Chapter 33 Part Three: One Chant and Three Sighs "The Story of the Red Lantern" Ballet "The White-haired Girl"

After the New Year's Day in 1964, the northern part of the motherland was in the middle of winter with nine cold days and snowflakes and frost. However, the Shanghai Dance School located in the western suburbs of Shanghai was full of heat waves.A passionate business discussion meeting is being held in a fiery atmosphere.Shanghai Dance School was influenced and inspired by the rehearsals of adapted or new modern dramas in the opera circle at that time, and also heard that the dance school in Beijing intends to put "The Red Detachment of Women" on the ballet stage, so it immediately decided to put the long-running opera "" The White-haired Girl was adapted into a ballet, and immediately set up a creative team consisting of principal Li Mulin, choreographer Hu Rongrong, and composer Yan Jinxuan. From the basis of repeatedly watching the film of the same name, to the re-adaptation suitable for ballet performances, from the plot to the music Then to the choreography, the creative team finally drew up a detailed overall plan of "fragments first, then the whole play" and "revise and improve while experimenting with performances". It's the first time a duck is on the shelf" I don't have a solution in my heart.

The festive firecrackers of the Spring Festival are still ringing, and the news that the crew of "Red Detachment of Women" in Beijing has quietly gone south to Hainan and Guangzhou to experience life in advance quickly spread to the "Shanghai Ballet School".After the three-person creative team reported and asked for instructions anxiously, they also rushed all the way to Guangzhou.The purpose of this trip is to meet the main creators of the "Red Detachment of Women" crew and find out as much as possible about their creative ideas. The second is to personally listen to the first secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the mayor who was recuperating in Guangzhou at that time. Ke Qingshi's specific opinion.

At this time, Ke Qingshi and Zhang Chunqiao, then director of the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, put forward the spirit of "Thirteen Years in Capital Writing" and "Thirteen Years in Great Performance". Ke Qingshi received the "White-Haired Girl" "The three-person team of ", although they think that this new play that has not yet been "born" is not the main creative direction, they still expressed some personal opinions and opinions. He said: "Ballet needs to be reformed, we want to develop folk dance dramas, Singing and dancing, so that the masses love to hear and see." Although the leader's short few words did not give very clear and targeted instructions, it seems that this leader who is not fond of literature and art has not yet clarified and confused the fundamental art form of ballet and Chinese folk dance. Different, but he revealed the words of "singing and dancing" in an understatement, which made the trio suddenly enlightened, inspired and quickly found the trick of acting.

The three-person team took the fresh air of spring in the southern country, surged with the creative inspiration that flashed in their minds, and rushed back to Shanghai in a hurry.After 4 months of creation and rehearsal day and night, the earliest prototype of the ballet - the small ballet segment "The White-haired Girl" starring Cai Guoying, Gu Xiamei, etc., was held during the "Shanghai Spring" art performance in May of that year. Experimental performances were performed.Through the elegant ballet, the dance drama with strong national characteristics is also performed, which also arouses the emotional resonance of the audience.

According to the creative policy of highlighting that literature and art should serve politics, the director changed the plot of Yang Bailao being forced to death in operas and feature films to "Where is there Where there is oppression, there will be resistance” is highlighted, and the plot of Yang Bailao picking up a shoulder pole and chasing and beating the bully landlord Huang Shiren three times is specially designed in the form of dance, and finally he was beaten to death due to exhaustion. This modification of the plot, although suitable for The performance of dance movements can also highlight Yang Bailao's inner fighting character, and can strengthen the irreconcilable conflict between the two opposing classes.But from the perspective of real life and the social reality at that time, this theme artificially elevated through the art form of dance has lost the original authenticity of life.

At this time, Beijing's ballet "The Red Detachment of Women" has officially appeared on the cultural stage of the capital. The combination of singing and dancing, and what is more prominent is the brand-new artistic expression form that is very rich in the harmony and unity of Chinese national ballet steps and Western ballet techniques, which immediately created a whirlwind of "Red Detachment of Women". The Shanghai side was not discouraged, they turned pressure into motivation, and increased their efforts in polishing the singing and dancing.In order to better increase the creative power of large-scale ballets, the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the Cultural Bureau specially selected many outstanding artistic talents from other local art groups, such as the famous dramatist Huang Zuolin as an art consultant, Hu Guanshi and Du Shixiang. , Chen Benhong was in charge of stage design, Fan Chengwu was in charge of the band conductor, Zhang Hongxiang was in charge of music orchestration, and Cheng Daihui and Lin Yangyang were added to the choreographer team. Showing his ability, he worked hard all over his body.

