I believe that anyone who has seen the modern Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain" or the movie of the same name will definitely be impressed by the heroic characters such as Yang Zirong and Shao Jianbo, but they will also never forget the negative characters of The Mountain Sculpture and "Little Furnace Maker" Luan Ping.
Sun Zhengyang played Luan Ping in "Wise Tiger Mountain"
In particular, the role of "little furnace maker" Luan Ping appeared only twice, adding up to only ten minutes of play before and after, and did not sing, but the actor's every move was a play, through reading white, doing work and other means, he portrayed the cunning, treacherous, and sinister bandit personality vividly, into the wood three points, amazing. In the decades since, "Wise Tiger Mountain" has been repeatedly performed, but this "Luan Ping" has always been a "model" for future generations of actors.
Many people remember Luan Ping, but they do not necessarily know that Luan Ping's actor is Sun Zhengyang, a famous contemporary Peking Opera performance artist in China, known as the "Ugly of Jiangnan".
Sun Zhengyang life photo
Sun Zhengyang was born in a Shikumen building in a Shikumen building in Chongqing New Village between Wusheng Road and Chongqing North Road in Shanghai on the 15th day of the 15th lunar month of the lunar calendar. His parents were poor people who came to Shanghai from Yutian, Hebei Province, to work and earn a living. Before Sun Zhengyang was born, he already had four older brothers and one older sister, and he was the youngest son.
Now the street view of Chongqing North Road in Shanghai
Now the gate of Chongqing New Village
Due to the large population in the family and the difficult life, Sun Zhengyang's brothers and an older sister entered the drama class very early to learn drama and began to run a dock career. Therefore, Sun Zhengyang has been floating around jiangsu and Zhejiang with his eldest sister since he was a child, and he will also act a little drama, and sometimes the performance lacks a small monkey or other small horns, and he volunteers to go up. Everyone in the drama class liked this clever child.
Sun Zhengyang took a picture with his sister in childhood
In 1939, Sun Zhengyang was just 8 years old, just when the Shanghai Drama School was established and enrolled at No. 41 Madang Road, Sun Zhengyang and his third brother Sun Zhengtian applied for this school. Because Sun Zhengyang was smart and well-behaved, and said a good Beijing film, after entering the school, he was taken in by the principal, Mr. Guan Hongbin, and identified him as a good material for a clown, and determined to be trained as a clown. At the beginning, Sun Zhengyang was really reluctant in his heart, although he was only 8 years old, he already knew that clowns basically played supporting roles, often played roles called "bad guys", and there were not many opportunities for "popular" to make big money in the future. However, Sun Zhengyang was optimistic and easy-going by nature, basically did not make any emotions, and quickly obeyed the arrangement. Because he has been soaking in the drama class before entering the school, singing and playing have some foundations, and he is not afraid of the stage, so everyone likes him.
Sun Zhengyang was on his way to perform outside
Sun Zhengyang studied hard and had strong comprehension, and soon became a top student and received key training from the school. Soon, Sun Zhengyang was given the opportunity to play for zhou Xinfang and other famous actors, playing the doll Guan Bao in "Killing Children". This role is not light, with a large section of anti-two yellow singing voice and white and heavy performances. Sun Zhengyang actually coped with it freely and got everyone's approval. Since then, Sun Zhengyang has entered the state of learning drama while acting, and his art has grown rapidly. At the age of 9, he entered the hearts of Shanghai audiences with the aura of "child star".
Sun Zhengyang took a group photo with the teacher
Sun Zhengyang was also personally taught by Guan Hongbin and Luo Wenkui, two famous teachers, and received strict basic skills training, singing and doing everything. In 1945, the drama school had to be closed due to a break in funds. The students went their separate ways and embarked on the road of class performances. Sun Zhengyang became a member of the former Shanghai Opera School's top brand, The Qingyi Gu Zhengqiu Troupe. As early as the school period, Gu Zhengqiu played several good plays in which Sun Zhengyang's ugly role was played, which added a lot of color to the whole play.
