Live-streamed Yueju Opera show 'Wonderful Life,' a wonderful night
The Shanghai Yueju Opera House live-streamed a three-hour performance titled “Wonderful Life” on Saturday night via video-sharing platforms including Douyin and the Culture Shanghai Cloud.
The performance at the Wu Changshuo Memorial Hall was also a program of the Shanghai Youth Life Festival and the 2020 Shanghai Citizens Art Festival.
The show featured generations of Yueju Opera artists performing classic excerpts from “A Dream of Red Mansions,” “The Butterfly Lovers” and “The West Chamber.”
For the first time, Yueju Opera performers Yang Tingna and Zhao Yilan collaborated with a Virtual UP, a programmed cartoon image, to host the show.
Cultural celebrities such as professor Ruan Yisan and writers Shen Jialu and Wang Xiaoying were invited to talk with the online audience about the protection of China’s cultural heritage, as well as the delicate connections between literature and Yueju Opera plays.
Over the past months, the troupe’s “cloud theater” performances have attracted around 6 million viewers on the streaming websites. More than half of them are young people.
Liang Hongjun, director of Shanghai Yueju Opera House, said they are surprised and thrilled to see so many people interact with their performances.
“The success of the live-streamed shows has also enhanced our confidence to cultivate more enthusiasts for the art form," Liang said.
The live-streamed performance was held at the Wu Changshuo Memorial Hall.
