A special performance commemorating the 10th anniversary of Kunqu Opera being inscribed an Intangible
Cultural Heritage.
When the world-famous Chinese literary masterpiece A Dream of Red Mansions meets Kunqu Opera,
one of the first "Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritages" of China nominated by the United Nations,
we will see a masterpiece of the century. This will be the large and deluxe youth version of Kunqu
Opera, A Dream of Red Mansions, first staged at the NCPA on April 7th, 2011. The opera, divided
into two halves, will last for 5 hours. The main line lies in the birth and death of Jia Baoyu,
showing the rise and fall of a feudal autocrat family estate, Rongguo Mansion. The opera broke
the boundaries among troupes and had auditions around China for roles and ultimately xiaosheng
(a young man's role) Weng Jiahui from Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe and Shi Xiaming from Kunqu Opera
Theatre of Jiangsu Performing Arts Group will play Jia Baoyu; rising stars Zhu Bingzhen, Shao
Tianshuai and Zhang Yuanyuan from Northern China Kunqu Opera Theatre will play Lin Daiyu. Four
Plum Blossom Award winners, Wei Chunrong, Bai Xiaojun, Wang Yinghui and Shi Hongmei, from Northern
China Kunqu Opera Theatre, China National Peking Opera Theatre and Hebei Clapper Opera Theatre
respectively, will play Wang Xifeng, Grandma Jia, Jia Zheng and Madame Wang. The creative team
consist of screenwriter Wang Xufeng, general director Cao Qijing, director Xu Chunlan, singing
designer Wang Dayuan, music director Dong Weijie, lighting engineer Xing Xin, costume designer
Peng Dinghuang and hair designer Wang Guirong is another elite combination of Chinese stage art
of today. Kunqu opera Dream of Red Mansions is a unique cross-troupe artistic creation; furthermore,
it will be a masterpiece worth the wait.
Synopsis
The exquisitely luxurious, delicate and elegant Grand View Garden is completed. People from the
residence of the Jia family, which enjoyed a prominent status at the time, are busy preparing
for homecoming of Yuanfei, concubine of the emperor, after seven years in the imperial palace.
In order not to make this park idle, Yuanfei offers the sisters in the family and Jia Baoyu to
move into the gaden.
Living in a group of girls, Jia Baoyu doesn't follow the high expectations of the family to study
"The Four Books and Five Classics"; instead, he hides near the Qinfang Bridge and reads secretly
with Lin Daiyu the banned book Romance of the Western Chamber, to express their freedom of thinking
with thriving love between them.
Baoyu's father, Jia Zheng is eager to see his son to succeed, but he showes contempt for fame
and fortune and is against the traditional ritual of feudalism, drawing eyebrows for the maid
Qingwen and even making friends with the actor Qiguan (actors were despised in ancient China) ...
Friendship between Baoyu and Qiguan is slandered as flirting by the people from the residence
of the Prince of Zhongshun (royal and obedience), which almost leads to the death of Baoyu, beaten
by his father.
Hearing that Baoyu is injury, Daiyu pays a visit to him while Qingwen, happens to be unhappy
feelings, refuses to open the door. Daiyu, getting a cold-shoulder treatment and thinking that
it is Baoyu that deliberately holds the door closed, couldn't help crying.
Seeing the falling flowers flying, Daiyu hoes alone in the garden to bury the flowers, with painful
emotions. She grieves over the fate of the fallen flowers and laments over her depression. After
seeing this, Baoyu confides his true feelings to Daiyu and the two do not melt the ice but also
treat each other as a lifelong friend.
However, in the eyes of Baoyu's parents, the ideal choice for Baoyou is Xue Baochai, believing
that this would make a best couple of gold and jade (an old Chinese saying for a relationship
that is tougher than gold and will get blessing from jade, tow elements that are contained in
the names of Baoyu and Baochai). But out of fear of another accident made by Baoyu, Wang Xifeng
present an ingenious trick of stealthily substitute.
Daiyu gets leaked news from a silly girl that Baochai would marry Baoyu and has a severe blow.
Daiyu burns the draft of poems, parts Zijuan and finally ends her life under the cruelty of the
feudal society.
When Baoyu finds that the bride is not Daiyu but Baochai, he seeks desperately for her.
Baoyu utters stifled cries of agony in front of Daiyu's tomb and leaves the Jia residence.
Baoyu becomes a monk and seems to see his past Daiyu in the fantasyland. But everything has gone,
forever - the heyday of his family, that prestigious life in the family and that unforgettable
romance in his life.
Credits
Consultant: Zhang Heping
Chief Planner: Wang Haiping
Presenter: Wang Haiping, Yan Fengyi
Supervisor: Yang Fengyi, Zhou Dongjin, Peng Lixia
Producer: Ling Jinyu, Wang Hongwei
Production: Cultural Committee of Huairou District, Beijing, Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre
Playwright: Wang Xufeng
Script adaption: Xu Chunlan, Wang Yan
Chief Director: Cao Qijing
Director: Xu Chunlan
Artistic Director: Cai Zhengren
Vocal Design: Wang Dayuan
Orchestration: Dong Weijie
Stage Design: Liu Xinglin
Lighting Design: Xing Xin
Costume Design: Peng Dinghuang
Hairstyle Design: Wang Guirong
Coach: Hu Jinfang, Qiao Yanhe
Cast
Jia Baoyu by Weng Jiahui, Shi Xiaming
Lin Daiyu (in Part I) by Zhu Bingzhen, Shao Tianshuai
Lin Daiyu (in Part II) by Zhang Yuanyuan, Wang Liyuan
Guest Artist
Wang Xifeng by Wei Chunrong
Madam Jia by Bai Xiaojun
Jia Zheng by Wang Yinghui
Mrs. Wang by Shi Hongmei
Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre
Founded in 1957, Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre is China's only state-level Kunqu Opera performing
organization in the north of Yangtze River. During half a century of art transmission, a large
number of outstanding performing artists of Kunqu Opera joined in its transmission in northern
China. In addition to inheritance of traditional repertoires, the Theatre also created and adapted
Princess Wencheng, Conveying Jingniang for Thousands of Miles , Guan Hanqing and other new
repertories, and realized innovation and continuity of this art form in a new historical stage.
Inherited from one origin, the Theatre has played a vital role in promoting inheritance and
development of Kunqu Opera art in northern China.