NCPA Opera Commission - Rickshaw Boy

Published on Jan 18, 2015

Rating:

Genre: NCPA

Dates: March 5-8, 2015

Prices: 100, 280, 380, 550, 600, 680, 880

Features: As the first ever commissioned opera adapted from a modern literature masterwork of China by NCPA. The Rickshaw Boy will be stage in Opera House of NCPA from Thursday March 5th to Sunday March 8th.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION

As the fifth commissioned Chinese opera by NCPA, Rickshaw Boy has taken three years for its birth. In his first cooperation with NCPA, the internationally well-known composer Guo Wenjing, together with famous playwright Xu Ying as well as the emerging director Yi Liming, they form a top production team of commissioned operas in China, producing a special work with old Peking themes full of unique aesthetic value and regional charm.

As one of Mr. Lao She's masterpieces, Rickshaw Boy with its realism and humanitarianism as well as its impressive artistic images like Xiangzi and Huniu, holds an important status in the history of Chinese literature. Profound thought intension, diversified character images and dramatically attractive plot, all lay a solid foundation for the opera production. Loyal to the original work by Mr. Lao She, the libretto retains and develops further the language style of black humor, and gives a detailed and vivid description of the characters' living environment and even the local customs.

The colloquial lyrics in the production are quite simple and natural, and suitable for the character images, seeking to make the popular elegant. As far as music is concerned, the beautiful melodies from zarzuela art are used extensively, and the intermezzo, rather than played as usual, is presented via the form of zarzuela art, while chorus and ensemble as well as the unique concept of 'Vocal Accompaniment' in the Chinese traditional operas all play an important role in the production. The stage effect full of fluidity not only shows the townscape of the old Peking city in the Republican Period of China, but also creates a dynamic scene-changing, making the whole performance much more thorough and smooth. As the first ever commissioned opera adapted from a modern literature masterwork of China by NCPA, the production of Rickshaw Boy is really eye-catching. Under the baton of famous conductor Zhang Guoyong, top vocalists Tian Haojiang and Sun Xiuwei will come together to tell aloud the ups and downs of life and the twists and turns in the past.

SYNOPSIS

Xiangzi, a robust and strong rickshaw puller, whose greatest ambition is to one day own his own rickshaw rental agency, works very hard, saves every penny he makes and finally buys a new rickshaw after three-year's painstaking efforts. Unfortunately, his new rickshaw is abducted by soldiers who are fighting for one of the warlords running Beijing in the 1920s. In great grief and indignation, Xiangzi has to go back to the rickshaw rental agency of Master Liu, trying to stage a comeback which is interrupted by Master Liu's daughter Huniu who seduces Xiangzi after getting him drunk. In order to get rid of Huniu, he runs away to work as a rickshaw puller for a scholar, Mr. Cao. However, his plan for saving to buy a new rickshaw is destroyed again when Detective Sun follows him home and robs him of all his savings. At this time, Huniu tracks him down, and Xaingzi has no choice but to go back again to the rickshaw rental agency of Master Liu. On the birthday party of Master Liu, Huniu falls out with his father and tricks Xiangzi into marriage by pretending to be pregnant, and they leave the agency together. He buys a new rickshaw with Huniu's money, but in a short while later, he has to sell it to bury Huniu who dies of dystocia. Finally, his dream and ambition are smashed completely when his beloved woman Xiaofuzi commits suicide under the humiliation-stricken life. At last, Xiangzi, an honest and pure young peasant surrenders to the dark society and finishes his short life from a positive and unflinching man to degeneration.