Chapter 2 Second, the leading role

In the early days when rich people opened shops and factories, they would always ask a fortune teller to predict good or bad luck; after choosing the location of the factory and shop, they would ask a Feng Shui master to look at the terrain, even which side the shop door or factory door would open to. Very particular.The lingering rhyme of its wind has continued to this day, and it has the tendency to become hot. The "enlightenment" Liu Weizhong got from the fortune teller was good luck and prosperity.Immediately raised funds to choose a place, first built Manchun Tea Garden at the east end of Yuanfang Garden on Daxin Street; after half a year, opened Osmanthus Tea Garden between Hubei Road and Guangdong Road, and gave up Manchun Tea Garden to others and changed its name. It is Yongni Tea Garden.

Tianxian Tea Garden, which is just across the street from Osmanthus Garden, is also famous. Zhou Xinfang, whose stage name is Qilintong, came to Shanghai for the second time when she was a child actress. Liangwang", "Bigan Cut Out Heart" and other dramas. The theater that Huang Chujiu wants to open is not a "tea garden", but a new stage.This is Xinxin Stage at the intersection of Jiujiang Road and Zhejiang Road.He invested, and Zhou Yongtang, a Peking opera actor with the stage name "Four Lights", was hired to manage it.So it is called Xinxin Stage because there is a new stage in Nanshi, which is already well-known.Huang Chujiu is determined to excel at the new stage, "Xin Xin" means newer than you.

The big boss of Nanshi's new stage is Mr. Yao Zishi, a business leader in Nanshi.Nanshi was the Chinese territory of Shanghai at that time, and the residents here had to go all the way to the concession to watch the "big opera" (that is, Beijing opera), which was very inconvenient for them to get in and out.In view of this, Yao Zishi joined forces with many merchants in Shiliupu to form a syndicate to build this new stage at Xiaodongmen. It was undertaken by brothers Xia Yueheng, Xia Yuehua, Xia Yueshan, and Xia Yuerun, who were progressives in the Peking Opera circle, and hired Pan Yueqiao and Mao Yunke. , Zhao Junyu, Feng Zihe, Ouyang Yuqian, etc. performed on stage, and the new dramatist (later called Wenming Opera) Wang Youyou, Peking Opera reformer Wang Xiaonong, etc. also came to join the class.With the assistance of painters Zhang Yuguang, Xie Zhiguang, Qian Huafo and others, new plays with three-dimensional scenery were staged, such as "Yue Fei" starring Zhao Junyu, "Grandma at the Late Ming Dynasty" starring Pan Yueqiao, "Pan Martyr Throwing into the Sea" starring Wang Xiaonong "Partyman's Soul", "Crying for the Ancestor Temple", "Shooting Yan Ruisheng" co-starred by Wang Youyou and Zhao Junyu, etc., can be said to be the origin of Shanghai-style Peking Opera.

It's just that although the significance of these Peking operas is good and the momentum of publicity is not small, the audience is still not ideal.There are many reasons, one of which is that martial law is often raised in Nanshi City, which scares the residents so much that they dare not even go out at night, let alone go out to watch a theater.For this reason, Mr. Yao Zishi formed a syndicate and built a new stage on a nine-acre land close to the concession, with an updated structure and a turntable, which is convenient for performing new plays with backgrounds.The Xia brothers led the original cast of the old and new stage to move here, which really caused a commotion.Even people who live in the concession can come out to watch the theater.

Huang Chujiu's new stage is determined to suppress the new stage.Since the new stage calls for new Peking opera, the new stage will allow you to see authentic Peking opera, and invite the top famous actors in Beijing, preferably Tan Xinpei, who is already known as the "King of the Performing Arts". Shanghai-style businessman Huang Chujiu--3. Mei Yutian is late