Five great theaters of Shanghai occupy Chang’an and the Mei Lanfang Theater in July.

Plum Blossom winners galore - Chen Shaoyun, Shi Yihong, Wang Peiyu, An Ping from the Shanghai Jingju Theater, Mao Shanyu from the Shanghai Huju Theater, Qian Huili, Shan Yangping, Zhang Ruihong and Wang Zhiping from the Shanghai Shaoxing Opera Theater all contribute to the memorable event.

The Shanghai Pingtan Troupe will present a new adaptation of traditional works, titled Four Beauties, four pingtan pieces about the four beauties of Chinese history – Xi Shi, Diaochan, Wang Zhaojun and Yang Guifei.

The Shanghai Huaji Troupe will entertain the audience with a large-scale farce, Crow and Sparrow, you can see the performers in the lower left corner on the poster, I bet it will be funny.

Program in details:

2012-07-07, Chang’an Grand Theater
Large-scale modern Shanghai Opera《董梅卿》Dong Meiqing - Shanghai Huju Theater
Mao Shanyu (茅善玉), Zhu Jian (朱俭),  Liang Yuegang (凌月刚)

2012-07-08, Chang’an Grand Theater
New pingtan piece《四大美人》Four Beauties - Shanghai Pingtan Troupe
Qin Jianguo (秦建国), Jiang Zhaokun (江肇焜), Guo Yulin (郭玉麟), Mao Xinlin (毛新琳), Gao Bowen (高博文), Jiang Wen (蒋文), Zhou Hui (周慧),  Zhu Lin (朱琳), Lu Jiawei (陆嘉玮), Lu Jinhua (陆锦花)

2012-07-09, Chang’an Grand Theater
Large-scale huajixi《乌鸦与麻雀》Crow and Sparrow - Shanghai Huaji Troupe
Qian Cheng (钱程),  Qin Lei (秦雷), Hu Qingyun (胡晴云),  Xiao Weng Shuangjie (小翁双杰), Chen Jian (陈健)

2012-07-09, Mei Lanfang Grand Theater
Shaoxing Opera highlights - Shanghai Shaoxing Opera Theater
Excerpts from popular plays like To Catch a Fish, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Jade Hairpin…
Qian Huili (钱惠丽), Shan Yangping (单仰萍), Zhang Ruihong (章瑞虹), Wang Zhiping (王志萍), Chen Ying (陈颖), Hua Yiqing (华怡青), Zhang Yongmei (张永梅), Zhang Hailing (章海灵), Huang Hui (黄慧), Ding Xiaowa (丁笑娃)

2012-07-10, Mei Lanfang Grand Theater
Shaoxing Opera classic《梁山伯与祝英台》Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai - Shanghai Shaoxing Opera Theater
Zhang Ruihong (章瑞虹), Chen Ying (陈颖), Zhang Hailing (章海灵)

2012-07-11, Mei Lanfang Grand Theater
Beijing Opera highlights - Shanghai Jingju Theater
Audience favorites Luo Cheng Cries at the City Gate, Wenzhao Pass, Golden Sand Shoal, The Great Enthronement
Jin Xiquan (金喜全), Wang Peiyu (王珮瑜), Xi Zhonglu (奚中路), Li Jun (李军), Shi Yihong (史依弘), Xiong Minxia (熊明霞), Hu Xuan (胡璇), Xu Jingen (许锦根),  Yan Qinggu (严庆谷)

2012-07-12, Mei Lanfang Grand Theater
New historical Beijing Opera《成败萧何》Success and Failure of Xiao He - Shanghai Jingju Theater
Chen Shaoyun (陈少云), An Ping (安平), He Shu (何澍), Guo Ruiyue (郭睿玥), Fu Xiru (傅希如), Yang Yang (杨扬)

Article: Sina Entertainment
Pictures: Shanghai Jing-Kun Art Center, Shanghai Yifu Stage

I posted two with the elders, now I post one with new talents.

I’ve seen this highlights show recently at kuke.com (when it was still free), I think I even mentioned to Bertrand that Fu Xiru’s Shang Tian Tai was “very not bad”. There’s much more to this boy than a cute face. I mean Fu Xiru. :P Maybe he isn’t the meekest young man in the world, but he has talent, taste and works really hard.

