"Out of You a Little Red Star" is a "contemporary Peking Opera" created and performed by young people. It has attracted much attention since its publication for its outstanding form innovation. Recently, the drama met with Beijing audiences at the Gulou West Theater.

　　The play is starring Lu Su, a young Peking Opera actor, and is written, directed and composed by Li Zhengkuan. These two are the soul characters of "I Owe You a Little Red Star" and are brothers of the same school. As the saying goes, the same voice corresponds to each other and seeks the same spirit. Having this new work should be a perfect meaning in the title. The publicity work of the play was done very well, and the effect on the performance day was also very popular. There were more young audiences in the audience and so-called outsiders, and the proportion of drama fans in the traditional sense was not large.

　　With the shadow of traditional drama

　　The protagonist of the story, Hong Xing, comes from a revolutionary family. Like every young man, he needs to deal with the pressure of life, love and work. Gradually, Hong Xing became negative and dull, without any ideals or fighting spirit. The turning point of the story is that Hong Xing's grandfather wants to donate a treasured red star to the museum. At this moment, a 12-year-old child Tiezi, who claims to be his grandfather, suddenly broke into Hong Xing's life. As a member of the Children's League, Xiao Tiezi died 80 years ago. He traveled through time with the day of his heroic death; Hong Xing was deeply touched by his experience and beliefs, and regained the passion of life.

　　An interesting soul attached to an object, breaks into the real life of ordinary people and brings dramatic changes to this person's life - audiences familiar with opera can see that this story with the color of "magic realism" has the shadow of the traditional drama "The Legend of Wu Basin".

　　There is no doubt about the novelty of "Out You a Little Red Star", but there are some details in the script, such as the story of Hong Xing and his girlfriend Sheng Nan, which only appears at the beginning and end of the whole play. Its richness is not enough to serve as a story line, echoing the main line of the story of Hong Xing and Tiezi. In addition, with Tiezi's repeated motivation and encouragement, Hong Xing found the direction of his efforts. At this time, the first thing he thought of was to recover his girlfriend, which seemed a little small. Of course, these do not affect the overall presentation too much. After all, the requirements for scripts in Peking Opera are different from film and television dramas and dramas, and they pay more attention to the performance of actors.

　　Lu Su, the successor of the Qi Sect who plays Hong Xing, has a remarkable performance in this play. Except for not having "beat", the proportion of singing and reciting is very large. Especially when singing, Hong Xing has heavy singing sessions in every show, and he almost sang all the Peking Opera board styles. Perhaps it is because the creation model of this small theater work is different from that of mainstream theater dramas, which gives Lu Su the opportunity to "let himself go".

　　In this performance, the role of grandfather Hong Gang is played by Shu Tong, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Opera. Previously, both artists, Tang Yuancai and Guan Dongtian, had played this role. My subjective feeling is that it is more appropriate to work with the beauty, and it is more in line with the qualities of the old soldiers' resoluteness and tenacity.

　　The actor who plays Tiezi is a flower drum opera actor with rich emotions and good performances, especially the passage of Tiezi's sacrifice, which made many viewers sigh. The disadvantage is that I can’t explain Tiezi’s appearance clearly. According to the traditional expression techniques of opera, the protagonist must be "calling" (an opera terminology, pronounced in a specific tone and rhythm to cause subsequent performances) to emphasize. Take "The Legend of Wu Pendant" as an example. Zhao Da read "His name is Wu Pendant..." on stage, and the ghost Liu Shichang made his debut. This is not only an emphasis on the protagonist's appearance, but also a reminder to the audience: the person who "floating" is the soul trapped in that basin. Of course, as a new screenwriter, you can try new ways to let the audience understand where Tiezi came from and what is the relationship with the red star that grandpa wants to donate.

　　The Southern Singings are rare to show their strengths

　　The main music of "Out of You a Little Red Star" is still Xipi Erhuang, or a slab-like instrument. Compared with some new plays, it seems more authentic and has no strange accents that are hard-written behind closed doors. This is worthy of recognition. Moreover, the main feature of the Southern School singing style is a highlight of "I Owe You a Little Red Star". The Southern School of Peking Opera has declined for many years and is on the verge of loss. Its unique singing, running water, and minor tunes are almost impossible to hear. But its catchy, pleasant, reasonable and unexpected style concept is actually very suitable for today's opera innovation "used for me". Li Zhengkuan has been guided by many celebrities from the Southern School for many years, and has given him a unique experience here. Incorporating it into his works can be regarded as a new and unique standard.