Most of the members of Gu Zhengqiu's troupe are Sun Zhengyang's classmates, and they have a very good relationship with each other, and they are united and united. Gu Zhengqiu is already a recognized Danjiao rookie inside and outside the industry, so the troupe goes to a red place, and the performance is often full.
Although Sun Zhengyang is an ugly actor who plays a supporting role on stage, he has a pivotal position in the troupe because he plays a key role in Gu Zhengqiu's masterpiece. "Yutang Spring" is a masterpiece of Gu Zhengqiu's fame, often appearing as a "cannon play". Sun Zhengyang in the play "one person as a triangle": shen Yanlin in the front, Chonggong Dao in the middle, and forbidden woman in the back, the wonderful performance often won the "full hall color".
Sun Zhengyang performed stills
Later, Sun Zhengyang partnered with Li Yuru, a famous dan, and the degree of tacit understanding was better than that of Gu Zhengqiu. They left many immortal masterpieces for the Peking Opera stage, such as "Little Cow Herding", "Picking Jade Bracelet", "Blocking Horses", "Mei Fei", etc., and have been passed down to this day.
It is in this kind of high-intensity class performance, Sun Zhengyang's acting performance has been tempered, and he gradually understands how to shape the art, understands the importance of stage cooperation and the spiritual essence of "one dish", and soon he has just become an adult, becoming a mature clown actor, which is quite influential in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, and the bosses of various classes are willing to use him.
After 1949, Sun Zhengyang joined the East China Experimental Peking Opera Troupe together with Li Yuru and others, and began to jointly create a new world of artistic development. Due to the stability of income and the reduction of rushing, Sun Zhengyang had the opportunity to carefully polish the repertoire, he was very serious, humbly learned from his peers, and also went to The DPRK to comfort the volunteer army, participated in the "World's First Regiment" composed of Mei Lanfang, Zhou Xinfang, and others, and performed reprocessed and adapted plays such as "Little Cattle Herding" and "Picking Jade Bracelets", which were well received. In 1954, an opera observation performance was held in East China, and Sun Zhengyang won the second prize for his supporting role in "Cast Sword", which shows that Sun Zhengyang, who was only 23 years old, had entered the ranks of famous actors.
From the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, Sun Zhengyang's artistic career was flourishing and rising in the past decade. He is very busy, in addition to often having the task of performing abroad, he also performs old plays non-stop, rehearses new plays, and appears on the stage almost every day for more than three hundred days a year. He has a wide range of plays, strong receptivity, and is not picky, willing to lean on corners, willing to be a green leaf. Therefore, the big and small roles played in the newly created dramas "Princess of Hundred Flowers", "Seven Heroes and Five Righteousness", "Princess Mei", "The Alliance of Lanzhou" and "The Tale of the Jade Hairpin" have left a deep impression on the audience.
Sun Zhengyang and his wife Yue Yue Ying yue ying wedding photo
Although Sun Zhengyang specializes in literature and ugliness, his martial arts foundation is also quite good. When the troupe needed martial arts, he began to dabble in the martial arts industry. "Seven Heroes and Five Righteousness" is Sun Zhengyang's famous work of martial arts, who successfully created the image of Jiang Ping's resourceful and resourceful, and has the image of a jianghu hero with righteousness and heavy love.
Sun Zhengyang and Mei Baojiu in "The Phoenix Returns to the Nest"
The clown accompanies the last seat in the Peking Opera line, but it is the most difficult to play well, and the difficulty is to perform a role that is not in the middle of the station to center the weight of the corner. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were three recognized famous uglies in the Shanghai Peking opera industry, and Sun Zhengyang was one of the youngest and most personal celebrities, known as the "Jiangnan American Ugly".
He believes that the harlequin itself should be beautiful, another form of beauty. Therefore, he is very particular about the appearance, face and dress of the character, and on the basis of conforming to the characteristics of the character, he tries to be as bright and beautiful as possible, and refuses to be dirty and vulgar. On the chanting table, the same emphasis is placed on the beauty of the voice and the beauty of the image. Sun Zhengyang's voice is very good, crisp and magnetic, but he never shows off his voice, and he does not blame the strange tone, and performs every move and goes the right way. Playing the clown beautiful is Sun Zhengyang's lifelong pursuit, so the industry and the outside unanimously agree that he is a veritable "Gangnam American ugly".
