On the last weekend of May, Guo Degang set fire to Jinan's theater performance market. He starred in two traditional Peking operas, "Bao Gong" (first book) and "Jigong Living Buddha" (fifth book), which were staged in Shandong Theater. On stage, Guo Degang led the actors to "shine their unique skills", and the audience applauded. The two costumes of the Kirin Opera Club are exquisite, Guo Degang even plays two roles in "Bao Gong", and the performance content of the "Lian Tai Ben Play" method is rich in content and the duration is "touching", which is definitely worth the ticket price for fans who like Guo Degang.
In recent years, Guo Degang can be described as an all-round cross-border, in addition to crosstalk, he has also put a lot of effort into commenting on books, singing Peking Opera, writing books, and acting in dramas, but he is also facing a lot of controversy in terms of level and professionalism. Guo Degang, who opened the crosstalk market, can make traditional Peking Opera performances difficult to find, and must be exploring how traditional opera adapts to the current market.
Reporter Shi Wenjing
Playing with careers and "flower work"
Guo Degang learned to comment on books at the age of 7, crosstalk at the age of 9, and in the late 80s of last century, in order to eat food, he followed the "small class" to the small theater and ran to the countryside, singing Peking Opera, Pingopera and Hebei Bangzi for 5 years, and the art categories were all mixed, and he was also entangled in whether he was professional or amateur in singing, and finally positioned himself as a "professional actor", but after singing a Peking Opera, he would humble himself "average ability and limited level". After founding the Qilin Opera Club in 2016, Guo Degang began to promote the Peking Opera Qi School and entered the Peking Opera Qi Gate.
In Jinan's "Bao Gong" (Touben), the cast and instrument classes are composed of actors from the Qilin Opera Society, Jinan Peking Opera, Tianjin Peking Opera and other troupes, but Guo Degang is the absolute leading actor. Guo Degang's rehearsal of the traditional version of "Bao Gong", including "Building the Royal Guild", "Fighting Luan Driving", "Xia Chenzhou", "Uncle Guo", "Ying Feng Driving", "Fighting Dragon Robe", "Guizhou Bao Mian", etc., the "head book" of Jinan's performance, from "Tanuki for Prince" to "Fighting Luan Driving", the performance lasted more than three hours, Guo Degang played two roles by himself, Chen Lin, the key figure in the story of the tanuki for the prince, and then changed his profession and played Bao Gong.
"Trades involve wide and wide opera roads", in fact, is the characteristic of Guo Degang's performance of Peking Opera, he also played Wang Yanling and Guotai in the traditional Peking Opera "Qin Xianglian", and the old student also played Lao Dan; In "Pan Yang Lawsuit", he played the four roles of Yang Jiye, She Taijun, Pan Renmei and Kou Zhun, and he was in three professions of flower face, old student, and old dan in one play. Bao Gong and Jigong in "Bao Gong" and "Jigong Living Buddha" led by Guo Degang have Qi style style, Bao Gong has both old students and flower faces, and Jigong is a comedy on stage, mainly funny. These characters fully demonstrate Guo Degang's unique skills on the stage, singing and singing in pursuit of highlight and excitement, various action scenes "flower" continuously, rich body language, and some movements with high difficulty coefficient, winning the applause of the audience. The audience will find that Guo Degang's Peking Opera is not boring, relaxed and interesting, and it can also be seen that he has worked hard to sing Peking Opera, paid attention to the Tao, and the level of the musical instrument class is also high, not simply relying on fame to make money. For Guo Degang's crosstalk fans, turning to listen to Guo Degang's Peking Opera is also a little bit happiest.
Find a market for young audiences
Guo Degang sings Peking Opera, and there has always been controversy in terms of level and professionalism. For fans and ticket lovers who listen to the opera, Guo Degang's appearance, voice, and rhyme of Peking Opera are problematic, and he can hear Hebei Bangzi and comment on the drama. Guo Degang's singing of Peking Opera is also considered by many people to be a ticket opera.
A professional Peking Opera actor once commented on Guo Degang, "He has indeed done a good job in the performing arts ecology of crosstalk, which is the envy of many art practitioners and is worth learning... Teacher Guo cooperates and partners well with famous Peking Opera actors, but if there are no other famous Peking Opera actors to accompany him, Teacher Guo sings alone, I am afraid that there are not so many Peking Opera audiences to see him. Peking Opera Art is also looking forward to more phenomenal and traffic actors and plays. ”
Guo Degang's Kirin Opera Club did not attract audiences from the beginning, and when it was first founded, a performance sold only 9 tickets. Some actors of the drama club said that the Kirin Drama Club did not make a profit at the beginning, but it did not put a lot of money into it. In 2017, after internal adjustments, the Kirin Opera Club resumed performances, and the current promotional label is "the first Peking Opera troupe in China that can make money by selling tickets".
After several years of development, Kirin Opera Club can rearrange traditional dramas such as "Bao Gong" and "Jigong Living Buddha", and can also open up the market for national tours, which is related to Guo Degang's influence and appeal in the crosstalk art market, and also has a lot to do with playing tricks to find a young audience market. For example, the "Magic Peking Opera" "Burn My Calories", "White Dragon Horse" and "Doraemon" by the old Dan actor of the Kirin Opera Society, have long been out of the circle on social media. Guo Degang himself plays Peking Opera is even more interesting, giving full play to his personal charm, doing a lot of work, "wide belly", a performance is either "double out" or "one catch four", the role spends a lot of work, this is the early years of the theater strength of the big coffee to improve the theater attendance and the popularity of the troupe. The fashionable communication concept, coupled with the appeal of the actors, has explored a new way to adapt traditional Peking Opera to the present.
Regarding the dissemination and market of traditional Peking Opera, Guo Degang once said that it is rice and entertainment, can not underestimate it, can not hold it to the sky, always feel that watching a Peking Opera can make the audience get the spiritual sublimation, this will make the audience feel that Peking Opera is very strange, will feel unacceptable, will stay away from art, but can not disrespect Peking Opera, so many people point to Peking Opera to eat, it has immeasurable merit, we must look at it fairly. "Peking Opera is not outdated, it completely inherits Peking Opera, with the concept of fashion, just do. But don't underestimate the audience, the audience can see where you are good and where you are not. ”
Guo Degang performed in Jinan, and was also grateful to the audience and the market: "The Peking Opera here is very good, the opera is very good, the market is very good, the audience is also very good, I hope to come and go often with Shandong and Jinan in the future." ”