Chapter 17 surprise

——Remember the performance of Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe (Transfer to the shopkeeper) I can't sing endless dreams of rise and fall, and I can't play endless sorrows and sighs.I just wait to play the complicated strings to pass on the grievances, turn over the other tunes to write about the sorrows, and slowly play the legacy of Tianbao. Hall of Eternal Life? Tanci When I returned to Shanghai this time, one of the things that touched me the most was seeing the full version of the performance by the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe.As far back as 1981, I read a piece of news in the newspaper: The old gentlemen of the "Kunqu Opera Institute" gathered in Suzhou to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the "Kunqu Opera Institute". Mister also made his debut and performed grandly in the Prince Zhong's Mansion.During the ten-year Cultural Revolution, China's "ancestors of drama" almost died out.These elders of Kunqu Opera who have been handed down from generation to generation have worked tirelessly to return to the red scorpion, just to revitalize Kunqu Opera and save Kunqu Opera from falling.When I saw the news at that time, I made a wish. One day, when I return to the mainland, I must take a good look at some of the water mill tunes I have dreamed of.This time, taking advantage of my lecture at Fudan University in Shanghai, I finally got my wish.That night I went with Fudan professor Lu Shiqing and Lin Zhiguo. Lin Zhiguo used to be a Chinese teacher of "Shangkun", and most of the members of "Shangkun" were her students. From her, I also learned about " Some history of Shangkun.In the past, excerpts were often performed in mainland China, but this is the first time to perform a complete version, which is really a once in a thousand years.

Kunqu Opera in Shanghai has its own tradition. In 1921, the "Kunqu Opera Institute" was established and often performed on the stage of Xuyuan. Xuyuan was a famous garden in Shanghai at that time, comparable to Suzhou Lingering Garden.All the disciples of Chuanxi Institute regard Chuanzi as their descendants, and there are a lot of talents at that time, among which Gu Chuanzhu and Chuanming are especially outstanding.Later, Xu Garden was abandoned, and the Chuanxi Institute was once changed to "Xianni Club", but it has lost its grandeur.Gu Chuanzao abandoned Geshan and went to Taiwan.In 1982, I screened the video of "A Dream in the Garden" on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. An old lady in the audience came to watch it. It turned out to be Gu Chuan's wife, Ms. Zhang Yuanhe. Her two younger sisters, Zhang Zhaohe (Mrs. Shen Congwen) and Zhang Chonghe, are both experts.After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Mei Lanfang, the king of actors and actresses, returned to China to perform Kunqu opera for four consecutive days at the Shanghai Majestic Grand Theater. The Kunqu opera world has once again set off a climax, and it is said that the ticket price on the black market has sold for a tael of gold.That time I also went to see it with my family, and I watched "A Dream in the Garden", played by Yu Zhenfei, the master of Kunsheng, as Liu Mengmei.That was the first time I came into contact with Kunqu opera. I was only ten years old, and I couldn't understand a single sentence. I only knew to go to see Mei Lanfang with my family.However, the music of "Zao Luo Robe" and Mei Lanfang's elegant dance in "A Dream in the Garden" are deeply imprinted in my mind. I am afraid that is my initial understanding of the beauty of Kunqu opera.The Majestic Grand Theater is on Gordon Road (now Jiangning Road). It used to be the first-run theater in Shanghai, specializing in western films, and that time was probably an exception.I remember Majesty's main entrance is a large curved glass door, inlaid with shining golden copper railings, which is extraordinary.There are some blond white Russian girls in the seats. Smoking is prohibited in the theater, and they enforce the law very strictly. If someone breaks the rules, they will shoot the flashlight with a flash.This time I specially revisited Majesty. The stage was an acrobatic competition, and several frontier ethnic groups performed very well.Majestic is old and broken. It is said that it was once changed to "Beijing Theater" during the Cultural Revolution. Recently, the Shanghainese changed it back, and put the English name back. The neon lights flashed the words MajesticTheatre; Daguangming, The English names of Cathay Pacific have all returned to the basket: GrandTheatre, CathayTheatre, and they are still spelled in the UK. Shanghainese are a bit western after all.

"Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe" was established in 1978. It was formerly known as the Shanghai Youth Beijing Kunqu Opera Troupe. The main members are the graduates of the Kunqu Opera Troupe (enrolled in 1954) and the Kunqu Opera Class Two (enrolled in 1961). They have been carefully taught by Yu Zhenfei and the masters of the Chuanzi generation in performance. They have a solid foundation and a complete range of professions. They are born clean and ugly, and they are all unique. They are the most organized Kunqu Opera troupe.I saw a photo of them, which belonged to the big class, and the word "Kunqu Opera" was spelled out from more than 50 small photos. The backbone of the group is all middle-aged people in their forties.The big class graduated in 1961, just when it was becoming popular, the Cultural Revolution came, Kunqu opera performances were banned, and the members dispersed, some went to sing model operas, and some were sent to work.After ten years of turmoil and dizzying circumstances, most of the members unexpectedly reunited, stepped onto the stage, and presented their unique skills to the audience.When the big class entered the school, the first thing out of school was the opening play "Finding Love". After more than 30 years, this group of artists who have experienced hardships finally sang the whole book, and the rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty was performed from the beginning. Come on.Hua Wenyi, the head of the group, plays the role of Concubine Yang. Hua Wenyi has a high bearing and superb skills, and is known as "Little Mei Lanfang".Cai Zhengren, the head of the family, plays Tang Minghuang, with a refined and handsome appearance, and a free and easy performance, which is completely in the "Yu School" style.The pairing of the two, every detail, every gesture, every part is a play, and the everlasting love between Li Sanlang and Yang Yuhuan is played very delicately.The other characters, the ugly Liu Yilong (Gao Lishi) and the famous old man Zhenhua (Lei Haiqing), all performed wonderfully, and the set music and lighting design are all ingenious, all of which are not bad, bringing the magnificent culture of the Li and Tang Dynasties in China Moved to the stage alive, after three hours, I enjoyed a real aesthetic experience.Kunqu Opera has no other, it has a beautiful word: beautiful singing, beautiful figure, beautiful rhetoric, which combines the beauty of music, dance and literature. A form of perfection.When the curtain ended, I couldn't help standing up and applauding. I thought I was not only applauding the show that night, I was deeply moved. After the cultural catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution, the most exquisite art in China survived! And " The outstanding performance of the members of "Shang Kun" proves the possibility of passing on the exquisite culture of Kunqu opera.Kunqu Opera has always been criticized by people for being high and lowly. I don’t think so. I think the temperament of Chinese people in the 20th century has become too rough. It needs to be cultivated and educated by the refined culture of Kunqu Opera.

I watched it that night, and I couldn't get enough of it. Two days later, I went to the Shanghai Kunqu Theater in person to ask some experts from "Shangkun" for advice and to share some thoughts.In addition to the main actors, screenwriter Tang Baohua, director Shen Bin, and composer Gu Zhaolin also attended the discussion that afternoon.Let's talk about the screenwriter first. The performance is based on Hong's "Legend of the Palace of Eternal Life". Hong wrote it for more than ten years, and changed the draft three times. He and Kong Shangren's brilliant moment are a pair of treasures in the legend of the early Qing Dynasty.But Hong himself got into trouble for his own sake. Kangxi performed this play in the 28th year, which happened during the funeral of Empress Tong, and violated a taboo. Hong even lost a prison student. It’s time to ruin your fame.” Jia Fu, a Chinese actor, did not start from today.The biggest problem with the legends of the Ming and Qing Dynasties is that they are too lengthy. Hong’s is 50 episodes long, and it is said that it will take three days and three nights to complete the performance.This time the performance book has been reduced to eight: "Determining Love", "Yu You", "Xu Pavilion", "Secret Oath", "Surprised Change", "Buried Jade", "Calling Thieves", "Rain Dream" , a total of three hours, deleted the details of the historical background and highlighted the love tragedy of the imperial concubine Ming, which is a smart way.Hong inherits the tradition of Bai Juyi and Bai Pu's "Wu Tong Yu", and has a sympathetic attitude towards the love of Ming emperors and noble concubines.The performance book "Love of Sons and Daughters" has taken care of it, but "Sense of Rise and Fall" seems to be insufficient.The reason is that the seventh "Curse the Thief" skipped to the eighth "Rain Dream", and there seemed to be a link in the middle. After Lei Haiqing scolded An Lushan, he immediately received Tang Minghuang's visit to the Moon Palace. The historical vicissitudes after the Tianbao Rebellion did not Confession; and it turned out that the thirty-eighth play "Tanci" in Hong's middle school was the highlight of the show. Li Guinian, an old actor, sang the rise and fall of Tianbao from the beginning to the end. This work is similar to "Sad Jiangnan" in Kong Shangren's "Yuan": "I have seen the jade palace in Jinling cry at dawn, and the flowers in Qinhuai waterside pavilions bloom early, who knows that it is easy to disappear. Seeing him get up from Zhulou, seeing him Banqueting guests, I saw his building collapsed." "Tanci" was probably inspired by Du Fu's poem "Jiangnan Meets Li Guinian", "It's common to see in King Qi's house, and Cui Jiutang heard it several times before. It is the beautiful scenery in the south of the Yangtze River, falling flowers The season meets the king again." This is one of Du Fu's poems in which the rise and fall of Tianbao is written very sadly, although Du Fu's writing is as light as light, without any trace."Jiangnan" in Du's poem refers to Tanzhou (now Changsha, Hunan), but Hong moved Li Guinian to Jinling (Nanjing), which obviously has a great meaning.Hong was born in a declining family, and the Ming Dynasty perished in the second year of his birth (1645).Hong was unhappy in his career all his life, under the rule of a foreign race, his father was almost exiled into the army, and the hatred of the subjugation of the country was aching.Jinling is the capital of the Southern Ming Dynasty, where the mausoleum of Taizu is located.The Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty has always been regarded as a symbol of the homeland by the elders of the Ming Dynasty, and Gu Tinglin goes to worship once a year. The hatred of subjugation in "Tanci" is actually Hong borrowing someone else's wine glass to pour out his chest, which is extremely deep and touching.I suggest inserting "Tanci" between "Calling Thieves" and "Yumeng", or simply replacing "Cursing Thieves", so that the "sense of rise and fall" can be deepened, and "the rise and fall of Tianbao" has a complete story. explanation.This, of course, is just my opinion as an audience, but several experts from "Shangkun" discussed it enthusiastically, and everyone talked quite speculatively. There was nothing left, so I suggested that I would be a little Dong, and everyone would go to the restaurant and continue to cook wine and discuss poetry.