After the second round of re-creation and modification of the ballet, when it was performed at the sixth "Shanghai Spring" in 1965, it had been changed from the original one act to a coherent eight-act ballet, and more elements were added at the end. In order to deepen the bright theme of "government grows out of the barrel of a gun", the performance was a sensation.Many newspapers and periodicals at that time were in prominent positions, and wrote articles praising "The White-haired Girl" as a beneficial and successful attempt to "three modernizations".What is particularly evocative is that the modified plot of "Yang Bailao's death" was praised by many radical-minded audiences, who believed that Yang Bailao's "three poles" that he rose up to resist were "a demonstration of the ambition of the poor and lower-middle peasants." , played the prestige of the poor and lower-middle peasants", this qualitative statement is enough to show that the political trend that emphasized "taking class struggle as the key link" began to rise at that time.

Premier Zhou Enlai and Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Yi rushed to Shanghai in person, accompanied the foreign guests to watch the whole performance of the ballet, and spoke highly of it: "The foundation of this ballet is very good. It used to be songs. The accompaniment is very good, and it is easy for the masses to understand.” Talking about Xi’er’s black hair turning into a “white-haired girl” in the storyline after four dances, Premier Zhou said with a smile: “Shanghai is cute and has the courage to create.” Boss Chen Yi also Humorously praised Youjia: "Adding accompaniment to the ballet and the four transformations of the white-haired girl are all creative. I watched three or four and reprocessed them. It can become famous all over the world!" After that, Premier Zhou I watched the performance of this play 16 times successively. This unique act shows Premier Zhou's personal preference from the heart.

After the unprecedented "Cultural Revolution" movement began, the lineup of the ballet "The White-haired Girl" has changed. Gu Xiamei, who was the first to play Xi'er in the ballet, has long been limited to the "white-haired girl" who dared to resist on the stage. "Girl", she rushed out of the limited stage space, plunged into the ranks of vigorous rebellion, and then became a victim of the struggle between gangs.For such an actor who is unwilling to be lonely and rises up to rebel and has ups and downs, the rookie ballet star Zhongqin is naturally "the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead" to replace her. In this increasingly famous ballet, she becomes the second actor to play Xi'er.At the same time, Cai Guoying and others played this role.

Jiang Qing, the notorious and notorious "literary standard bearer", accompanied Chairman Mao Zedong to watch the performance of the ballet "The White-haired Girl" for the first time on the night of April 24, 1967.Chairman Mao Zedong praised: ""The White-haired Girl" is good." The short four-word praise made every creator of the crew very excited, like a spring; "The White-haired Girl" was added together with the other seven modern plays she selected, and they were included in the first batch of so-called "eight model plays" established. They were revised and rehearsed repeatedly, and then passed He went to Japan and North Korea many times to perform and revise, plus he entertained foreign guests at the Guangzhou International Foreign Trade Fair in spring and autumn every year and performed in many festivals. The performance level of "The White-haired Girl" has reached It has reached the point of perfection.However, as one of the "Eight Model Operas" appointed by Jiang Qing, even though many performances have already been performed, every plot and even every detail of every dance step that needs to be changed must be the same as before, subject to Jiang Qing's nod and approval. The editor-director does not have this right.Wang Bing, a well-known film director who has directed "Battle in Shanghai" and "Bi Hai Dan Xin", "Arbitrarily" changed one of the "eight model plays" "Surprise Attack" because of the overall consideration of authoritative directing military films. Some details in "White Tiger Regiment" angered the mighty Jiang Qing, who was sentenced to five years in prison by the order of this "literary standard bearer" who overshadowed the sky.

