Wu Fenghua is a famous Fan-style Xiaosheng from Shaoxing Yue Opera Troupe while Chen Ying is Fu-style Huadan from Shanghai Yue Opera Company. Below are the clips of both actresses singing excerpts from "The Butterfly Lovers" in seperate renditions.
The Fu-style of singing was created by Fu Quanxiang, who has always been compared to the Coloratura sopranos in western operas, as her flowery singing style requires one to sing in a wide vocal range and usually accompanied by frequent leaps into high notes and pitch slides. In the next clip, they'd switch genders and act as the Princess and her consort respectively in "The Arrogant Princess". The role of the Princess is usually sung by a Lyu-style Huadan (also another of Coloratura-style) whereas the role of the consort is sung by, well, a Fan-style Xiaosheng.
My verdict:
Wu Fenghua's Xiaosheng roles were very good, but however, when she crossed over to the Huadan category, she paled in comparison as her "manliness" could still be found. Hence although she tried to be as gentle as she could, she still felt more like a authoritative Empress than an arrogant Princess. However, the part where she started crying like a little girl after being slapped by her consort made me feel sorry for her, and that managed to win back some points for her. There wasn't much to talk about in terms of her singing as I feel that it sounded close to what a Lyu-style singing should sound like. Overall, I feel that Wu Fenghua's portrayal of the Princess rather cute, as I can never imagine her to take on such roles. Chen Ying, however, was a bit of a disappointment. Her singing as a Fu-style Huadan was good, but not when she tried on the Fan-style. It made her sounded very amatuer, and was one of the poorest among the other actors. Her shen duan, however, was still within my expectation. I have not seen the original version of this show, so I don't really know how the consort actually hit the Princess, but in this version, the consort only gave his princess wife a light smack across the face, which I thought was very comical.
My ratings:
Wu Fenghua's singing
Wu Fenghua's acting
Wu Fenghua's entertainment value
Overall rating for Wu Fenghua
Chen Ying's singing
Chen Ying's acting
Chen Ying's entertainment value
Overall rating for Chen Ying
The Fu-style of singing was created by Fu Quanxiang, who has always been compared to the Coloratura sopranos in western operas, as her flowery singing style requires one to sing in a wide vocal range and usually accompanied by frequent leaps into high notes and pitch slides. In the next clip, they'd switch genders and act as the Princess and her consort respectively in "The Arrogant Princess". The role of the Princess is usually sung by a Lyu-style Huadan (also another of Coloratura-style) whereas the role of the consort is sung by, well, a Fan-style Xiaosheng.
My verdict:
Wu Fenghua's Xiaosheng roles were very good, but however, when she crossed over to the Huadan category, she paled in comparison as her "manliness" could still be found. Hence although she tried to be as gentle as she could, she still felt more like a authoritative Empress than an arrogant Princess. However, the part where she started crying like a little girl after being slapped by her consort made me feel sorry for her, and that managed to win back some points for her. There wasn't much to talk about in terms of her singing as I feel that it sounded close to what a Lyu-style singing should sound like. Overall, I feel that Wu Fenghua's portrayal of the Princess rather cute, as I can never imagine her to take on such roles. Chen Ying, however, was a bit of a disappointment. Her singing as a Fu-style Huadan was good, but not when she tried on the Fan-style. It made her sounded very amatuer, and was one of the poorest among the other actors. Her shen duan, however, was still within my expectation. I have not seen the original version of this show, so I don't really know how the consort actually hit the Princess, but in this version, the consort only gave his princess wife a light smack across the face, which I thought was very comical.
My ratings:
Wu Fenghua's singing
Wu Fenghua's acting
Wu Fenghua's entertainment value
Overall rating for Wu Fenghua
Chen Ying's singing
Chen Ying's acting
Chen Ying's entertainment value
Overall rating for Chen Ying
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