On October 14, "People's Daily" published an article "Chu Opera, the more "trendy" there is, the more "drama"" praises the inheritance and innovation of Chu Opera.
"Chu Opera, the more "trendy" the more "drama"
Every 10 years, Wuhan Chu Theater recruits a group of "new seedlings" as reserve talents. At present, Wuhan Chu Opera has been "four generations in the same hall", the new and old have been passed down from generation to generation, and the inexhaustible vitality of Chu Opera has been achieved.
(In 2017, Yu Weigang went abroad to participate in cultural exchange performances, and interacted with the small audience after performing "Qin Qiong's Viewing Array".) ）
From the beginning of the cross-border performance to the immersive small theater, every attempt of Wuhan Chu Theater has caused quite a stir. The innovative communication methods of Chu opera performances are also becoming more and more diverse.
Flipping through the 2024 New Year's calendar of a fashion magazine, what catches your eye is the handsome figure of Yu Weigang, the "popular little student" of Wuhan Chu Theater in Hubei Province and the winner of the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre. He is dressed in a white python robe, tall and tall, sharp eyes, long sleeves, majestic and smart, this is the appearance of Zuo Weiming, the protagonist of the classic Chu Opera "Embroidered Shoes". With just one body and a few eyes, Yu Weigang revealed the protagonist's wise and fair spiritual temperament. The related singing video allowed Yu Weigang and Chu Opera to get a "circle-breaking" spread. Many old drama fans said in surprise: "Can Chu opera still be so 'trendy'? I can't imagine it. ”
Chu opera is a folk opera with local characteristics in Hubei, which has a wide range of materials, is easy to understand, and has a very strong atmosphere of life. In recent years, Chu Opera has made great achievements in inheritance and innovation, and many leading talents have emerged in Wuhan Chu Opera Theater who have won the Wenhua Performance Award of the China Arts Festival and the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre, and many plays such as "The Son of Life", "March Tea Fragrance", "Wanli Tea Ceremony", "Xiang Jingyu" and "Yang Naiwu" have won national awards such as the "Five One Project" Award of the Central Propaganda Department and the Outstanding Repertoire Award of the China Theatre Festival.
During this year's "May Day", Wuhan Chu Theater's newly created and rehearsed immersive small theater Chu Opera "Passing from the West Chamber" was performed 10 times in large shopping malls, and the venue was full. Many young people who have never watched Chu opera lined up in front of the ticket hall. "Now, Chinese young people are setting off a 'national tide' fever with unprecedented enthusiasm, and we Chu Opera must also take the initiative to embrace the 'national tide'." Han Xiao, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Wuhan Chu Theater, said.
(Stills from Chu Opera "Wanli Tea Ceremony")
The spiritual core of the new drama keeps up with the times
Wuhan thrives on the Yangtze River and has been an important port city and commercial center in China since modern times, and is known as "goods to Hankou". Chu Opera, which has drawn on the strengths of hundreds of schools from the very beginning, is best at keeping up with the times and telling the story of what happened in Wuhan.
Wuhan Chu Theater's 2006 "March Tea Fragrance", set in Hanzheng Street in the 20s of the last century, shows the preciousness of truth, kindness and beauty in the face of the conflict of "righteousness" and "profit" through the life story of a pair of lovers who came to Hankou Tea House from the tea town of western Hubei to pursue their dreams. This drama, not only has distinctive regional characteristics, but also has rich cultural connotations, plot twists, beautiful singing, superb performances, in 2007 won the 8th China Arts Festival 12th Wenhua Award Repertoire Award.
In 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, and in September of the same year, China, Mongolia and Russia proposed to jointly declare the "Wanli Tea Ceremony" as a world heritage site. Wuhan Chu Theater has set up a creative team with an "all-star" lineup, and carefully polished and launched the new drama "Wanli Tea Ceremony". The play is based on the Hankou merchants walking on the trade road, and tells the story of Linglong, the female proprietor of the Hankou tea merchant "Dahexing" during the Qing Dynasty, who stepped forward, braved hardships and dangers, walked thousands of miles of tea ceremony, and the shopkeeper Ye Tiantao became attached to tea and fell in love with tea. On the basis of retaining the charm of Chu Opera, the music creation of the play uses the form of opera and musical rehearsal to make Chu Opera more "fashionable" and close to contemporary aesthetics. The combination of a grand backdrop and superb performances made "Ten Thousand Miles of Tea Ceremony" an instant hit.
"Wanli Tea Ceremony" was an instant hit. A good drama has made Chu Opera go out of Hubei again and again, go to the whole country, and gain the recognition and love of the audience on a larger scale.
In August and September this year, Wuhan Chu Theater was in full swing to create and rehearse "Hankou Tea Port", which is the finale of the "Tea Culture Trilogy". In this regard, Han Xiao is full of expectations, "The background is set in the last century, but the spiritual core keeps up with the times, which is why Chu Opera attracts young people." ”
(Stills from Chu Opera "Yang Naiwu")
The old and new inheritance achieves inexhaustible vitality
"In "March Tea", I am still a young man, in "Ten Thousand Miles of Tea Ceremony", I am the leading actor, and in "Hankou Tea Port", I am still the protagonist, but our post-00s young actors are also going to perform on stage." When it comes to the inheritance of Chu Theater, Yu Weigang is full of confidence.
