Hong Kong Ko Shan Theatre, Seat Stalls L44 (HK$280).
Music Director – Tsang Kin Man; Jia Bo Yuk – Lau Wai Ming, Lin Dai Yuk – Wen Fei Yen, Mother Jia – Lin Bo Shen, Shue Bo Chai – Chan Ming Ying.
Story: Lin Dai Yuk, orphaned at a young age, is raised by the Jia family. She and Jia Bo Yuk grow up together and fall in love with one another. However, the Jia family wants Jai Bo Yuk to marry Shue instead, and they conspire to lie to Jia Bo Yuk with a "bait and switch". When Lin Dai Yuk finds out, she dies of a broken heart. During the wedding ceremony, Jia Bo Yuk finds out about the switch, and that Lin has died. He comes to Lin Dai Yuk's altar and dreams of her (thus the title of the play). When he awakes, he throws away the family heirloom and leaves home.
Despite having grown up in Hong Kong, I actually know very little about Cantonese Operas. I vaguely recall going to a “Grand Opera” as a small child, probably during the Chinese New Year, with my parents. These festival performances were long drawn out affairs and people went to see parts of the opera rather than sit through the entire work. Of course I know of the famous ones like “The Butterfly Lovers”.
Tonight's performance was quite an experience. A few thoughts come immediately to mind. It was long at over four hours, comprising a dozen or so scenes with short breaks in between (for scenery changes) and a 15-minute break two-thirds of the way. People felt free to talk during the show, sometimes rather loudly. The traditionally heavy makeup made it difficult to tell the different actors apart (especially the women). The lead man's role was played by a woman. A man played the role of the grandmother. I don't know much about Chinese music, so I found the accompaniment repeating after the singer a bit strange. The orchestra was quite small at 10 or so instruments, but produced a reasonably rich sound.
The singing was okay. I do not know what constitutes virtuoso singing in this genre, but the audience did applaud quite enthusiastically after certain renditions. However, it appeared the singers had to take lots of breaths. The two main characters actually appeared on stage at lot, so they had to be tired after four hours of singing, even with the help of a rather good audio system.
The book on which the play is based is very well known. I have to admit I haven't read it, so do not know how much of the original story was kept. What I saw, however, was a very simple plot; easy to follow, but leaves one wondering if there can be more. Given the plot of the opera, a lot can be edited out to make it quite a bit shorter. Editing out unnecessary passages after they have been written is a difficult task. And the writers here didn't do a good job of it. All this, however, may be applying a different set of rules and expectations to the genre. I do think the enjoyment of the opera can be greatly enhanced if the words (and an English translation) were available as subtitles. But that would greatly increase the expenses involved.
There wasn't much of a chorus in the opera. The one exception was during the dream sequence. Eight women (angels or fairies) were singing and dancing. The choreography was quite bad, unfortunately.
I guess about 30 million or so people speak Cantonese, and wonder how the genre got started and how well accepted it is in today's environment where Western culture seems to find its way deeper into the Chinese society. Indeed tonight's attendees were dominated by women of middle age or higher (and I am being charitable). Quite a few appeared to be enthusiastic fans of the genre and the actors. Some brought along flashing signs with the name of the principal actress (who was playing Jia Bo Yuk). Nonetheless, there was only one performance of this opera, and one can imagine the time and effort put in by the artists.
I rather enjoyed the show, and at times was moved by the plot. I can't say I have become a fan of the genre, though.
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