From 18 to 21 January, Franz Rehall's classic operetta The Widow will be performed in its second round on the stage of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. In the media visit on the afternoon of January 12, the singers who participated in the play showed the wonderful clips in advance.
The operetta The Merry Widow was composed by the Hungarian composer Réhal in 1905. This classic Viennese operetta tells the story of a romantic love affair that takes place in the capital of Paris. In order to make this operetta work that shows the dual temperament of Vienna and Paris more authentic and fascinating, the National Theatre invited the famous director Hugo de Anna to direct, stage design and costume design. Director Hugo transplanted the story that originally took place in the early 20th century to the 1920s and 1930s, when the "Adego style architecture" and "Lalique style decoration" that were popular in Europe at that time appeared frequently on the stage, exuding a unique charm of the times, and the appearance of iconic elements such as Maxim's Restaurant and Eiffel Tower reflected the romantic atmosphere of Paris all the time. As a Viennese operetta, "The Merry Widow" is naturally decorated with "round dance". In fact, not only the round dance, but also Rehar, who is well versed in the creation of dance music, used a lot of dance melodies such as mazooka and kolo dance that were popular in Europe at that time. What is even more rare is that in the composer Rehal's pen, these undulating or jumping dance melodies are closely combined with the singing passages in the play, and many of the arias and heavy singing passages heard by the audience have obvious dance rhythms.
During the visit, tenor Shi Yijie, who plays the French liaison officer Camille Rossion, and Liu Lian, the soprano singer who plays the ambassador's wife Valencienne, collaborated to present the classic duet in the second act of the play. In the play, Camille's ardent pursuit moves Valencienne, but she is determined to be faithful to the marriage. After an emotional dialogue in this classic duet, Camille sings an affectionate romantic song: "My love is like a bud of a rose, blooming in the May sun." ...... When we have to break up, let the night protect us and kiss me! Camille's earnest plea made Valencienne almost unable to resist, and this singing section not only put forward extremely high requirements for the singer's singing ability, but also posed a great challenge to the actor's performance skills. In introducing this singing segment, singer Shi Yijie used "true love" to describe the relationship between Camille and Valenciena, "Although Valenciena is a married woman, through music you can feel that Camille and her are true love." This duet passage in the second act is one of the most beautiful melodies in the whole play, and although the two have twists and turns, the inseparable feelings are all expressed through music. In the view of singer Liu Lian, the director's delicate guidance of the actor's performance in this duet paragraph increases the emotional tension, "This paragraph is very special, it is a duet paragraph, which contains a small aria. Valencienne used to be a dancer in a bar and has been able to maintain a dignified demeanor since marrying the ambassador, but this is not the real Valenciana. It wasn't until she fell in love with Camille that she was able to find herself in that love. These content directors are expressed through the design of meticulous performances, and Valencienne's every look and every movement is closely related to inner activity. ”
(Photo: Ling Feng)