'New Dragon Inn' becomes new opera score
Versatile Chinese Peking Opera artist Shi Yihong is to star in “New Dragon Inn,” a Peking Opera based on the 1992 Hong Kong wuxia movie directed by Raymond Lee.
The action-packed production will be produced by Chinese-American theater and film director Sherwood Hu, known for “Lani Loa, The Passage” and “Warrior Lanling.”
It is the first time a Chinese martial arts film has been put on the Peking Opera stage.
The play is set in a desert inn where a group of noble heroes have been chased by a gang of hoodlums. Having to spend the night at the inn due to bad weather, tensions rise.
Shi, who is a fan of the movie, will play the leading role of Jin Xiangyu, the seductive innkeeper.
In the 1992 movie, the role was played by Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung.
Shi compares Jin to a “wild rose of a desert in northwest China.” It is quite different from her former roles which were mostly elegant aristocrats.
“She has rich emotions, and complicated, multifaceted personality,” says Shi. “The character is very charming and interesting.”
Shi is one of few Peking Opera performers who are also adept at Kunqu Opera. She is a winner of the Plum Blossom Prize, the highest theatrical award in China.
In recent years, Shi has put herself vanguard of innovation in Peking Opera, keeping it abreast of current forms of popular entertainment, both on stage and television.
She presented a chamber concert version of the Peking Opera classic “Farewell My Concubine” in the United States in 2017, and gave performances in memory of Peking Opera masters Mei Lanfang, Shang Xiaoyun, Cheng Yanqiu and Xun Huisheng.
It took Shi and her team more than three years from the start of the production of “New Dragon Inn.”
Director Hu, an old friend of Shi, describes the film as a classic of Hong Kong cinema, and therefore there is a considerable challenge to present a Peking Opera adaptation for an audience familiar with the original.
“The Peking opera version of the ‘New Dragon Inn‘ will be mostly centered on delicate human emotions,” he says. “We will also include visually stunning martial arts scenes, new weapons and moves.”
In Hu’s eyes, Peking Opera has the power to be popular among young people and foreign audiences if properly presented.
“It is a brilliant art form with distinctive flavors of vocals, movement and music,” he adds. “The show will pay tribute to the tradition while explore opportunities for innovation.”
Following performances at the Shanghai Grand Theater, the play will go on to be staged at the National Center for the Performing Arts, Shenzhen Poly Theater and the Xiqu Center in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District.
Info
Date: April 30-May 1, 7:15pm
Tickets: 80-880 yuan
Tel: 6386-8686
Venue: Shanghai Grand Theater
Address: 300 People’s Ave.
Shi Yihong (center) practises her role in the “New Dragon Inn.”