Fu Xiru is pretty lucky in regards of teachers, amongst many others he learnt wusheng from Li Yusheng (李玉声), laosheng from Wang Ping (王平) and Li Haotian (李浩天), I bet guidance from these persons came handy in this particular play.

The opera Hit with the Golden Brick has been discussed sufficiently before. (I still think the English title smells but I can’t come up with another one.) The artistic director of this current production was exactly the above mentioned Li Haotian, older brother of Li Baochun. (At the start of this year, Li Haotian, Fu Xiru, Yang Donghu and Zhao Qun starred in a Wildboar Forest, this 40 minutes long audience video has the most interesting parts: @tudou.com. I like both Li brothers, but daddy is simply better… Y.Y)

OK back to the brick. The long photo strip below is the courtesy of 狠老虎不喂 (again), just like these a-ma-zing ones: [Download stage photos].

Main cast:
Liu Xiu: Fu Xiru (傅希如)
Yao Qi: Wang Yue (王越)
Yao Gang: Chen Yu (陈宇)
Concubine Guo: Miao Hairong (缪海容)
Ma Wu: Ren Guangping (任广平)
Deng Yu: Lu Su (鲁肃)
Cen Peng: Wu Xiangjun (吴响军)
Percussion: Liu Lei (刘磊)
Jinghu: Zhou Xiaoming (周晓铭)

京剧《上天台·打金砖》Shang Tian Tai – Da Jinzhuan
Shanghai Tianchan Yifu Theater, 2012-03-16
ed2k: [COPY] (updated on 11 May, I pasted the wrong link previously, sorry.)

Those small steps around 1:19:00 were really not bad.

Just a last thought: great career awaits the round-eyed Lu Su. 

We all know about the jingju crisis. But this is just heart-wrenching.

Really, really, really only these many people were interested in Jin Xiquan and Xiong Mingxia’s awesome Baimenlou yesterday??? The old gentleman on the third picture represents the average spectator I guess…

Check out the audience video (recorded by 蕴衷liuxycsu, spiced up with spectator humming happily):

→ 京剧《白门楼》Bai Men Lou (White Gate Tower)
Aria “见貂蝉不由我心如烈火” – Now that I see Diaochan, my heart is raging with fire
 [DOWNLOAD] 130MB
Performed by Jin Xiquan (金喜全).

These beautiful photos were also made by her:

Thank you Shanghai Troupe!

I added the download links of the “reversed” Long Feng Cheng Xiang to the program list post (5th dragon) – I was laughing my pants off!
I hoarded some great stage- and backstage photos too, [DOWNLOAD] (40MB) and enjoy them!

The play was following the original script, just some funny lines and props were added.

Jin Xiquan expressed his worries lately that he slowly gets too old for massively acrobatic roles, jingju profession severely lacks wuxiaosheng performers and theaters don’t intend to stage plays like Ba Da Chui - at least in this half-comedy version of this classic he could show he’s still in good condition.

Fu Xiru as Sun Shangxiang deliberately falls out of his role for the sake of a joke:

“Aren’t you Jin Xiquan by chance?”

An Ping looks and sings as qingyi much better than I thought!

Wang Peiyu removes her weaponry: big halberd, plastic laser sword, space gun… and answers “his” sweetheart’s call. (The phone call is cited from an iconic sketch of famous comedian Zhao Benshan, thus much more funny for Chinese audience.)

“Hello! Meal’s ready? ‘kay, I tell the Empress I killed Liu Bei, brb Honey!”

This imperial court was to my liking: all palace maids were boys. Chen Lin and Hao Shuai are both .

Wang Xilong, Lan Tian, Chen Lin, Hao Shuai, Hao Jie, Chen Shengjie, Wang Dun, Zhu Heji

No chance to recognize: young and pretty wudan Yang Yanan.

Yan Qinggu is pro in any role…

Have you seen such a beautiful Zhou Yu before?

Photos: 秦钟wzl, 刘骏, 卢雯2011, 蕙蕙83, 乌托邦帮

京剧反串版《龙凤呈祥》- Reversed roles edition jingju Long Feng Cheng Xiang (Harmony Through a Royal Marriage)

Location: Shanghai Jingju Theater
Date: 27 January 2012 (CCTV11 live broadcast)
Description:  In this edition no-one will play his/her usual role. This play with many characters is excellent material for a totally mixed-up setup. An Ping as laodan last week wasn’t enough? Now you can see him as qingyi! I bet the lovely Tian Hui as military mastermind Zhuge Liang will be unforgettable as well.

Cast:

乔玄：严庆谷
Qiao Xuan (laosheng): Yan Qinggu (chou)

刘备：胡璇、隋晓庆、杨楠
Liu Bei (laosheng): Hu Xuan (laodan), Sui Xiaoqing (qingyi), Yang Nan (xiaosheng)

孙尚香：安平、李军、傅希如
Sun Shangxiang (qingyi): An Ping (jing), Li Jun (laosheng), Fu Xiru (laosheng)

吴国太：范永亮
Empress Dowager of Wu (laodan): Fan Yongliang (laosheng)

孙权：何澍
Sun Quan (jing): He Shu (laosheng)

周瑜：熊明霞
Zhou Yu (xiaosheng): Xiong Mingxia (huadan)

Xiong Mingxia has household instructor, this is a frequent role of her husband:

I can’t wait to hear this hysterical laugh from her.

赵云：冯蕴、高红梅
Zhao Yun (wusheng): Feng Yun (wudan), Gao Hongmei (qingyi, daoma)

Hao Shuai instructing Gao Hongmei:

He himself will be… a pretty palace maid!

And here is Feng Yun in the same role:

Photos: 蕙蕙83

张飞：金喜全
Zhang Fei (jing): Jin Xiquan (xiaosheng)

Changing pink costume to black: can you imagine Jin Xiquan as the character below?

乔福：杨亚男
Qiao Fu (chou): Yang Yanan (wudan)

贾化：王珮瑜
Jia Hua (chou): Wang Peiyu (girl laosheng)

Just as a reminder, Wang Peiyu will play this character:

As everyone else in this season, she’s rehearsing the role in winter coat and snow boots. I wonder how long would Western opera stars of the same popularity endure before indignantly calling their manager…

鲁肃：赵欢
Lu Su (laosheng): Zhao Huan (qingyi)

诸葛亮：田慧
Zhuge Liang (laosheng): Tian Hui (qingyi)

吕范：董洪松
Lü Fan (laosheng): Dong Hongsong (jing)

Symphonic White Snake, anyone? Sound only, 73min. (SONY PCM-D50 REC MODE:44.10KHz 16bit) Despite the chatter in the background now and then it’s a good recording!
I promise you’ve never heard something like this. Courtesy of 庭庭清风.

交响·京剧·多媒体《白娘子·爱情四季》Bainiangzi·Aiqing Siji (Miss White Snake – Romance of Four Seasons)
 [DOWNLOAD] 71MB

Staged yesterday evening in Hangzhou.
I’ve never heard Jin Xiquan singing like this. Somewhere between xiaosheng and laosheng.
Dong Hongsong, who played the kind-hearted “Quasimodo” in the Notre Dame adaptation, now portrays the evil Fahai. How can someone so young and sweet-looking produce such sounds? :P
Shi Yihong’s acrobatic action was surely spectacular. Seems that I like her better in these reform-plays.
And the choir – you’ll see. Really, really, REALLY interesting production!

Cast:
Miss White Snake: Shi Yihong (史依弘)
Xiaoqing: Zha Sina (查思娜)
Xu Xian: Jin Xiquan (金喜全)
Monk Fahai: Dong Hongsong (董洪松)

Source: Hangzhou News
Photos: hitan_bri, 秦钟wzl

Tang Wan teaser: photo sets!

Downloads: [Tang_Wan.rar] [Tang_Wan_stage.rar] [Tang_Wan_stage_dysc.rar]

Promo material and stage photos, courtesy of the theater, 行者的镜界 and dysc.

Cai Xiaoying is jumping in high heels… o_O

Lavulavu, awww…

Festival season! As a compulsive list maker and chart creator I have to document this one.

6th China Peking Opera Art Festival (第六届中国京剧艺术节)
Wuhan, Hubei
(2-18 November 2011)

35 plays will be staged in total.

