#2021 Vitality Conference##2021 Cheering Leader#Jia Baoyu in the Yue opera movie "Dream of the Red Chamber" can be said to be the most successful role created by Yue opera performance artist Xu Yulan, with high achievements and great influence, it can be said that all Chinese women and children know it.
Stills from the movie "Dream of the Red Chamber"
However, what the audience does not know is that this is actually the third time that Xu Yulan has starred in Jia Baoyu, and at this time, although Xu Yulan is running fourth, she has shaped a teenage aristocratic prince into a full personality, generous and naïve, cute and personable, and there is no sense of violation at all, which shows that Xu Yulan's singing voice and acting skills have become as pure as fire. Xu Yulan played Jia Baoyu 3 times, but 1 time was more exciting than 1 time, how did she do it?
Xu Yulan's first performance of Jia Baoyu was in the stage class of her hometown Dong'an, which was in the folding play "Baoyu Night Detective". At that time, Xu Yulan was only a teenager, and from the image point of view, it was the closest to the original character, but at that time, the performance conditions were simple, the stage installation was simple, and Xu Yulan was completely based on the teacher's dictation, rote memorization of the lyrics, did not fully understand the characters, and of course did not have her own creation.
Xu Yulan played Jia Baoyu for the second time in March 1948. At this time, she had become famous and formed her own Magnolia Troupe, cooperating with the famous Danjiao Yao Suzhen at the Cathay Grand Theatre, and Yao Suzhen played Lin Daiyu. Although this version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" was written by Jiang Feng and He Mengduo, directed by Tan Da, known as "Beautiful and Magnificent Giant Structure", the troupe at that time performed a very heavy repertoire, two times a day and night, singing radio in the morning, and rehearsing new plays in the evening, the actors were in a state of exhaustion, so they could not calm down to shape the characters, Xu Wanglan only mechanically completed Jia Baoyu's performance, so he could not leave much impression on the audience.
1948 Magnolia Theatre Company Performance Information
In 1948, Xu Yulan and Yao Suzhen performed "Dream of the Red Chamber" information
Yao Suzhen stills
At the end of 1957, Xu Yulan received the task of playing Jia Baoyu for the third time. This is the third important role she has played after returning from the condolence performance of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and return to the Second Troupe of the Shanghai Yue Theatre. Xu Yulan is very excited, because she realizes that the role of Jia Baoyu is very malleable, although Yin Guifang and many other famous characters have played this role, but with her years of artistic accumulation, it should be possible to create a Jia Baoyu with its own unique style but in line with the original.
As soon as the director of the Shanghai Cultural Bureau at that time heard that Xu Yulan was going to play Jia Baoyu, he rushed to the Yue Theater and asked the general actors of the crew to read through the novel "Dream of the Red Chamber" 5 times, and the main performance was read through 10 times, which showed that the creative environment and requirements at this time were very different from the past, and they were working hard towards the goal of creating high-quality repertoire.
Yuan Xuefen and Xu Yulan took a group photo with foreign friends
At that time, Xu Yulan's daily schedule was full, and it was not easy to squeeze out time to read novels. But it was here that the Shanghai Yue Theater made its first trip to the GDR and the Soviet Union, and it took more than half a month's train halfway through. Xu Yulan slept on the bunk, just lying on the bunk and quietly read the novel "Dream of the Red Chamber" 3 times.
In this way, Jia Baoyu's voice, smile and personality characteristics began to become clear in Xu Yulan's heart.
Xu Yulan found that although Jia Baoyu was born in a family of rich and powerful people who were dressed in gold and jade and had the habit of arrogant and willful princes, he was obviously different from ordinary aristocratic princes, he was simple and naïve, full of sympathy and understanding for his subordinates, and had a hazy idea of democracy and equality. With the maturity of his thoughts, the dirtiness of Jia Fu made Jia Baoyu see the ugliness of the officialdom, and he liked to peek at "The Tale of the West Chamber"; Reluctance to meet with the government elders who specialize in discussing the economy of the career; Xue Baochao, who does not love to be steady and dignified and often persuades himself to "advance", prefers to fall in love with the sentimental but arrogant Lin sister, and has developed a rebellious personality of despising the eight-strand article and hating the name of Li Lugong... Xu Yulan realized the "shining point" in Jia Baoyu's ideological personality, and thus fell in love with the character of Jia Baoyu.
But a huge problem in front of Xu Yulan is that Jia Baoyu in the play is only 14 years old when he appears, and Xu Yulan is already a 36-year-old child's mother, how to overcome the contrast in age image?
Makeup is of course a way, but Xu Yulan thought that although Jia Baoyu is the darling of Jia Fu and has a certain identity etiquette, he is still a child after all, so he should try to show his frank and cute nature.
How to behave? Whether it was jumping and jumping out of the scene, or shaking out of the scene, Xu Yulan felt that it was inappropriate, and the director did not give her any advice. Xu Yulan still had no good idea after his brain juices were exhausted, so he had to pick up the original work again and read it repeatedly. Suddenly, she saw that there was a scene in the book where Jia Baoyu returned home from the family temple with a string of sandalwood in his hand, and she was immediately blessed to her heart.