At that time, when the "Cultural Revolution" movement was extremely cruel, Jiang Qing's main thoughts were all on how to usurp the party, seize power, and punish people for revenge. He had no time to take care of it, so he specially "blessed" his confidant Yu Huiyong, the Minister of Culture in charge of literature and art, to supervise the reform in person. It fell on Yu Huiyong's head alone, which only made him burnt out and embarrassed.The so-called "revision instructions" for "The White-haired Girl" were also difficult to "implement" and be effective. After Yu Huiyong acted on his own merits and only scratched the surface to revise and report it, Jiang Qing, who was so confident and arrogant, ordered it to be made into a movie. , with "outstanding achievements" and "expanding achievements". Due to the difficulty of ballet dance steps and great physical strength, the fledgling young actor Mao Huifang and the "senior sister" actor Shi Zhongqin danced "Xi'er" and "White-haired Girl" respectively. The play was first produced by Shanghai TV in 1970 in conjunction with Shanghai Film Factory, experimentally made 11 copies of black and white TV screens.The so-called "TV screen copy" is copied from movie film through TV video tape "magnetic transfer film". This black-and-white "TV screen copy" was sent to Jiang Qing for review. Jiang Qing was naturally dissatisfied after watching it. , not only lost his temper, but also ordered to overthrow and start over.Therefore, in the second year, Hu Rongrong and Fu Aidi from the Shanghai Ballet School jointly served as the stage choreographer. The famous film director Sang Hu from the Shanghai Film Studio directed the film, and Shen Xilin took the photography. Large-scale repeated screenings across the country created a unique landscape in which the "eight model operas" dominated the world in the barren era. For a movie that made a ballet twice into a ballet art film, the director who directed the movie can be said to have strictly controlled the political review.From the investigation of the eight generations of ancestors, to the association of my spouse, children, relatives and friends; from the history of personal filming, work performance, work achievements, to the trend and finalization of the director's artistic style, etc., everything is detailed and detailed. In 1941, the well-known film director Sang Hu "Lucky", who was famous for his proficiency in writing and directing literary films, was selected to direct the filming of the ballet art film "The White-haired Girl".Sang Hu is no stranger to "The White-haired Girl". Not only is he in the film industry, he is already familiar with its world-famous opera and feature film of the same name, but also in the music and dance documentary "Shanghai Spring" directed by him five years ago, There is a fragment of the ballet "The White-haired Girl".As a famous film director, Sang Hu produced famous literary and artistic films such as "Middle Age in Sorrow and Joy", "Long Live My Wife", and "Unfeeling" in the late 1940s.After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he directed the first color Yue opera opera film in New China, which won the "Musical Film Award" at the 8th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1954, and the "Screen Award" at the 9th British Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1955. In 1957, he won the Excellent Film Award from the Ministry of Culture from 1949 to 1955; in 1956, Sang Hu once again directed the first color feature film in New China - "Blessing", which was adapted and filmed based on Lu Xun's novel of the same name. "Special Jury Award" at the Tenth Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and "Silver Cap Award" at the Mexico International Film Festival in 1958.He also directed the opera film "The Essence of Yue Opera", wrote an opera play, and "Song Shijie", which were made into movies directed by Shi Hui and Liu Qiong respectively.Therefore, Sang Hu was the most suitable candidate to direct the ballet art film "The White-haired Girl".Sang Hu boldly mobilized the unique expressive techniques of film art, combined with the rich experience accumulated in directing similar opera films in the past, broke the routine, had the courage to innovate, and did not stick to a single restricted stage performance framework, which made this ballet art film not only won the praise of the literary and art circles. It has been approved by those in power, and has also won the praise of authorities in the literary and art circles and colleagues in the film industry.Just for political needs, the opening part of the movie must be uniformly added with quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong that are similar to the theme. At the beginning of the movie, the animation style of the big red curtain is used in the same way, but the dance style of the white-haired girl is used to set off the title and subtitles, giving people a sense of highlighting the theme and novelty.Later, the ballet art film "Mountain Girl" shot in Romania completely followed the style and style of the opening title of "The White-haired Girl" in my country. In the late period of the "Cultural Revolution", every year on the commemorative day of "May 23" Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art", the ballet art film "The White-haired Girl" was used as a key program, and the scenery was full.This is the "Gang of Four" of Jiang Qing and others. In order to achieve their political goal of usurping the party and seizing power, they used the "eight model operas" concocted by stealing reputations to conduct a political illustration of ignoring the people and preaching. In the blink of an eye, 1975 has been ten years since the ballet "The White-haired Girl" came out.The entire "White-haired Girl" crew was ordered to be transferred to Beijing, and Liu Qingtang, the vice minister of culture, was "in charge" at the Xiyuan Hotel, and continued to "revise behind closed doors" and "climb to new heights".It was another full 8 months. The main creators were extremely painful, racked their brains, and painstakingly forced this well-formed good show to undergo another "major surgery" of "reborn". The ballet is not only very different from the performance a few years ago, but also has become a "four different images" beyond recognition.Tired and exhausted, the editors and directors smiled helplessly and said: "In the past, the War of Resistance Against Japan lasted eight years. We have been working on this drama for ten years and still can't finish it." Unable to report to the master, scolding mother-in-law.Zhang Chunqiao, who went to review before the end of the year, faced such an embarrassing and embarrassing situation. Since then, until the smashing of the "Gang of Four" for nearly a year, the ballet "The White-haired Girl", as one of the first batch of "eight model operas", suddenly and strangely disappeared from the stages all over the country.This unimaginable and puzzling phenomenon did not finally find its answer until the complete collapse of the "Gang of Four" in the golden autumn of October. She emerged from the disappearing bottom of the sea to the sparkling water surface. With the special charm of her original ballet performance, she wiped off layers of human-imposed dirt and dust, and re-bloomed dazzling brilliance.