother". For young actors, auspicious is a very good theater, its audience is particularly good, there are many people who understand drama, and they can give you a lot of good advice.
Yan Shouping: The performance of "auspicious" is very popular, and the tickets are very good
(80-year-old Jinghu mingjia)
The auspicious theater belonged to the theater with better hardware at that time, the audience seats had two floors, the backstage was also two floors, the actors made up on the second floor, and the costumes were on the first floor, which was relatively spacious. There are also many audiences in Beijing Dongcheng who love to watch opera, and in the past, Mayor Peng Zhen often bought tickets to watch opera in auspiciousness. The auspicious performance is very popular, the tickets are also very good, and everyone is willing to go there to see the performance. Young people will be nervous when they first go there to perform, and gradually become familiar with it to relax. The audience at the auspicious theater was particularly good and gave me a lot of encouragement. Once, I was there to accompany Mr. Tan Yuanshou to play "Playing Gold Bricks", although my level was still limited at that time, but many viewers encouraged me to "be young and young, pull well!" "The auspicious theater is now reopening, hoping to train more young actors.
Zhang Yonghe: It was big and exquisite, and it was the most popular theater garden at that time
(83-year-old screenwriter and opera researcher)
I was about four or five years old and began to watch plays in Jixiang, where I watched plays by Tan Fuying, Ma Lianliang, Mei Lanfang, Li Shaochun, Ye Shenglan, Zhao Yanxia and many other horn masters. At that time, there were very few inner city theater gardens, most of which were outside the front gate, dashilar and fresh fish mouth. Everyone likes auspiciousness, children like it because it is next to Donglaishun, before watching the play, you can first go to eat shabu-shabu, after the play can go to the Senlong Hotel to eat supper; adults like auspicious, because it is relatively new, the seats are more comfortable. Mr. Mei Lanfang and Mr. Ma Lianliang liked to perform in auspicious places because it was big and exquisite, and it was the most popular theater garden at that time. There is also a bathhouse called Qinghua Garden, and some horns will go there to take a bath before and after the performance.
In 1993, when the auspicious demolition was held, the theater manager told us that it would be all right, it would be built in two years, and we all had great hopes, who knew that waiting for so many years. Now that it has finally opened again, I don't want to mention how happy I am, although there are fewer seats than before, but I can also take the small and fine route, and I can still perform a lot of drama.
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Historical context of the performance of the auspicious theater (partial)
In 1906, Wang Dexiang, the chief eunuch of the Grand Princess Mansion, funded the construction of the Auspicious Garden in the northeast corner of dong'an market.
On January 22, 1914, Wang Yaoqing rehearsed "Ten Thousand Miles" in the Auspicious Garden.
From 1915 to 1918, Mei Lanfang successively choreographed and premiered plays such as "Eunuch Sea Tide", "Deng Xiagu", "Chang'e Running Moon", "Daiyu Funeral Flower", "A Wisp of Hemp", "A Thousand Golden Smiles", "Heavenly Girl Scattered Flowers", "Virgin Beheading Snake", "Magu Sacrifice" and other plays in the Auspicious Garden.
On October 19, 1918, Yu Shuyan and Mei Lanfang collaborated for the first time to perform "Dragon Play Phoenix".
On May 23 and 24, 1931, Ma Lianliang's "Fufeng Society" performed "Suwu Shepherd" for the first time.
On February 24, 1932, Xi Xiaobo performed the first play of his stage career in Jixiangyuan, "Bead Curtain Village".
In February 1932, Yan Jupeng organized his own class and performed in the Auspicious Garden for a long time.
In 1935, Zhang Junqiu and Lei Xifu collaborated on "Female Solution" to sing the red capital.
On June 25, 1949, the Auspicious Theater held an innovative unveiling, premiering Li Shaochun and Yuan Shihai's "Wild Boar Forest".
In 1958, the auspicious theater was assigned to the Mei Lanfang Troupe.
On New Year's Day 1966, when the reconstruction of the auspicious theater was completed and opened, Qiu Shengrong starred in the modern Peking Opera drama "Snowflakes Drifting", and Ma Lianliang and Zhang Junqiu co-starred in "Nian Nian Youyu".
In August 1990, in order to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Huiban's entry into Beijing, Mei Baojiu, Ma Changli and other famous artists performed "Taizhen Waichuan Immortal Hall".
From October 1 to 4, 1993, people from the theater and opera circles jointly launched a farewell performance.
On May 1, 2021, the reopened Auspicious Theater held an internal audition to perform "Red Mane Horse".
Source Beijing Daily Client Yixuan | Reporter Niu Chunmei Fang Fei
Edited by Wang Jinyue
Process Editor Liu Weili