　　For example, Er Liu and Hong Xing, who appeared in Hong Gang, told Tiezi about Er Huang Yuanban, the anti-Japanese drama, were both singing styles that were played continuously. Listening to the familiar melody, I kept guessing where the actors would play that famous drag-up. However, the melody components mainly in folk songs minor tunes can be considered to compress a little more to avoid diluting the main theme of Peking Opera melody. In the first scene, Hong Xing and Shengnan used the melody of the duet, which was indeed to show the fierce dispute between the two, but even the drama fans were not necessarily familiar with the tune of this segment, and the singing rhythm was relatively fast. The two characters opened their mouths at the same time and sang their own songs. I didn't hear clearly what they sang.

　　In addition, the "continuous" of continuous playing includes the meaning of people singing one after another. Several consecutive singing styles of Xipi and Erhuang in "I Owe You a Little Red Star" were completed by Lu Su alone. As a person who loves continuous singing, I still hope to enjoy more continuous singing styles with roles. Judging from the character design of the play, it is a bit difficult to implement, and perhaps you can try it in other future works.

　　How opera programs express "riding a bicycle"

　　"Contemporary Peking Opera" is the positioning of this work by the main creator, which shows that it is different from Peking Opera in the traditional sense. Young audiences can capture it and absorb the "format" of musicals, but I am still willing to position it as a Peking Opera.

　　Peking Opera and musicals are very similar in nature, while the expression of Peking Opera is more solid, stable and self-contained. But Peking Opera has never been closed and conservative. From its formation to its heyday, it has always been at the forefront of reform and innovation. Otherwise, even the major schools that make Peking Opera people most proud will not appear.

　　Once upon a time, the Southern Peking Opera, which took Shanghai as its main development base, was innovative in an open and inclusive artistic atmosphere, and it was never new to all kinds of novelty and strangeness. Hanging light bulbs on actors, going to the stage, using institutional sets, immersive interactions and other means have been practiced by opera artists a hundred years ago.

　　Opera cannot be separated from programs, and there has always been a contradiction between programmatic and performance needs of modern themes. How to retain programs and create new programs in the creation of modern dramas has tested and tortured several generations of opera people. I think that the program not only tyrannizes, walks the side, opens the door and rides the horse, but also includes consistent body theory and expressions that contain it. The character's figure design in "Out You a Little Red Star" does not deviate from tradition, but also adds new action elements. For example, Hong Xing's performance of being "being possessed" by Tiezi and Hong Xing's posture when he told his colleagues about revolutionary principles are all the shadow of traditional programs; the situational design of "driving a car" is also integrated into the smooth performance of "Xu Ce Runs to the City".

　　In addition, the main creator also created a way to express "riding a bicycle" in the play, which was considered a self-initiated idea. When the opera program was fixed, there was no bicycle yet. How to express "cycle riding" in modern opera has become a topic. Apart from pushing the real bicycle onto the stage in the fashion show "Black Soul" in Shanghai about a hundred years ago, the two seniors Li Yuru and Huang Zhengqin tried to perform stylized bicycles in "Spring Plum Birthday". In addition to the action design of riding a bicycle, "Outs You a Little Red Star" also tried to add photoelectric effects, which is also a novel exploration, which is much better than many characters in the new plays who just stand there and sing stupidly in most cases.

　　Maybe the creator wants to put the accumulation of years into stage practice. If he examines "Ome You a Little Red Star" with the appreciation habit of Peking Opera, the content will be a bit full, and the mountain is overwhelming. You can consider adding some relatively gentle paragraphs to form a staggered adjustment, which will be more obvious at peak moments. Moreover, "dine is delicious but not much" will make people feel unsatisfied.

　　Peking Opera not only needs to inherit classics and continue traditions, but also needs to have a first birth of strange flowers and the emperors of the descendants to flourish on a brand new stage. The rich accumulation of Southern Peking Opera is enough to support young opera people to open their horizons and make new attempts. It is commendable to be able to combine the essence of Southern Peking Opera with modern and fashionable thinking. "Out of You a Little Red Star" can be regarded as a relatively successful test. As for whether the steps have taken a big step and whether this path can be done, you must at least try it before you know it. ( Photo provided by Beijing Youth Daily in Sichuan/Li Zhengkuan)

[Editor in charge: Tang Wei]