Sun Zhengyang in "The Phoenix Returns to the Nest"
Perhaps because Sun Zhengyang has these profound artistic skills, in 1964, he just returned from performing abroad, and he partnered with Tong Xiangling to take over the modern Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain". What today's audiences absolutely cannot expect is that Sun Zhengyang starred in the male number one Yang Zirong in the play, and Tong Xiangling actually played the male number two Shao Jianbo.
Sun Zhengyang and Tong Xiangling (right) in "Wise Tiger Mountain"
It turned out that at this time, "Wise Tiger Mountain" was far from being a later "model play", and Yang Zirong was positioned as a martial arts practitioner, mainly based on martial arts recitation, and rarely sang. Sun Zhengyang is good at martial arts and has a good voice, so he naturally became Yang Zirong's first choice.
Sun Zhengyang played Yang Zirong in "Wise Tiger Mountain"
However, after 1967, with "Wise Tiger Mountain" being listed as a "model play", it was modified and polished in a reborn way, Sun Zhengyang was designated to play Luan Ping by "above", and Sun Zhengyang's original uneasy heart was also released. After all, interlacing is like a mountain, from ugly to old man of literature and martial arts, Sun Zhengyang does feel some kind of limitation in his heart. He said: "I am a clown actor, and it is appropriate to play Luan Ping. ”
Since the actors of the "Wise Tiger Mountain" crew were carefully selected, the image and performance ability were very suitable, and the newly rehearsed plays were performed several times in Beijing, and many central leaders came to watch. It is said that He Yonghua's mountain sculpture and Sun Zhengyang's Luan Ping received unanimous praise. In this way, these roles are somewhat irreplaceable.
Sun Zhengyang in "Little Cattle Herding"
Sun Zhengyang was a fourth-level actor at that time, and he belonged to the list of "three highs" and was most likely to be "knocked down". But Sun Zhengyang was spared the misfortune in the end, although there was an element of luck, and more importantly, he portrayed the villain Luan Ping extremely well. "Above" felt that this role could only be played by Sun Zhengyang, but he was alone, and his superior skills ensured his peace in sports.
Sun Zhengyang in "Blocking horses"
The role of Luan Ping is almost impossible to learn from, relying on the actor's own imagination, understanding and creativity of the character. It can be said that Luan Ping's every action, every expression, and every line has been carefully considered and repeatedly pondered by him.
As people usually say, roles have sizes, but actors don't. Luan Ping is a small role in the play, but after Sun Zhengyang's excellent interpretation, this role has achieved the same strong stage effect as the protagonist, and the "Gangnam Ugly" skill is really impressive.
Following Luan Ping's success, Sun Zhengyang played a new villain role in the modern Peking opera "Rock Bay", a Kuomintang agent "08". Although this drama is not as influential as "Wise Tiger Mountain", Sun Zhengyang's performance is still one of the outstanding highlights.
Sun Zhengyang in "Picking Jade Bracelet"
After 1976, Sun Zhengyang once again rejuvenated his artistic youth and became active on the Peking Opera stage as an ugly man. In 1999, he won the "Baosteel Elegant Art Award" and the 8th China Peking Opera Arts Festival Outstanding Performance Award for his successful interpretation of the role of Sun Wuji in the newly compiled Peking Opera "Zhenguan Event". In 2008, he was selected as the representative inheritor of the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects "Peking Opera". His representative plays "Hai zhou guanguan", "Qiu Jiang", "Phoenix Returning Nest", "Cabinet In the Edge", "Famen Temple", "Picking Jade Bracelet", "Little Cow Herding", etc. have all become the representative works of Peking Opera "beauty and ugliness" and have entered the history of Peking Opera.
Sun Zhengyang, who is now in his old age, is in good health and old and strong, has long focused on teaching, and is still dedicating his residual heat to the inheritance of the ugly cause of Peking Opera.