Red Mansion Blow Wind Blow

Lately I saw this clip on Tudou.com featuring old-time Yueju partners Qian Huili and Wang Zhiping singing arias from "Dreams of the Red Mansion". However, they did not reprise their respective roles as Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. For example, Wang Zhiping sang the role of Jia Baoyu and Jia Zheng, while Qian Huili sang the role of Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai. How do you think they would fare? Watch on to find out!

Yueju Crossover - Parody Version part 3

This is the last of the 3 Yueju crossover sketch, titled "The Arrogant Princess". The role of Li Junrui (Princess) was crossdressed by Peter, while Tao Hai acted as the Empress. Luu-style huadan actress Chen Shi took on the role of the Emperor while Huaiju (a major opera genre from Jiangsu province) Qingyi actress acted as Princess Consort Guo Ai.

Yueju Crossover - Parody Version part 2

This is the second Yueju sketch for the same series, which was recorded together with the rest for the New Year's celebration (I supposed it's for this year's). This second sketch is "The Pearl Pagoda". The leading roles of Fang Qing and Chen Cui'e were taken on by Jin Jing and Jin Hong respectively. Jin Jing is a popular Qi-style actress who is famous for her potrayal of pitiful female characters like Zhu Yingtai, Du Shiniang and Bai Suzhen (Madam White Snake). Jin Hong, if you can still recall in my previous posts, is a laosheng actress famous for her solemn-faced or sly characters on stage. In this performance, Jin Jing crossed over to act a xiaosheng while Jin Hong took on a huadan role. The roles of Chen Peide and Fang Duohua (Chen Cui'e's parents) were acted by Peter and Tao Hai.

In between various segments of the sketch, video clips of excerpts from various versions of "The Pearl Pagoda" (including Yueju version, Xiju version and Huajixi version) were also featured. One thing to note is that in one of the clips, "Prince of Yueju" Zhao Zhigang also did a crossover. Not in the sense that he acted as a huadan, but he actually sang Xiju, and I felt that his performance was not bad.

Yueju Crossover - Parody Version part 1

Remember my previous posts about a Yueju crossover performance by various Yueju celebrities? That performance is meant to showcase the other unseen sides of popular Yueju stars which one rarely got to see in regular performances. This time round, I'm going to show you another series of Yueju crossover performance, but this is unlike the previous one. This series of Yueju crossover performance is in a form of comedy sketch, which is part of a variety show in one of Shanghai's TV stations featuring Chinese opera music videos and interviews with Chinese opera celebrities.

Thie first sketch I'm going to present is "Romance of the Western Chamber". Taking on the role of Cui Yingying was Xu Biaoxin, one of the up-and-rising male Lu-style xiaosheng in the Yueju scene, and Zhang Jurui was acted by female Zhang-style laosheng Wu Qun. The roles of Hong-niang and Old Madam Cui were impersonated by Tao Hai and Peter respectively, who are popular TV hosts in Shanghai and are passionate about Yueju as well.

Yueju Crossover part 4

Below are 2 clips of Qian Huili and Fang Yafen singing arias from "Romance of the Red Mansion" and "Lu You and Tang Huixian" respectively. Qian Huili was trained in Xiaosheng roles singing in Xu-style, whereas Fang Yafen was trained in Huadan roles singing in Yuan-style. The expressive Xu-style of singing is best known for frequent leaps into high notes, hence requires the singer to have a wide vocal range. The Yuan-style of singing was created by Yuan Xuefen, and it was her who paved ways to the creation of other singing styles by other Yue opera masters.




Qian Huili and Fang Yafen are famous Yue opera actresses from Shanghai Yue Opera Company. Their near perfect image on stage made them idols to many Yue opera lovers. However, in this next clip, they sacrificed their wholesome image to play the clownish roles of Third Aunt and Master Shi respectively. Zhang Hailing, a versatile actress from the same opera company who was able to switch between Laosheng and Laodan roles easily, took on a Huadan role in this clip singing Lyu-style instead.



My verdict:
This is the most enjoyable clip in this series, as Fang Yafen and Qian Huili's portayal of Third Aunt and Master Shi were really beyond my expectation. They were so comical that I just can't stop laughing. However, that doesn't make them any less serious. In fact, it was their seriousness in their role that make their renditions a success. Zhang Hailing, on the other hand, did not stand out as much as her role was more of a "serious" one. Her acting and singing were good, but her chubby size made her look a bit comical.

