The Paper's reporter Pan Yu
During this year's New Year's Day holiday, the Butterfly Theater (Xiaobaihuayue Theater) by the West Lake in Hangzhou staged a new version of the Yue opera "Liang Zhu" for three consecutive nights. This is the "2021 • Chinese New Year Concert" launched by Baiyue Cultural Creation and Xiaobaihuayue Opera Troupe. On new Year's Day night, 87-year-old composer He Zhanhao also came to the scene, and near the end of the performance, he raised his baton in the slowly rising orchestra pit, and the familiar melody of the violin concerto "Liang Zhu" also sounded again.
The familiar music is accompanied by fragments of New China's first color film "Liang Zhu" played on the screens on both sides of the theater, and the image is the classic image of Yuan Xuefen and Fan Ruijuan, two old Yue opera artists, and all the audience present relived the artistic life of Yue opera "Liang Zhu" from the original version to the new version.
Mr. He Zhanhao, who was 87 years old at the time, took the lead and Ms. Wu Zhengyu served as a soloist
Clips from the color film "Liang Zhu" were screened on the spot
This special "Liang Zhu" was led by Yue opera performance artist Mao Weitao to star Liang Shanbo, which is also her second performance on stage after more than a year away from the stage. Playing Zhu Yingtai in the play is Zhang Yiqing, the head of Zhejiang Xiaobaihua, and Dong Kedi and Hong Ying, the original generation actors of Xiaobaihua, also gathered together to participate in the performance, sending a New Year's performance gift to the audience.
For Mao Weitao, who has just been elected as the vice chairman of the new China Drama Association, this year is extremely difficult and full of challenges, as the chairman of Baiyue Cultural Creation and the head of the "Butterfly Theater", this New Year's performance of "Liang Zhu" is of special significance to her.
"2020 will be particularly difficult and difficult, especially for our industry. Although the epidemic is still unstable, we must have a posture to face the new year and embrace our new future. Mao Weitao said that for this reason, Xiaobaihuayue Theater chose "Liang Zhu", a popular work, the most representative of Yue opera, the most representative of Zhejiang, and the most representative of Chinese in the first performance of the New Year. And "Liang Zhu" also means that the "Butterfly Theater" broke out of the cocoon in the new year.
Stills from the new version of "Liang Zhu"
In addition to the new year's day performance, in the next two days of "Liang Zhu", Mao Weitao and Wei Chunfang also played Liang Shanbo in the first and second half. Although the three performances controlled the attendance rate of 75%, the audience's high enthusiasm for watching the play still made the scene appear a long-lost lively atmosphere. Only one day after the ticket was issued, the first day of the performance location was close to being sold out, and fans and friends sought ticket purchase information on various online platforms such as WeChat and Weibo. The performance was packed and full of friends. In Mao Weitao's view, this year is a year that especially needs positive energy. I hope that these three performances will satisfy the audience's "hunger and thirst" at the same time, but also comfort and warm people's hearts during this year.
"Butterfly Theater" front hall panel
Continue the brand of "Chinese New Year Concert" and welcome the New Year with "Liang Zhu"
The new version of "Liang Zhu" has special significance for both Mao Weitao and the history of Yue opera itself. From the old version to the new version, from the Yin Pai vocal cavity to the violin concerto, from the original generation of "Little Hundred Flowers" to the second, third, fourth and fifth generations of actors, it is thanks to the "Li De Shu Ren, Shouzheng Innovation", this butterfly that has flown for more than 1,400 years has become a classic engraved in the history of art after undergoing repeated transformations.
The Little Hundred Flowers Theater, which is located by the West Lake, is nicknamed "Butterfly Theater" by many people because of the butterfly shape designed by Taiwanese architect Li Zuyuan. "Last year's epidemic, the Butterfly Theater, like many theaters, has experienced a lot of shocks. This time, the New Year's Eve chose to stage a new version of "Liang Zhu", and Mao Weitao and her Baiyue Cultural Creation hope to bring the warmth and comfort of the New Year to more people.
Premier Zhou Enlai once said: Why is the most popular of our classical legends "Liang Zhu"? Because it is not only writing about tragedies, but also about ideals, it means that Chinese people have ideals, hopes, and struggles for them. ”
During the three-day performance, zhejiang medical workers, as well as labor models and advanced representatives from all walks of life, as well as courier brothers and sanitation workers who stuck to their posts were also invited to come and feel the beauty of Yue opera together. Mao Weitao also hopes to use the performance to comfort and pay tribute to the anti-epidemic heroes.
This performance of "Liang Zhu" is also the first "Chinese New Year Concert" of Butterfly Theater. Mao Weitao said that since 2005, we have been proposing the "Chinese-style New Year Concert", we are not going to resist the Golden Hall of the West, but using the carrier of Yue opera to express the concept of the New Year Concert. We now have this theater and want to continue this former brand. This year, He Zhanhao, one of the creators of the violin concerto "Liang Zhu" and has a long-standing relationship with the Yue opera "Liang Zhu", also came to the Butterfly Theater and participated in the "Chinese New Year Concert" in his own way. On the day of the concert, it was also broadcast live to the national attention and overseas Chinese in the form of live broadcast.
