On the evening of August 20, 2024, the long-awaited Peking Opera "Silang Visits His Mother", a collaboration between famous artists, was performed at the Chang'an Grand Theater in Beijing. The performance site was full of flowers, stars, and genres. The three generations of artists, old, middle, and young, performed hand in hand, presenting a feast of Peking Opera art to the theater fans and audience, bringing real artistic enjoyment to everyone, and jointly composing a song. An unforgettable story about a pear garden.
The theme of this performance is "Harmonious Family, Filial Piety and Love for Relatives", focusing on promoting and inheriting China's excellent traditional culture and fine moral traditions. The China Aging Development Foundation hopes that through this charity performance, more people can feel the power of "harmonious inheritance" and that "filial piety to the elderly and love for relatives" will continue to be promoted in the new era. The organizer, China Will Library, and the supporting unit, Heirloom Group, fully demonstrated their corporate responsibility and responsibility, and used practical actions to make useful exploration and practice in building a system of inheritance of traditional Chinese virtues. As a performance unit, the Beijing Peking Opera Theater provided strong support and guarantee for this performance. As a state-owned literary and art troupe and an important literary and artistic force in the capital, the academy has always focused on the contribution and empowerment of public welfare undertakings, public welfare fields, and public welfare performances. In order to ensure the overall artistic level of this performance and reflect the theater's fruitful achievements in talent training and echelon building, three generations of artists from different genres, old, middle and young, were carefully arranged to perform the performance with passion. What is even more gratifying is that the setting of actors and genres is in the same vein as the 1956 classic "Shiro Visits His Mother", reflecting the efforts of the organizers, performance units and all participants to "provide excellent cultural resources" The mission of "exporting spiritual civilization products" is important.
The Peking Opera "Silang Visits His Mother" is an old opera that has been performed for a long time and is very popular among theater fans. The classic arias in the opera are widely sung and have a solid mass base. This play is also a good play of "Shuan Jiao Er". Many famous Peking opera masters collaborated together, and actors from different genres played the same role in the play, which became the biggest highlight of the play. This collaborative version of "Shiro Visits His Mother" has a luxurious lineup. It not only brings together the much-anticipated young talents and invites popular successors, but also sincerely invites actors with high artistic attainments, both virtue and art, and who are almost octogenarian. The older generation of artists joined Huacai to make their debut. On the night of the performance, three generations of artists, old, middle and young, with different artistic styles and superb performance levels, caused deafening applause and cheers to burst into the audience, making every theater fan at the scene sincerely admire and become addicted to the theater.
In this collaborative performance of "Silang Visits His Mother", the "Princess Iron Mirror" is played by Li Hui, Zheng Xiao, Dou Xiaoxuan and the performing artist Wen Ruhua respectively; "Yang Yanhui" is played by Tan Xiaoyu, Ling Ke and Mu Yu; "Queen Mother Xiao" " is played by You Yaying and performing artist Shang Huimin; "Taijun She" is played by Shen Wenli and performing artist Zhao Baoxiu respectively; the "big uncle" and "second uncle" in the play are played by Peking Opera famous ugly Huang Baixue and Mei Qingyang; "Yang Zongbao" and "Yang Liulang" are played by young talents Zhou Xiaomeng and Fei Xiang respectively. The outstanding artistic presentation of each actor left a deep artistic impression on the audience. Although the performance is over, the lingering sound lingers in the ears, and the voice, emotion and appearance are still vivid in the minds of the audience, making it difficult for the audience to calm down for a long time. The biggest highlight of this performance is that although each actor belongs to a different genre and has his or her own style of singing, chanting and acting, what is commendable is that they have devoted themselves to studying the characteristics of their genre, followed the rules of opera performance, and inherited the principle of "keeping things straight and not being old-fashioned, With the artistic concept of "respecting the past but not retro", we use skillful performance to depict characters, use perfect voices to convey true feelings, and inherit the essence and cultural connotation of opera art with heart and emotion, making people comfortable to listen to and enjoyable to watch, and bringing joy to the audience. Come for a great art experience.
