I'm not sure if I've blogged about this before or not, but very long ago, there was this Taiwanese singer by the name of Lin Jun that sang a very interesting song based on the melody of "Du Ma Diao" (one of the major melodies of Taiwanese opera). Recently I happened to chanced upon a MV (self-made one of course) of this song on Youtube, and hence I'm sharing with all the Taiwanese opera fans out there. Enjoy!
Showing posts with label Taiwanese opera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taiwanese opera. Show all posts
Friday, June 18, 2010
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Taipei Fei Feng Yi Opera Troupe's "Dou E's Grievance"
Yesterday was my first show of Tapei Fei Feng Yi Opera Troupe, despite them having performed since 23 January.
The show they staged yesterday was "Dou E's Grievance", quite is quite a classic repertoire across many opera genres. Being a street opera troupe, I am very curious as to how they would stage it. Fortunately, this show is still rather tradition, keeping to the essence of the original text. The only difference was that the role of Zhang Lu'er, the baddie character usually portrayed as a clownish role, now had a more suave-looking appearance. It was no doubt a very far off from the conventional portrayal of this character, I feel it is still pretty much acceptable.
What I like about this show is that the dramatic structure of the story. In most other versions, the plot moves in a straight chronological pattern, and the dramatic climax, which is the part where Dou E was executed, are located right in the center of the performance. This form of story-telling is problematic to me, because the plot from the climax onwards until the resolution, which is merely about Dou E finding her father and redress her grievances, lacks the heightening tension to keep me enticed. In Fei Feng Yi's version, however, the same climax was pushed to almost to the end of the performance, and following that immediately was the resolution. In comparison, the flow of the plot is much smoother, and I feel more engaged to the story.
Of course, that is not to say the performance is not without flaws. There're instances whereby actors wear watches on stage, and inappropriately dressed ensembles. However, being street opera in nature, one can't really ask too much in these aspects, since it's supposed to focus more on entertainment than artistic appreciation.
The show they staged yesterday was "Dou E's Grievance", quite is quite a classic repertoire across many opera genres. Being a street opera troupe, I am very curious as to how they would stage it. Fortunately, this show is still rather tradition, keeping to the essence of the original text. The only difference was that the role of Zhang Lu'er, the baddie character usually portrayed as a clownish role, now had a more suave-looking appearance. It was no doubt a very far off from the conventional portrayal of this character, I feel it is still pretty much acceptable.
What I like about this show is that the dramatic structure of the story. In most other versions, the plot moves in a straight chronological pattern, and the dramatic climax, which is the part where Dou E was executed, are located right in the center of the performance. This form of story-telling is problematic to me, because the plot from the climax onwards until the resolution, which is merely about Dou E finding her father and redress her grievances, lacks the heightening tension to keep me enticed. In Fei Feng Yi's version, however, the same climax was pushed to almost to the end of the performance, and following that immediately was the resolution. In comparison, the flow of the plot is much smoother, and I feel more engaged to the story.
Of course, that is not to say the performance is not without flaws. There're instances whereby actors wear watches on stage, and inappropriately dressed ensembles. However, being street opera in nature, one can't really ask too much in these aspects, since it's supposed to focus more on entertainment than artistic appreciation.
Ghost of Dou E; at first glance I thought she resembled Kim Boey of our troupe!
Dou E's father Dou Tianzhang; I supposed the actor playing this role is the troupe leader as she was the spokesperson for the troupe last night during the interval
I thought this costume for Madam Cai looked nice, but feels too much like a Manchurian costume.
Such a suave-looking Zhang Lu'er; can you accept such drastic difference?
Actors in action.
Actors in action (court scene).
Execution scene.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Tang Meiyun's Female Impersonation
Tang Meiyun is a renowned xiaosheng actress in Taiwanese opera. Because of her suave and manly stage appearance, it is very hard for one to accept if she was to cross over to take on dan roles. In fact, in one of her shows, "Qin Xuemei Punishes Her Son", she took on the title role of Qin Xuemei and the result was devastating. However, recently I found this clip on tudou.com, and I thought it wasn't that bad. This show was titled "Zhuang Zhou Tests His Wife", in which Tang Meiyun took on the role of Zhuang Zhou's wife Tian Yun. Her acting wasn't very outstanding, I would say, but I feel that her "manliness" was suitable for this role, as Tian Yun is not a typical feminine character, but a very tough woman who had to make a very head-splitting decisionas to whether to chop off her "dead" husband's head to save her" lover" (her "lover" was in fact the transformation of her husband, who had faked death to test Tian Yun's loyalty towards him), or preserve her husband's corpse and let her "lover" die of a strange illness. In this aspect, an actress who is too "soft" or feminine would be deemed inappropriate because it would not bring out the role's strong character.
Tang Meiyun as a dan
Tang Meiyun as a sheng
Wacky Pseudo-Taiwanese Opera "The Butterfly Lovers"
Here're clips from a pseudo-Taiwanese opera show (It's actually Pili puppet show overlaid with Taiwanese opera soundtrack), and I thought it was real wacky. Enjoy!
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