In Shanghai, it is a big deal to go to a restaurant for a meal. Famous restaurants have already let people take out the wedding banquet, and some have already made a reservation a year ago. Ordinary ones, you can’t get in if you go one step too late. The people from "Shangkun" took me to a restaurant called Qiaojiazha, and I was turned away. They suggested: "Then let's go to 'Yueyou Restaurant'." When I heard this, my heart beat and I thought to myself Said: "That's all right, please come to your own home for the treat!" The world is really full of coincidences, and if a bad novel fails to write, it will be prevaricated by coincidence, but in real life, no matter how coincidental, things may happen.When I was young, I lived in Shanghai for more than three years. From 1945 to 1948, I lived in three homes.When I first arrived in Shanghai, my brothers and sisters and I lived on Duolun Road in Hongkou. At that time, my cousins ​​and cousins ​​lived together. There were ten or twenty children.Later, because of my tuberculosis, I was afraid of contagion, so I moved to Hongqiao Road in the western suburbs of Shanghai and lived alone for two years. After recovering from my illness, I was admitted to Nanyang Model Primary School, and then returned to the urban area and lived in the French Concession. Xun Road (now Fenyang Road), No. 150, lived there for half a year, and finally left Shanghai.When I returned to Shanghai this time, I searched for my old residences, and found all three without changing the number.Duolun Road has become part of the Naval Hospital as a pediatric ward. Because it is a military institution, it cannot be visited casually, and a special application is required to enter.In the past, those bedrooms were full of little patients, crawling all over the floor. I waved to them through the glass window, and those children also waved to me with a smile. They were very cute.The red bricks and gray pillars on the outside of the house have not changed, but the two iron doors are rusted to the point of being pierced.There is a ping-pong table under the arcade. I am sure it must be the one we played forty years ago. It is a very heavy and solid old-fashioned table. Although it is dilapidated, it still has the posture.At that time, we had a large number of people, and we often played in two teams, taking turns to fight. We had a cousin who was the oldest and not good at the game. My brother is over 60 years old and is now in New York.The cityscape of Shanghai basically hasn’t changed, it’s just that it’s been 40 years old, but the suburbs have changed a lot. Hongqiao Road has been widened several times. I passed the old residence of Hongqiao, and I saw a dilapidated old house standing in a piece of weeds. What do you think? Why didn't it look like it, and then I went in after asking the nearby residents for approval.The house was assigned an anti-aircraft artillery unit, and seven families lived in it.There was a family of four in my former bedroom. The new owner was from Shandong. He was very kind. He knew that the old owner was visiting and was very hospitable. He was busy making coffee and bringing out sweets. We took several photos together. They lived in Twenty-five years have passed in my room. "Where is the pagoda pine in front of the house?" I asked the new owner. "The roots of the tree are dead and withered." He said.I remember that pagoda pine was higher than the second floor, its branches swayed like a huge emerald canopy, green all year round, protecting the roof, such a solid pine and cypress would die unexpectedly, it is really "like a tree".The new master left me to eat dumplings, I hurriedly declined, not wanting to bother them, I said I had to hurry to see another home.