An unusual year of challenges, reflections and philanthropy
After an extraordinary year, Mao Weitao said that everyone has a new thinking about life and the survival of the present. Maybe we'll have to pay tribute to the pandemic, giving us a chance to pause and say to ourselves, "Why are the itineraries so rushed?" "Why can't we calm down?" "Why can't the family sit together and eat?" "Why can't I get out of the kitchen?"
And when the performance finally resumed, all the literary and artistic workers asked themselves: What is the role of art?
Also because of this year, the theater had to be temporarily closed, Mao Weitao admitted that as a theater management and operation team without government subsidies, the pressure exists every day. At the same time, it also forced her to think about what else she could do outside of the show. During the period, some people also asked her to live stream the goods, but Mao Weitao finally felt that there should be a better way.
This year, Baiyue Cultural Creation did two projects, both related to public welfare.
During the summer vacation, a summer carnival with the theme of "Tribute to all the children of the heroes of the fight against the epidemic" was held at the Butterfly Theater and lasted for a month. Children from anti-epidemic families were invited to the theater to watch children's dramas for free, feel the fun of various handmade DIY such as paper-cutting and puppetry, and at the same time, they also learned about the value of their parents' work, learning and the meaning of life by visiting the epidemic area life exhibition taken by photographers in Wuhan.
Mao Weitao taught at the "Mustard Seed Academy"
The "Mustard Seed Academy" in September is another new attempt by Mao Weitao and Baiyue on the road of cultural and creative public welfare. In one week, 46 teacher training students from Hangzhou Normal University and rural teachers from the Jack Ma Public Welfare Foundation received multi-art dimension courses from Pu Cunxin, Mao Weitao, Jin Xing, Zheng Yunlong and other art celebrities or stars. In the end, an immersive closing performance called "I Am" will run through the core content of the Seven-Day Theatre Experience Camp and the reflection on art.
Mao Weitao was very impressed by what happened during the week: "Our theater is very interesting, it is like a wizarding school in Harry Potter, it may change into a miracle. For example, Teacher Pu Cunxin gave them a day's lesson, but he used his three days in Hangzhou to rehearse a small play of "Thunderstorm" for the principal of a rural school in Yunnan, a teacher and a female student of a normal university. At that time, our last day was silent, the audience was wearing masks, and everyone was very touched after watching it. Moreover, the sound of wind and rain are artificially created by other students, and the sound of rain fanning out of the fan and the tired sound of shaking with steel plates allow them to experience a real dramatic stage. ”
Mao Weitao said that art education is something she has wanted to do for many years, because the epidemic has been advanced. "I gave the project a name called Mustard Seed Academy, because I always had Li Yu's mustard garden in my heart, in which Mr. Li Yu wrote about his idle love and occasional mail, teaching drama, singing opera, acting, tasting drama, and discussing drama. I borrowed the word mustard seed, called mustard seed academy. ”
"This time the public welfare activity is actually to explore it and test the waters." Why we call it "Drama +" instead of Yue Opera Creation Camp, I hope to break the concept of Yue Opera. This teacher program is not only a public welfare, but also a dissemination of traditional culture, theater art, and theater art.
In Mao Weitao's view, the power of drama lies in the fact that it is both an aesthetic art and at the same time it changes subtly. As she stood in front of the giant chalk board book at the launching ceremony, she said, "I hope that this little mustard seed can become a spark of fire and let the light of art be projected into everyone's heart." ”
For the future: ideals are meant to be there, but what if they are realized?
In 2020 National Day, the "Butterfly Theater" resumed performances, 7 "Three Laughs" and 8 small theater performances, bringing the "Three Laughs" spirit of "laughing at life, laughing at yourself, and laughing at the future" to the audience.
Stills from "Three Laughs"
From the head of the Xiaobaihuayue Opera Troupe to the chairman of Baiyue Cultural Creation, Mao Weitao after the transformation is facing more challenges and problems. Asked why a private company does these public welfare, she said, in fact, no one forced me to do it, but I have such a requirement and value orientation for myself in my heart, and I have such a mission and vision in my own life.
"I would like to let more people understand this art, not only to see the bright and beautiful Mao Weitao on the stage, but also to see Mao Weitao's poor toss." Let more people see the works on the stage at the same time, but also understand how this art is formed, so that more people love the theater, love the stage, this is my heart. ”
For the future and expectations, Mao Weitao said: "If there are expectations, I hope that this theater can have a second hundred years in the future. Because in the current Internet age, this theater allows us to have a new space. Just like when Yue opera went from a small mountain village in Shengzhou to Shanghai, the economic and cultural center of the world in that era. Because the old predecessors of that generation, they looked up to meet the new culture, looked up to meet the culture of the concession, and were influenced by the culture of the concession and the new culture, so there is today's Yue opera. But we have encountered an era that is more severe than them, a new era that has been integrated into the world and the Internet, is there still room for the survival of our traditional opera? How much is it? Where is it? But how do you know without trying? As our teacher Ma Yun said: the ideal is to have, what if it is realized? ”
(Intern Shanshan Lin also contributed to this article)
Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang