The first round of performances has been frequently searched, and a tour of more than ten cities across the country will soon begin
Why did the Chinese original musical “Orphan of Zhao” become a hit?
Our reporter Tong Weijing
The desolate city wall stands diagonally on the stage, and a lonely young soul stands quietly on the stone steps. His singing summons the ancient “revenge” story. Cheng Ying, Tu Anjia, Cheng Bo, Gongsun Chujiu, Princess and other figures were frozen in the frame, slowly “moving” to the stage, and once again stepping into the sands of history…
In the nine days of the first round of performances, the musical “Orphan of Zhao” was “swapped” and made headlines on Weibo many times. “It’s been a long time!” “Chinese Original Musical Ceiling” became “tap water” after countless drama fans, and frequently praised it. The waves of applause and cheers at SAIC Shanghai Cultural Square are higher than the other when the curtain is closed every night. The reporter was informed that, with the dazzling light of its Shanghai premiere, “Orphans of Zhao” is about to start a tour of more than ten cities including Nanjing, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Changsha, and many shows have been sold out.
Some industry insiders commented: China’s original musical drama market has been developing for nearly 20 years, and no work has been successfully “out of the circle” with a complete look like “Orphan of Zhao”. It is no longer a “good show” in which a star actor or a few tracks run in the traffic pool. The musical “Orphan of Zhao” has made classical IP a successful code for contemporary “popular”, which has also attracted a lot of attention.
Salvage justice, kindness and love from the abyss of killing and revenge
“I can’t see the darkness oppressing the stars, because my heart will always be lit, and the storm will destroy me at any time, but kindness has never been desolate”… The solo of Cheng Ying in the play wets the eyes of many people, it It is precisely the title of the whole drama-salvaging justice, kindness and love from the abyss of killing and revenge, giving the orphans of the Zhao family a “new life”.
The story of “Orphans of the Zhao Family” has been recorded in “Records of the History of Zhao Family” and “Zuo Zhuan”, and later the adaptation of Yuan Zaju went to the folk. The generosity and cruel devotion and even the sacrifice of children, the integrity and righteous deeds like going through fire and soup, are full of strong noble feelings. How can Cheng Ying’s parents and children die? How can the adoptive father of an orphan of the Zhao family be killed? How can the more abstract moral world in Yuan Zaju be accepted by the contemporary general public? The script used in the musical “Orphan of Zhao”, created by the British poet James Fenton, uses modern ethical context to make a reasonable explanation of the characters’ motives and behaviors. Director Xu Jun created the musical “Orphan of Zhao” based on the adaptation of Fenton, which undoubtedly gave the work new power to the contemporary, popular, and popular.
Many viewers said that in the process of contemporary “resurrection”, the orphans of the Zhao family more than 2,000 years ago regained the vastness of the heroic epic, the greatness of humanity and love, the power of faith and character, which made them passionate and moved them. Among them, the most magnificent stroke of humanity falls on a small figure. Cheng Ying in the musical “Orphan of Zhao” is undoubtedly one of the most full images in stage and film adaptation so far. When a weak person stands in the storm of tactics, he is afraid, hesitating, suffering…Cheng Ying is not a hero at the beginning, but a hero to protect Zhao’s orphans from falling in front of him, and gradually let him understand himself Mission and meaning. When the Zhao orphan grew up, he revealed all the truth and all the truth. On the stage, the dead and those who entered the game once again stood on the frame, and Cheng Ying also stepped forward firmly with an old pace. Heaven and earth travel, a hundred generations of travellers, and finally he chooses to leave the tomb of the dead child, with the child’s favorite bell, to the end of the story. As Xu Jun said, “The Orphans of Zhao’s family has the character, beliefs and realm that are unique to the Chinese. Today we can confidently use musicals to tell our stories.”
The most dazzling performance is the tragic song of excitement and generosity
In the last performance of the premiere round of “Orphans of Zhao”, when the performance of the “never possible” passage in the play, the microphone of Zheng Qiyuan, played by “Cheng Ying”, had problems. Without any sound reinforcement, he used a pure meaty voice to sing the entire music, and the sound reached the audience on the third floor. Then, thunderous applause flooded the entire Cultural Square. When he returned to the curtain call, Zheng Qiyuan re-interpreted this paragraph to apologize, “I hope that every performance is presented to the audience the best, and do not leave any regrets.” At that time, the actor standing behind him They were all moved to tears.
Zheng Qiyuan, 41 years old, won the chief of the year in the second season of “Sound into the Heart”, demonstrating his strong professional strength as a Chinese first-line musical actor and contributing the most dazzling performance of the show. Cheng Ying, who has the heaviest weight in the play, uses the words of netizens to say “how can a word be “stable”.”
To sing on stage for three hours is a great test for any actor’s physical strength and energy. Every time Zheng Qiyuan stepped out of the field, he was surrounded by the staff, racing against time to wipe the sweat that overflowed from his headgear. During the intermission, he took off the outermost costume. The sweat had dyed his shirt transparent and covered his entire back. Zheng Qiyuan is an experiential performer. Every time a performance ends, it seems to experience the life of a character. The perseverance and sense of brokenness in Cheng Ying’s body made people all touched. When the ending sang “There is another child, waiting for me to love”, his tears couldn’t stop streaming down. Zheng Qiyuan said that he was crying instead of Cheng Ying.
“The gentle senior of Buddhism, the beautiful male of frozen age has a good voice, and the business is super textbook.” This is the title given to Zheng Qiyuan by fans. In addition to him, “Orphans of the Zhao Family” gathered powerful musical singers such as Xu Junshuo, Fang Shujian, He Liangchen, Zhu Zirong, Wang Letian, and at the same time actively broke the “circle” and ushered in the crossover of film and television stars Ming Dao and Xue Jianing.
“Orphans of the Zhao Family” has a total of 26 arias, and the overall style is magnificent, including the majestic tragic songs such as “How big the country is, the hero is as small as sand”, “The moon is as sharp as a hook, and the dewdrops are shining on the slope”. The flying dragon sleeps on the tiles, and the moonlight reflects the tenderness of Begonia. The majestic and delicate music is intertwined, and the lyrics are also full of historical artistic conception, reaching people’s hearts. The lyricist Liang Mang completed the creation of the lines of “Orphans of Zhao Family” during the epidemic, and he often cried for the characters in the play while writing. “I feel as if I have spent a whole 60 years brewing the music of “The Orphan of Zhao”.” The composer Jin Peida described the music creation as “a tragedy of excitement and generosity”, and finally achieved each other with the actors. The “dazzling light” that is rare on the stage of local works blooms.
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