LiYuanXi Posted October 19, 2004 at 02:00 AM Author Report Posted October 19, 2004 at 02:00 AM 裴艷玲 is a very good 武生 and she is a female! 長生殿 is a traditonal script for KunQu. KunQu is a very old kind of opera and the singing is very graceful. 長生殿 is about the life story of 杨贵妃. It tells the story of her all the way until she died and the emperor built a temple for her. Not long ago, there was a pekin opera performance about 杨贵妃 too at Beijing. Seems like it is a trend now. It is really rare to find the full VCD of this script. I tried to look for it but i only found an excerpt. This excerpt is the last part of the show where the emperor visit the Gui Fei temple. This excerpt alone is already 30 mins. To think the whole script needs 3 days to perform is not an exaggeration. A few years ago, 牡丹亭 was performed in Singapore for 6 evenings in a row! I am really jealous that you can see this in HK! Why dont they come to Singapore? I love this jiang su troupe alot. Don't miss it! Quote
skylee Posted October 19, 2004 at 12:26 PM Report Posted October 19, 2004 at 12:26 PM 裴艷玲 is a very good 武生 and she is a female! Indeed. And that was why I saw that one and only 崑劇 in my life. Did you mean it is common for the opera to be so long that one takes many days' (evenings') performances to complete? Amazing. And despite that the HK performance will take three evenings, it will not be the whole thing, because - 今次從全劇抽取了最精采的二十七折，分為上中下三本演出。 How many episodes are there? If one episode lasts for 20 mins, nine episodes (one performance) would take 180 mins (3 hours)! Alas. The tickets would not be cheap (The most expensive festival ticket I bought was HKD700 and it was serveral years ago. The festival now has an instalment plan for viewers, so you know how expensive the tickets are). I will think about it. Quote
LiYuanXi Posted October 20, 2004 at 01:35 AM Author Report Posted October 20, 2004 at 01:35 AM Yeap, it was common in past for one opera to be performed for many days, like a serial drama. Unfortunately, people nowadays don't have the patient to watch a performance for many days so it was cut down to a 3hrs performance. Normally operas last for 3 hrs per performance. So you are quite right How many episodes are there? If one episode lasts for 20 mins, nine episodes (one performance) would take 180 mins (3 hours)! Yes, that is the correct calculation. Imagine if they want to perform Hong Lou Meng. Think that will take them weeks to perform the whole story! As Kun qu is an old form of opera, the chinese they use is also an old form of chinese. You can see in my signature. My signature shows 3 lines of lyrics from a Kun qu opera. Alas. The tickets would not be cheap I remembered the "Mu Dan Ting" kun qu was about S$80 for the cheapest seat and about S$300 for the most expensive seat! I didnt go for the show as i was a student and i can't afford it. I think they are over charging. Quote
skylee Posted October 30, 2004 at 01:27 PM Report Posted October 30, 2004 at 01:27 PM It turns out that the most expensive ticket for these performances will be HKD360 each. It is not very expensive by the festival's standard. But I am very hesitant ... I think I will see one of them, either the first or the last show. What I am sure is that I will see the Cantonese opera 帝女花 featuring 梅雪詩 (my goodness I have just discovered that the show will be staged on a Tuesday night in faraway Shatin and last for 3.5 hours. ). Quote
Quest Posted October 30, 2004 at 05:41 PM Report Posted October 30, 2004 at 05:41 PM I've only seen LIVE Cantonese opera once with my father when I was 3 or 4 years old. Quote
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