In the former French Concession, Petain Road (now Hengshan Road), Fuxi Road (Jinling Road) and Bixun Road were all residential areas, most of which were built in the 1930s. They were French-style houses. There were two rows of French plane trees on the road. It is shaded and has a European flavor.In the triangular park at the intersection of Bixun Road and Qiqi Road (Yueyang Road), there used to be a bronze statue of the great Russian poet Pushkin. During the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards knocked down the bronze statue, and it is said that it will be restored recently.I like Pushkin's long romantic love poem "Eugene Onegin" (Eugene Onegin) very much. I don't know how Pushkin can anger the Red Guards.No. 150, Bixun Road is in the middle section. It is a three-story French-style house. Upstairs, the second floor is the large living room, the hall is oval, and the two poles are two small halls, which are used as the dining room. One side of the living room is connected to the balcony. Below the balcony is the garden. There is a pool in the garden. The third floor is the bedroom. , There is also a balcony outside the bedroom, where you can enjoy the cool.I remember that the heat in the room did not go away for a long time in the summer night, we all went to the balcony to drink sour plum soup, and did not go back to the room until the dew fell.The house on Bixun Road has also changed owners several times. The first was the Shanghai Academy of Painting. The murals in the living room are still fresh in color, probably repaired by the artists of the Academy.Now it belongs to the Yue Theater, a wall was knocked down, and a new research classroom was built. The second floor of the original building became the "Yueyou Restaurant", which is open to the public, and the third floor is used as an office.I got permission from the Yue Theater to visit the third floor.It turned out that Yuan Xuefen, the honorary director of the Yue Opera Theater, lived in my former bedroom. I knew Yuan Xuefen was the Queen of Yue Opera when I was a child, and I even saw a still photo of her playing "Sister Xianglin" in the newspaper! At that time, she was in Shanghai Red All over the sky, her desk was placed under the window, and mine used to be there, but unfortunately she was not there that day, and I really wanted to meet that famous Yue opera actor.The trees in the garden are well maintained. The camphor, pine and cypress, holly, and magnolia are as green as ever, and a tree of peach blossoms is particularly bright.The pool dried up, leaving only a layer of green moss. In the past, there were many marble statues by the pool, all of which were beaten up by the Red Guards. No. 150 Bixun Road also experienced robbery. It is said that even Yuan Xuefen became the focus The target of criticism, pulled out to parade in the streets.Recently I read "Shanghai Life and Death" written by Zheng Nian. In the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, Shanghai was probably as horrible as she wrote.

"Shangkun" has contacts with the Yue Theater, they negotiated, and we got a table in the wing room of the "Yueyou Restaurant". The chief manager of "Yueyou Restaurant" is a retired chef from "Melon Town", which was a famous Sichuan restaurant in Shanghai in the past, and it is still there, even the facade has not been changed.The food that night was really good, cheap and good quality, only 200 RMB per table, much better than some hotels, and the skills of the emerging young cooks in Shanghai are really far behind those of the old chefs.That night, I drank a few bottles of rice wine with my friends from "Shangkun". I never told them the history of No. 150 Bixun Road, and I only kept the surprise to myself.After a meal, I seem to have experienced forty years in a hurry, and the scenes in my mind are like movies.I remember one New Year's Eve, when my brother and sister held a dance party on Bixun Road, and the guests invited were all their classmates from the Chinese and Western Girls' High School and St. John's, and they were all dressed up in a foreign style.There was Tao Lilin, a classmate of the second sister, who sang very well in English. She sang "You Belong to My Heart" that night.The children of Guo's family from Wing On Company also came, as well as several St. John's basketball school teams.The girls are very beautiful, and the boys are vying to dance with them. The girls are reserved and artificial, just like a Hollywood B-movie, and that comedy scene happened at 15 Bixun Road It was staged in the living room of No. ○.The boys and girls who danced back then are all grown up now, some stayed in the mainland, and some went to Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States, and Europe. Their personal fates are really different.This time when I returned to Shanghai, I also met a girl who was dancing back then. She was the most vigorous one. When I talked about the dance at No. 150 Bixun Road 40 years ago, her weather-beaten face Suddenly, a piece of youthful brilliance came out.

When I left No. 150 Bixun Road with my friends from "Shangkun", I was already slightly drunk. I suddenly felt a sense of time and space disorder, and I didn't know where I was today or at night.After forty years of absence, returning to the homeland, this time tunnel is long, and it is impossible to go upstream.No wonder people want to go to the theater. Only by entering the theater can people temporarily escape the shackles of time and space.The rise and fall of Tianbao will be over in three hours, but the emotions left behind are endless.It is true that life is like a play, and play is like life.