In the performance that night, on the one hand, the audience was intoxicated by the wonderful performances of three generations of artists, old, middle and young. On the other hand, they deeply felt the spiritual power and cultural charm contained in the excellent traditional Chinese culture from their performances.Li Hui and You Yaying, representatives of outstanding young Peking Opera talents, played the roles of "Princess Iron Mirror" and "Queen Mother Xiao" respectively in the performance that night. The outstanding performances of these two young talents were highly praised by the audience. As the third generation descendant of the Huang (Guiqiu) School, Li Hui has a profound understanding of the sweetness, beauty, hardness and softness of the Huang School's singing, and is very popular and sought after by young theater fans. You Yaying's rapid artistic growth is impressive. Her handsome appearance, strong and sweet singing voice and standard figure have won everyone's praise. Li Hui and You Yaying successfully created the artistic images of "Princess Iron Mirror" and "Queen Mother Xiao" in "Stealing Order". Li Hui's singing fully embodies the characteristics of the Huang School's singing style, which sounds fresh, vigorous, crisp and melodious, but also euphemistic, sweet, cordial and touching. The sentence "I haven't left yet" was handled in a fresh and playful manner without losing the identity of the character he is portraying. The audience's full applause is the greatest recognition of the actor's performance level. Although You Yaying is still young, she has solid skills. The "Queen Mother Xiao" she portrays not only loses the majesty of the leader of a country, but also has the kindness of a mother. Her singing is the essence of Shangpai, and coupled with her good artistic talent, her singing skills have become more mature and sophisticated. Zheng Xiao and Dou Xiaoxuan belong to the Mei School of Art. After years of stage art training, they have gradually formed their own personal artistic performance style. The "Princess Iron Mirror" created by Zheng Xiao in "Sitting in the Palace" is beautiful, dignified and generous, with a sweet and mellow singing voice, and a clear and melodious singing voice. Whether it was "Four Guesses" or the duet with "Yang Yanhui", they were all done well, reflecting good artistic skills and the ability to skillfully control the duet. As a popular young master of the Mei School, Dou Xiaoxuan has beautiful singing, delicate performances, both literary and military skills, and a wide range of operas, and has many fans. In this collaborative performance, she played the role of "Princess Iron Mirror" in "Hui Ling". She is beautiful and luxurious, her singing and singing are vivid and expressive, her rhythm is well controlled, and she can control the inner emotions of the character with ease, which fully demonstrates Mei (Lan)'s character. Fang) The unique charm of art.
In this collaborative version of the Peking Opera "Silang Visits His Mother", the three actors who play "Yang Yanhui" have become the focus of everyone's attention. As a descendant of Tan (Xinpei), one of the founders of Peking Opera, Tan Xiaoyu has a good family background and has been passionate about the art of Peking Opera since childhood. With good artistic talent, supplemented by the careful teaching of many famous teachers and years of diligent study and practice, she is well-known among her peers. Stand out and become an outstanding old student art performance talent. Tan Xiaoyu plays the role of "Yang Silang" in "Sitting in the Palace". His calm and sophisticated temperament, sincere performance, generous and mellow voice and sophisticated singing perfectly show that "Yang Yanhui" is depressed and misses his relatives in his hometown. sad mood. Tan Xiaoyu's singing skills are outstanding, especially the Ga tune of "called Xiaofan". His voice is so powerful that it shakes the whole world, which is extremely enjoyable to listen to. Her narration, standard rhyme and exquisite enunciation of words skillfully integrate the inner emotions and skills of the characters she portrays, achieving an artistic effect that makes the audience empathize with her. The artistic expression of the specially invited young master Ling Ke from the Dalian Peking Opera Theater also brought surprises to the audience, once again demonstrating his superior artistic strength. In this performance, he played the role of "Yang Yanhui" in the scenes of "delivering orders", "passing customs", "touring camp" and "meeting brother" and "meeting mother". This play is a play that Ling Ke often performs. He has performed with many famous and emerging artists from different genres, and has accumulated rich artistic experience. This performance once again revealed his skillful acting skills and outstanding singing skills, and won repeated applause and cheers from the audience. Mu Yu is the backbone of the Beijing Peking Opera Theater and has a high reputation among theater fans. In the performance that night, he played the role of "Yang Yanhui" in "Meeting His Wife", "Crying Hall" and "Huiling". As an outstanding inheritor of Mapai art, Mu Yu is not only good at singing but also good at acting. He expresses "Yang Yanhui"'s guilt about his married wife, his inability to leave his mother, and his flesh-and-blood affection for his brothers and sisters in a clear-cut and smooth performance. There is a degree of detail, and the characters are vividly portrayed. In many classic arias, Mu Yu interprets the vocal characteristics of Mapai art with full charm and emotion.