Yu Weigang learned art at the age of 13, he is not only a small worker, but also an old worker, can sing literary opera, and is also good at martial arts, and is a rare all-round talent in the Chu Theater. At the beginning, Wuhan Chu Theater asked him to play with Xia Qingling, a national first-class actor, a leading figure in Chu Opera, and a winner of the Wenhua Award and the Plum Blossom Award. In "Broken Bridge", they are Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian, in the Chu opera classic "Jailer Redressing Grievances", they are Jin and Wu Ming, and in "Wanli Tea Ceremony", they are Linglong and Ye Tiantao...... In this way, using drama as a "practical combat" teaching material, Yu Weigang grew up rapidly, and won the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Drama at the age of 33, becoming the youngest winner of the Plum Blossom Award at that time.
In 2022, Wuhan Chu Theater will launch a new Chu drama "Yang Naiwu", which is based on the story of "Yang Naiwu and Little Cabbage", and has made a lot of innovations in combination with the audience's aesthetics and Yu Weigang's characteristics of being good at martial arts. When Yang Naiwu, played by Yu Weigang, was tortured, a series of difficult actions such as backflips on sticks, stringing tigers, and lying on their backs showed the struggle and grief of the characters when they were tortured, and the emotions progressed layer by layer, making the performance more visually impactful. After the premiere of the 10th Wuhan "Opera Wharf" Chinese Opera Art Festival at the closing ceremony, the play has frequently appeared in major opera festivals across the country, with more than 20 consecutive performances.
"The inheritance and development of ancient Chu opera is inseparable from the cultivation of young talents." Han said with a smile. Every 10 years, Wuhan Chu Theater recruits a group of "new seedlings" as reserve talent training, and the theater has formulated a development plan for artistic talents, and promotes the construction of talent teams through famous studios, 100 opera projects, Wuhan Youth Artistic Talent Training Program, going out, inviting in, etc. The national intangible cultural heritage inheritors of Chu Opera teach skills to young talents, and at the same time recommend young artistic talents to participate in various national, provincial and municipal seminars to continuously improve their artistic accomplishment and ability level.
At present, Wuhan Chu Theater has been "four generations in the same house". In 2023, the institute will jointly open a 2023 Chu Opera class with Wuhan Art School and Huangpi, Caidian and Xinzhou Chu Opera Troupes, recruiting 53 new students, basically forming a "four-in-one" tower talent team structure of leading talents, top-notch talents, backbone talents and basic talents. The inheritance of the old and the new, from generation to generation, has achieved the inexhaustible vitality of Chu Opera.
(Chu Opera "Passing Through the West Chamber Again" attracted a large number of young people to queue up to buy tickets to watch)
The mode of communication is both trendy and "dramatic"
"Xianggong, push it down! To spend your life at home, you must be attentive, and you must learn to smooth the beans. You don't hear about the stove, and you don't know that the fireworks are hard. "Cui Yingying" said angrily. Ouch! This grinding disc is so heavy, I can't move it! This brother, can you help Xiaosheng lift it? After the grinding disc fell, "Zhang Sheng" bent down and tried it, lifting left and right, but the grinding disc did not move. No one expected that "Zhang Sheng" would walk directly from the stage to the audience and find a helper. Amidst a burst of laughter, the chosen audience members excitedly walked up to the stage and lifted the millstone.
The main roles of "Passing Through the West Chamber Again" are only Zhang Sheng, Cui Yingying, and Sun Feihu, played by young actors born in the 90s and 00s of the Chu Theater, telling the story of the housework trivialities faced by Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying, who are talented and beautiful, and have strong love and loyalty. Pulling the love idol of "not eating the fireworks of the world" into daily life, the story immediately becomes interesting and down-to-earth, and the concept of marriage and love reflected in it also fits the thoughts and thoughts of contemporary young people.
From the beginning of the cross-border performance to the immersive small theater, every attempt of Wuhan Chu Theater has caused quite a stir. The innovative communication methods of Chu opera performances are also becoming more and more diverse. From singing with pop singers on TV shows to singing theme songs for "mobile games", from shooting fashion magazines to recording online promos...... All this makes Chu opera more "trendy" and more "dramatic".
On June 8 and June 15, 2024, the "Summer Song of the Theater" Youth Special - Wuhan Youth Artistic Talent Training Achievement Exhibition will hold special performances for young actors Chen Xiaomeng and Deng Yaqian of Wuhan Chu Theater. In the three classic excerpts of "Little Banquet", "Baolian Lantern· Huayue Temple" and "Visiting Friends", the young actor Chen Xiaomeng used different eyes, figures, and singing tones to interpret three characters with distinctive characteristics, Lu Bu's majestic and heroic hair, Liu Yanchang's solemnity and uprightness, and Liang Shanbo's chic and elegant were vividly portrayed by him, showing the unique charm of the three small lives of "Pheasant Tail Sheng", "Official Sheng" and "Scarf Sheng".
As a part of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, opera has attracted more and more attention and love from young people. Chu opera, which is becoming more and more "trendy", will usher in a thriving future.
Source: People's Daily