Today on the 13th, the lucky individuals who aren’t buried alive in Europe could watch《情殇钟楼》The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Shi Yihong, Dong Hongsong, Fan Yongliang and Jin Xiquan. Here are a few oven fresh stage photos, with a super handsome Jin Xiquan and a foxy Shi Yihong:

Whole set: [Notre-Dame-updated.rar]

Li Baochun (李宝春) and Tian Lei (田磊) represented the Li (Shaochun) school with《渭南之战》The Battle of Weinan on the 12th. I wouldn’t mind a video with this one. Same applies to Zhu Fu’s Luo Cheng on the 6th or 7th and Fu Xiru’s Guanglingsan on the 3rd. Y.Y

Another memorable performance was a new historical drama 《汉苏武》Han Su Wu on the 11th, featuring my favorite opera character Su Wu. Zhang Jianguo (张建国) was playing Su Wu and Guo Xiao (郭霄) Hu Ayun, on the picture below they are holding their baby, who is in furry coat (the scene is set at Lake Baikal) and looks like a white bunny:

On the 6th and 7th, Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu were performing the large-scale symphonic jingju《知音》Soulmates, here are two adorable pictures of them in matching uniforms:

Program list:

Opening ceremony (2011/11/02) Video will come tomorrow.
《魂系油气田》Spirit of the Oilfields (2011/11/02-03)
《广陵散》Guanglingsan (2011/11/02-03)
《唐廷枢》Tangtingshu (2011/11/04-05)
《风雨老腔》Feng Yu Lao Qiang (2011/11/04-05)
《鱼玄机》Yu Xuan Ji (2011/11/05-06)
《赵一曼》Zhao Yiman (2011/11/05-06)
《王昭君》Wang Zhaojun (2011/11/06)
《罗成》Luo Cheng (2011/11/06-07)
《知音》Soulmates (2011/11/06-07)
《天地人心》Will of the People (2011/11/07-08)
《大唐才女》Talented Girl of the Tang Dynasty (2011/11/08-09)
《香莲案》Case of Qin Xianglian (new edition) (2011/11/08-09)
《重瞳项羽》Double-pupiled Xiang Yu (2011/11/09-10)
《丫头医生》The Girl Doctor (2011/11/09-10)
《花蕊》Hua Rui (2011/11/10-11)
《张露萍》Zhang Louping (2011/11/10-11)
《渭南之战》The Battle of Weinan (2011/11/12)
《血沃芳草》Blood Watering the Grass (2011/11/12-13)
《建安轶事》Story of Jian’an (2011/11/12-13)
《长征组歌》Song of the Long March (2011/11/12-13)
《情殇钟楼》The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2011/11/13-14)
《将军道》Way of a General (2011/11/13-14)
《无旨钦差》The Case of An Dehai (2011/11/14-15)
《铁血鸿儒》The Great Scholar Wang Yirong (2011/11/14-15)
《水上灯》Water Rising up the Lantern (2011/11/15-16)
《宋家姐妹》The Song Sisters (2011/11/15-16)
《大山里》In the Mountains (2011/11/16-17)
《哪吒》Nezha (2011/11/16-17)
《刘兰芝》Liu Lanzhi (2011/11/17)
《穆桂英》Mu Guiying (2011/11/17)

Title: 新编京剧《唐琬》- New Beijing Opera Tang Wan
Location: Tianchan Yifu Theater, Shanghai
Date: 25-26 November 2011 19:15
Description:  So it’s finished in two months. Cast: Zhao Huan (赵欢), Fu Xiru (傅希如), Chen Shengjie (陈圣杰), Cai Xiaoying (蔡筱滢), Gu Liang (顾亮) Nice poster!
Reference: Click here

CNTV team took pity on me and they uploaded my much desired Shanghai Mid-Autumn Festival rare plays performance in smaller parts, also the quality got a lot better, so I’m happy now!

Download:
 0.98GB

– 京剧《桑园寄子》 上海京剧院.mp4
(Child Abandoned at the Mulberry Garden – Wang Peiyu, Li Wenwen, Bi Xixi)

– 京剧《樊江关》1-2 上海京剧院.mp4; 京剧《樊江关》2-2 上海京剧院.mp4
(Fan Jiang Guan – Shi Yihong, Xiong Mingxia)

– 京剧《横槊赋诗》 上海京剧院.mp4
(Cao Cao Singing an Ode with Long Lance - Shang Changrong)

– 京剧《路遥知马力》1-2 上海京剧院.mp4; 京剧《路遥知马力》2-2 上海京剧院.mp4
(Lu Yao and Ma Li - Chen Shaoyun, Qi Baoyu)

My personal favorite highlight: the first two minutes in the second part of Lu Yao and Ma Li.
The audience is rewarding 63 years old Chen Shaoyun’s spectacular somersault with roaring “Bravo!”. A must-see!

Photos: Liu Jun