So the next day, Xu Yulan also held a string of hand beads in her hand, and walked on the stage while throwing it, which not only appeared jia baoyu innocent and lively, but also in line with Jia Baoyu's identity and upbringing, which can be called "the stroke of God". The director and other actors also agreed to say yes, and since then this action has become the classic Jia Baoyu's "action". From the stage play to the movie, this appearance action has been preserved, Xu Yulan's superb performance makes people forget her real age, and the more she looks at it, the more she feels that Xu Yulan is the naïve and generous and cute teenager Jia Baoyu, who quickly entered the play.
The Yue opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" is based on Bao Dai's love as the main line, reflecting the contradiction between Bao Dai and the entire feudal etiquette. Xu Yulan realized that the development of Bao Dai's relationship was the key to successfully portraying the character of Jia Baoyu. Therefore, Xu Yulan divided Bao Dai's love into six stages: "Dai Yu Entering the House", "Reading the "West Chamber"", "Burying flowers and Mingxin", "Testing Jade", "Golden Jade Good Fortune" and "Crying Spirit Running Away", which were expressed in different singing voices and different performance forms.
Stills from the stage play "Dream of the Red Chamber"
It is gratifying that the third time to play Jia Baoyu, Xu Yulan met a stage partner who was "perfectly satisfied", that is, the famous Yue opera actor Wang Wenjuan, who has been partnering for more than ten years, and the feelings on and off the stage have always been very good. Lin Daiyu, played by Wang Wenjuan, looks beautiful and elegant, sings softly and beautifully, and performs delicately, so the combination of the two can be described as a combination of pearls, complementing each other, immortals and lovers, and pouring the audience.
The stage version of Yue opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" was officially performed on the Shanghai Gongchang stage on February 18, 1958, with two performances day and night, more than 40 consecutive performances, and the venue was full, which quickly caused a sensation in Shanghai. In the second half of 1958, Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan accompanied the second troupe of the Yue Theater, carrying plays such as "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "King of the North", and successively toured Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Guangzhou and other places for three or four months.
"Dream of the Red Chamber" soon swept the whole country, and countless audiences fell intoxicated by it. Many viewers believe that Jia Baoyu, played by Xu Yulan, is simply perfect.
On the eve of the National Day in 1959, the crew of "Dream of the Red Chamber" was invited to Beijing to participate in the performance celebrating the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the central leaders and people in the literary and art circles in the capital came to see the play one after another, unanimously praising the "Dream of the Red Chamber" for its good scenery, good actors and good performances.
Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan took a group photo with Chinese and foreign leaders
The famous drama director Sun Weishi said that she never cried when she watched the drama before, but this time she cried when she watched "Dream of the Red Chamber", especially when she saw Bao Yu crying, how could she not control herself. She believes that this is the charm of Xu Yulan's performing arts.
Indeed, Baoyu's "Crying Spirit" scene shows Xu Yulan's superb control of stage performance art. Xu Yulan's voice is loud, the melody is often carried out in the middle and high pitch area, and the singing voice widely absorbs other drama components, with the characteristics of high excitement, colorful, unrestrained and smooth, and the voice is rich. Here, she adopted the singing method of "sub-string cavity" loose board, middle plate, slow clear board, and then turn mixed board that can best express the emotional ups and downs, and fully expressed Jia Baoyu's unrelenting love for Lin Daiyu and despair for Jia Fu.
Especially in the slow clearing board, there is no accompaniment to more than 20 sentences in a row, only a cappella, a board play, but Xu Yulan's pitch is precise, layer by layer, such as crying, like a dream, infinitely poignant, making countless audiences feel helpless and burst into tears. This is Xu Yulan's "Jia Baoyu", a unique Jia Baoyu!
In December 1960, the Yue opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" was invited to perform in Hong Kong, which naturally aroused the praise and sensation of hong Kong audiences. The biggest achievement of this performance was to promote the joint efforts of Hong Kong Jinsheng Film Company and Shanghai Haiyan Film Producers to bring the Yue opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" to the big screen, followed by a long-term screening in Hong Kong and the mainland, becoming a classic of Chinese opera films and Yue opera films.
The film version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" continues the basic plot, singing voice and performance of the stage version of "Dream of the Red Chamber", but many aspects have been filmed, and the performance requirements for the actors are higher, because the actors must remove too many stage externalization actions and turn to more detailed and deep inner performances.
To this end, Xu Yulan, Wang Wenjuan, these "big-name" actors also humbly asked for advice, pondered the "subtext" of the character psychology, and finally completed the task well.
In a scene of "Xue Baochao Persuading Jade", Xu Yulan not only portrays Baoyu's distinct love and hatred for people and things through subtle and complex expression changes on her face, but also conforms to Baoyu's identity and cultivation; In "Golden Jade Good Relationship", Xu Yulan grasps Jia Baoyu's emotional elements of "joy, doubt, surprise, sadness, and despair", and clearly shows Jia Baoyu's emotional changes in the climax stage of the conflict.
Many people watch the movie and are amazed by her precise grasp of details.
It can be said that the film version of yue opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" perfectly solidifies the image and singing voice of Jia Baoyu, played by Xu Yulan for the third time, making it the image spokesperson of Jia Baoyu, and also marking the maturity of the Yue opera Xu Pai art, and is a monument standing on the road of Xu Yulan's Yue opera performing arts. What do you say?