eastday, 3/9/2005
An operatic avalanche
Xu Wei/Shanghai Daily news
[image] The latest production of “The Butterfly Lovers,” regarded as the Chinese version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” focuses on the personalities of the roles.

Facing competition from a deluge of other forms of popular entertainment, the Shanghai Yueju Opera House is fighting back to regain its former mass appeal with a festival of traditional and contemporary plays, writes Xu Wei.
"Tenderness overpowers hardness" is not only an adage from Chinese Taoism that has lived through the centuries but it's also a motto that applies to the special feminine charm of an old Chinese art form - Yueju Opera.
"Shanghai has played an important role in the evolution of Yueju Opera," says You Boxin, director of the Shanghai Yueju Opera House. "It got much inspiration from the stage dramas and even some of the films made in old Shanghai. But today's local audience is likely to have formed in their minds another image of this form of 'Oriental opera'."
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of the Shanghai Yueju Opera House, a feast of Yueju Opera is planned to open next week at the Shanghai Grand Theater and Yifu Theater. A series of classic and contemporary Yueju Opera plays will be presented including some famous classics such as "A Dream of Red Mansions," "The Butterfly Lovers," "The Peacock Flies to the Southeast," "Family" and "Aunt Xianglin."
Considered to be one of the best professional troupes in China, the Shanghai Yueju Opera House has won many national awards over the years and boasts a dozen of the most renowned performers in China, including Zhao Zhigang, dubbed the "Prince of Yueju Opera," Fang Yafen and Qian Huili.
"A Dream of Red Mansions" is a stage adaptation of the well-known classic Chinese novel of the same name written by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The complex plot follows the rise and decline of a major feudal family.
The play has been performed many times but the 1999 version, starring Qian and Shan Yangping, revived Shanghai's passion for the story.
The new version retains the charming melodies and graceful dances that have moved generations of Chinese but it also features some new elements in props and stage design to create a fresh grandeur that caters more to contemporary tastes. The new production has already been performed more than 70 times in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.
"It opens with a magnificent scene in which the aristocratic Jia family holds a festival to mark the homecoming of their eldest daughter, the imperial concubine Yuanchun," says You. "The splendor of the opening makes a strong contrast with the tragic ending when the big family collapses."
Since 1999, "A Dream of Red Mansions" has earned more than 35 million yuan (US$4.32 million) at the box office. A digital TV version has been made and will be released soon.
Unlike more masculine Peking Opera plays, the staging of beautiful love stories remains as the heart of Yueju Opera productions and Shanghai audiences will certainly find that true in the newly adapted story of "The Butterfly Lovers" - the Chinese version of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."
Based on a sentimental ancient Chinese legend, the play revolves around two lovers - Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai - who cannot get married because of the different social status of their families. After their deaths they are turned into butterflies and their love continues.
"This new production is incredibly fantastic and impressive," says Yuan Xuefen, a Yueju Opera master, now in her 80s, after watching a rehearsal. "It focuses on the romance and the personalities of the roles."
The details in the staging and the butterfly-inspired costumes create symbolic references to the lovers' tragic story.
As well as the classic plays, the modern productions are also well worth a mention. "Family," based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Ba Jin, one of China's greatest contemporary writers, tells the history of a big family's rise and fall in the early 20th century and how the younger generation, still under the influence of feudal marriage arrangements, struggles for change.
Yueju Opera, also known as Shaoxing Opera, originated in the city of Shaoxing in neighboring Zhejiang Province in the mid-19th century during the late-Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Shaoxing Opera is particularly popular south of the Yangtze River and combines classical singing, dancing and acting.
"Since most Yueju Opera performers are women - with even the male parts played by women - the opera has a distinctively feminine style," You says.
Yueju is noted for the sweetness of its melodies which are interspersed with jubilant music and dazzling performing skills. It is markedly different from other traditional Chinese operas. The storylines involve romantic entanglements and family affairs and not politics or history.
"Many old people, like me, applaud this opera form because it's not difficult to learn," says Lin Baobao, a 60-something Yueju Opera fan. "The costumes and make-up are eye-catching and remind us of the prime of our youth."
Yueju also has various schools such as the "Yuan School," the "Xu School" and the "Fu School." The famous and heartrending Chinese violin concerto, "The Butterfly Lovers," also derived its inspiration from Yueju Opera.
However, under the inundation of competition from modern forms of popular entertainment, Yueju Opera and other traditional Chinese operas face a struggle to survive, let alone flourish.
For the upcoming gala of some 20 shows, academic forums and book publishing, the Shanghai Yueju Opera House has invested around 1.5 million yuan, a massive sum for any traditional opera troupe in China.
"Only a few of the plays to be staged have received government aid," You says. "We're trying to break even from box-office sales."
Audience-oriented performances with emphasis on the appearance of young performers, plus various promotions for the gala, are the approaches taken by You and his team to keep this centuries-old art form alive.
"The audience always has top priority," You says. "Compared with many other operas, Yueju, thanks to its easy-to-understand and tender storylines, is more popular. But that's still far from being enough. In future, we will have to look for more fashionable elements to attract young white-collar workers."
In the past, the Shanghai Yueju Opera House troupe has traveled to China's north and west to promote this special art form. In November, the troupe will tour local universities to give students an insight into the opera's charm.
"And a lack of new talent is another big problem for Yueju Opera and other troupes," You says. "What we can do is try to provide young performers with a bigger stage on which to show off and develop their talent."

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