My ratings:
Qian Huili's singing

Qian Huili's acting

Qian Huili's entertainment value

Overall rating for Qian Huili


Fang Yafen's singing

Fang Yafen's acting

Fang Yafen's entertainment value

Overall rating for Fang Yafen


Zhang Hailing's singing

Zhang Hailing's acting

Zhang Hailing's entertainment value

Overall rating for Zhang Hailing

Yueju Crossover part 3

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

Yueju Crossover part 2

The following 2 clips features Shan Yangping and Huang Hui from Shanghai Yue Opera Company singing excerpts from "Romance of the Red Mansion" and "The Righteous Yan Lanzhen" respectively.




Shan Yangping is a Wang-style Huadan, it's signature characteristic being frequently sliding between low and high notes in the same song, and that sometimes at the end of each verse, the notes would be sung in a cadenza. Huang Hui, on the other hand, is a Lu-style Xiaosheng. This style of singing doesn't require one to sing in a wide vocal range, but is still able to captivate audience with it's simplicity and elegance. In this next clip from "Legend of He Wenxiu", Shan Yangping took on the lead role of "He Wenxiu", originally acted by Yin-style Xiaosheng and Huang Hui took on the role of Wang Lanying, originally acted by Yuan-style Huadan. Two other supporting roles were featured in this clip, Madam Yang impersonated by Bi-style Xiaosheng Ding Xiaowa and Yang Jinding impersonated by Xu-style Laosheng Jin Hong.



My verdict:
I have no doubts about Shang Yangping's rendition of a xiaosheng, since she had acted the role of Meng Lijun (who had to disguise herself as a male to save her husband-to-be) for over a 2 decades. I was pleasantly suprised that her acting as He Wenxiu was more "manly" compared to Meng Lijun. However, her singing was not within my expectation, as her voice was afterall, not "nasal" enough to sing the Yin-style. Huang Hui's rendition of Wang Lanying was not bad; her singing was close to Yuan-style, and her shen duan is good. However, her looks was a bit weird. I've seen her crossdressed as Laodan before in a crossdress rendition of "The Jade Hairpin", but she didn't look that strange at that time! I guess it could be her makeup, which spoilt her otherwise delicate looks. One thing I must comment is that Jin Hong's impersonation of Yang Jinding was out of my expectation. Jin Hong was known for her villian or strict-faced roles, but I could never imagine her to act as a cute and innocent girl like Yang Jinding.

My ratings:
Shan Yangping's singing

Shan Yangping's acting

Shan Yangping's entertainment value

Overall rating for Shan Yangping


Huang Hui's singing

Shan Yangping's acting

Shan Yangping's entertainment value

Overall rating for Shan Yangping

Yueju Crossover part 1

For those who love Yueju opera, it shouldn't take long to recall what shows and roles Wu Fenghua, Qian Huili or Fang Yafen featured in. However, are you able to visualise them "crossdressing", that is, switch over to act the opposite hang dang in which they were not specialised in?

The first two clips here features Xu Ming from Hangzhou City Yue Opera Troupe singing an excerpt from "The Butterfly Lovers" and Zhang Ruihong from Shanghai Yue Opera Company singing an excerpt from "Female Premier Meng Lijun".

They were trained as xiao sheng and specialised in the Fan-style of singing, which is famous for it's ornamented and prolonged ending notes for each line. However, in this next clip here, they took on the role of Madam Chen and Sun Gumei respectively from the show "The Annulment". The role of Madam Chen, a mix of was to be taken onLaodan and Caidan, was to be acted by a Caidan actress while the role of Sun Gumei, a Huadan, was to be acted by a Fu-style Huadan actress.



My verdict:
Xu Ming's rendition of Madan Chen was really comical, and it's hard to imagine that she was in fact a Xiaosheng if you had not known her before. Zhang Ruihong's initial appearance on stage made me laugh, because I thought she looked weird, but her imitation of Fu-style singing was quite close to how Fu Quanxiang (the founder of this style) sang. However, her shen duan was too stiff for a Huadan, and she seemed a bit hunchedback at times. These made her performance weaker in comparison to Xu Ming.

My ratings:
Xu Ming's singing

Xu Ming's acting

Xu Ming's entertainment value

Overall rating for Xu Ming


Zhang Ruihong's singing

Zhang Ruihong's acting

Zhang Ruihong's entertainment value

Overall rating for Zhang Ruihong