Chinanews.com, Shaoxing, January 1 (Xiang Jing, Wu Kemeng) "The inheritance of classic dramas depends on young talents, and young people must take over the 'golden hoop stick'. A few days ago, after watching the first performance of the new version of Shaoxing Opera Monkey Opera "Flame Mountain" in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, the famous performing artist and the "Monkey King" in the hearts of Chinese, Liu Xiaolingtong (real name Zhang Jinlai) praised the new force on the stage, and he said bluntly in an interview, "In the young actors, I see the hope for the inheritance and development of Shao Opera." ”
The year 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the six-year-old child of the "Grandmaster of Shao Opera". In order to commemorate a generation of grandmasters, Zhejiang Shao Opera Art Research Institute created a new version of Shao Opera "Flaming Mountain", and staged it in Shaoxing, the birthplace of Shao Opera. As the son of Liulingtong, the image of Monkey King played by Liulingtong in the TV series "Journey to the West" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and has become a classic memory of several generations. This time, he made a special trip back to his ancestral hometown of Shaoxing to watch the new drama, and the six young children were deeply grateful, "It is very meaningful for the hometown Shaoxing Opera Troupe to commemorate his father in this way. ”
The scene of the performance of the new version of Shao Opera "Flaming Mountain". Photo courtesy of Xiong Xiangzhu
Shao opera is a national intangible cultural heritage, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Shao opera from local opera sang in China to the world. Liu Xiaolingtong said that Shaoxing opera was born from Mr. Lu Xun's social opera, monkey opera is the most representative work of Shaoxing opera, there was no series of monkey operas in Shaoxing before, and later under the exploration of his father and uncle Qilingtong, there was gradually a series of monkey operas such as "Sun Wukong Three Fights White Bone Spirit", "Flaming Mountain" and "Sun Wukong Havoc", and with the inheritance and development of generations, Shaoxing opera monkey opera continues to keep pace with the times.
"Shao Opera Monkey Opera is not a father alone, but a group of people, a generation. Liu Xiaolingtong mentioned that over the years, Shao Opera Monkey Opera has continuously adapted, borrowed and learned from the quintessence of Peking Opera represented by Peking Opera, and the monkey opera art of various types of opera has been integrated to form a "Zhang-style Monkey Opera". In his father's words, Shao opera is the root, and monkey opera should gather the strengths of each family.
"Renovating" classic old operas is a major focus of inheriting and carrying forward Shao opera monkey opera.
Taking the classic repertoire of Shao Opera Monkey Opera "Flaming Mountain" as an example, the play was adapted in the 20s of the 50th century based on part of the chapters of "Journey to the West", including the two stories of Sun Wukong vs. Red Boy and Sun Wukong borrowing a banana fan, with a duration of nearly three hours. According to Zhang Jie, director of the new version of Shao Opera's "Flaming Mountain", Sun Wukong's battle against Red Boy is a relatively hot martial arts, and Sun Wukong's three borrowing banana fans are biased towards humorous and witty literary dramas.
In order to change this phenomenon, taking the opportunity of "Flaming Mountain" being listed as a central intangible cultural heritage protection fund project in 2023, the local Shao Opera Troupe has adapted the original script, focusing on the classic plot of Monkey King borrowing a banana fan three times, and strung together the entire story with eight paragraphs, making the structure more exquisite and rigorous.
It is worth noting that the new version of the repertoire is starring young actors, and the new expression and interpretation of the "youth lineup" of Shao Opera monkey opera has injected new vitality into the tradition.
Playing the Monkey King is the winner of the "Magnolia Memorial Award" and the "post-90s" Shao opera actor Wang Haoshuang. In an interview, he said, "The new version has added some 'fighting' scenes, which tests the physical strength of the actors, and of course makes the play more interesting and interesting." In addition, with the blessing of modern technology, the whole stage looks more exquisite, showing the charm of contemporary Shao opera. ”
Including Wang Haoshuang, on today's traditional opera stage, whether it is Wang Ning, a veteran of the "post-90s" Peking Opera Yan School, or Chen Lijun, a "post-90s" Yue Opera student, more and more young faces have "become popular" and blooming with new vitality in old operas.
In the view of the six-year-old children, the inheritance of drama depends on young people, and at present, young talents are taking over the "golden hoop stick" of Shao Opera monkey opera integrity and innovation.
For the inheritance of young power, he believes that Shaoxing Opera Monkey Opera should retain the bold singing charm of traditional Shaoxing Opera, young actors should concentrate on practice, pay attention to the details of the character, and the external artistic expression should serve the character, and at the same time, young talents should also give full play to their subjective initiative, innovate the form of expression on the basis of integrity, and inject new youth power into Shaoxing Monkey Opera. (ENDS)