The Peking Opera "Silang Visits His Mother" has many characters, complete professions, and distinct personalities, each with its own merit.The young talent Zhou Xiaomeng brought to life the artistic image of "Yang Zongbao" as a young man with high aspirations and high spirits. His singing style was very similar to that of Jiang (Miao Xiang) School, and was warmly welcomed by the audience. "Taijun She" portrayed by the famous Peking Opera veteran Shen Wenli, and "Uncle Da Guo" and "Uncle Er Guo" played by famous Peking opera actors Huang Baixue and Mei Qingyang respectively all left an unforgettable artistic impression on the audience, fully demonstrating the different professions , the artistic beauty of genre.
This time "Silang Visits His Mother" co-produced by three generations of artists, old, middle and young, the three senior artists Shang Huimin, Zhao Baoxiu and Wen Ruhua, their exquisite and profound artistic attainments and stage art expressiveness with personal performance characteristics, made everyone present Everyone was moved and admired by it. As an outstanding descendant of Shang Pai, the eldest granddaughter of Peking Opera master Shang Xiaoyun, and an intangible inheritor of Peking Opera Shang Pai, Shang Huimin has trained many outstanding successors of Shang Pai and made outstanding contributions to promoting Shang Pai art and inheriting opera culture. artistic contribution. This demonstration performance by Shang Huimin despite his age not only allowed everyone to once again appreciate the artistic charm of Shang Pai, but also allowed the audience to see the awe and love of the older generation of artists for the art of opera. Although he is nearly 60 years old, he still maintains such strong artistic vitality, which has enlightening and educational significance in helping young people learn to inherit the genre, apply performance techniques, and interpret and shape characters. Shang Huimin's every move, every word, and every word conveyed her feelings and thoughts so beautifully that she looked like the "Living Queen Mother Xiao". As a leading figure in the Peking Opera Lao Dan profession today, Zhao Baoxiu has been caring about the growth of young actors with practical actions and has made unremitting efforts for the inheritance and development of the Peking Opera Lao Dan profession. In the performance that night, Zhao Baoxiu's voice was still full, strong and magnetic, and her accent was still smooth and tenacious, showing her strong artistic foundation. Wen Ruhua is a performing artist of the Peking Opera Zhang (Junqiu) School. Although she is 77 years old, she still maintains a good artistic state. Her sweet and round voice and delicate and euphemistic accent are particularly commendable. Wen Ruhua's acting is even more outstanding, and it fits the character very well. When he came off the stage, he lightly pointed at the "little brother" in his arms and murmured in his mouth. The silence here was really better than the sound, achieving an excellent artistic effect.
The most important thing for the inheritance and development of a genre is to act more. The artistic growth of an actor also depends on the experience and accumulation of one play. But there is no doubt that only high-level performances have the value and significance of inheritance and development. As a loyal audience who likes opera art and is also a worker engaged in television art, the author has watched countless performances that I can’t remember. If I think about it carefully, there are only a handful of performances that left a deep impression. . What is gratifying is that the performance on August 20, 2024 will definitely be unforgettable for me for a long time, and this warm memory will always be engraved in my heart.
Text/Li Honggen (The author is the director of the Science, Education and Ideological and Political Center of China Education Television)
Editor/Cui Wei
