Three “plum blossoms” gather in Shencheng blessed land
Anhui Huangmei Opera Theater launches 2024 national tour
Wenhui Po reporter Wang Xiaoli
“Shanghai is a truly blessed place for Huangmei Opera, with high audience recognition and good feedback. We have sent the theater’s strongest lineup here, hoping to contribute our own strength to promoting the cultural integration of the Yangtze River Delta.” said He Yun, deputy director of Anhui Huangmei Opera Theater. Yesterday, the theater announced that the 2024 national tour will start from Shanghai, first performing in many places in the Yangtze River Delta, and then continue to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, and will go to Hong Kong and Macao for exchange performances.
According to reports, from April 2nd to 5th, three “Plum Blossom Award” actors Yuan Yuan, Sun Juan, and He Yun will present three classic plays “The Match”, “The Consort” and “Dream of Red Mansions” at the China Grand Theatre. At the same time, a group of rising stars of Huangmei Opera will perform on the same stage as famous actors, demonstrating the vigorous inheritance of opera types in an orderly manner.
He Yun called this performance a “journey of gratitude.” Shanghai was chosen as the starting point for the tour because of the deep connection between Huangmei Opera and Shanghai. In 1953, the Huangmei Opera Theater of Anhui Province was established. The following year, the drama adapted and created by the theater came to Shanghai to participate in the East China Opera Observation and Performance Conference. It won many awards and became a sensation all the way from Shanghai to the whole country. The lead actor Yan Fengying became a well-known character throughout the country. Son. The first appearance of Huangmei Opera on the screen is also closely related to Shanghai. In 1956, the movie version of “The Match” produced by Shanghai Film Studio came out. The work received great response and became famous overseas. With the help of Shanghai, a major theater terminal, Huangmei Opera has spread beyond Anhui and Hubei and has become one of the five major opera types in China.
Before starting the tour, the theater conducted a survey to collect the plays that theatergoers most wanted to see. The two family dramas “The Fairy Match” and “The Consort” are still very popular. Classics are not only timeless in art, but also witness the process of generations of actors from youth to maturity. It is understood that there are currently youth versions of “The Match” and “The Prince Consort” in which the post-90s and post-00s generation play leading roles, and the youth version of “Dream of Red Mansions” is also in preparation.
On April 2, Yuan Yuan, the fourth generation “Seven Fairies” of Anhui Huangmei Opera Theater, will take the lead and sing the well-known “Birds in the Trees in Pairs”. After entering the theater at the age of 17 with the first place in her major, Yuan Yuan received oral and heart-to-heart teachings from Wu Yaling, one of the “Five Golden Flowers” of Huangmei Opera, and also passed down “The Match of Heaven” from her teacher. As a classic play, “The Match” has a complete structure, compact plot, and both dramatic and literary lyrics. It embodies the simple concepts of good and evil of the working people and entrusts the good expectations of the common people.
In years of performing, Yuan Yuan has also gained her own understanding of classics. “In addition to inheriting the acting skills of the older generation, young actors must also cultivate themselves deeply.” In order to let the audience intuitively feel the distinctive character traits and emotional changes of the Seven Fairies, she highlighted the cadences and priorities of her singing and reciting in her performance, allowing the audience to become involved in the plot along with the characters. Playing is a required course for an outstanding actor. At the beginning of the “farewell” scene in “The Match”, Dong Yong and the Seven Fairies rested under the old locust tree where they first met on their way home. Yuan Yuan discussed with her counterpart Zhao Zhangwei, Dong Yong had to use the sleeves of his coat to brush off the dust on the stone before letting the seven fairies sit down. A small movement can naturally show the delicate and sincere feelings between the two people. “Only by polishing it thousands of times and accumulating bit by bit can one be comfortable on the stage.”
Because of its beautiful singing and lively performances, Huangmei Opera is a popular opera with great popularity among the audience. On the short video platform, the number of clicks on Huangmei Opera ranks among the top among various drama types. In addition to inheriting classics, the theater has also created and staged a number of realistic-themed works in recent years, such as “The Communist Manifesto”, “Youth’s Companion”, “Feng Dancing on the Mountain”, and “A Hundred Birds Paying Attention to the Phoenix”. This year’s Chinese Valentine’s Day, the theater plans to present a new Huangmei Opera dance drama “Magpie Bridge Immortal”. The novel style will be more in line with the current audience’s aesthetics and stage trends.