Six Legends of Lanting refers to the ten classics zhe-zi-xi (highlights of famous operas) taken from six great Kunqu operas. Wen Yu-hang, a famous Kun sheng actor who once performed in the U.S., stars in these scenes. In The Returning Ghost, The Butterfly and the Red Pear Blossom, and The Lion’s Roa...Read more
Six Legends of Lanting refers to the ten classics zhe-zi-xi (highlights of famous operas) taken from six great Kunqu operas. Wen Yu-hang, a famous Kun sheng actor who once performed in the U.S., stars in these scenes. In The Returning Ghost, The Butterfly and the Red Pear Blossom, and The Lion’s Roar, he demonstrates excellent acting skills of jin-sheng(young male scholars ); in the Embroidered Robe, he plays a qiong-sheng (poor young scholars ); in An Interlocked Strategem, he plays a zhi-wei-sheng (a young male character who wears a cap with two pheasant feathers, often good at martial arts); and in The White Rabbit he plays a wa-wa-sheng(young boy characters). The variety of xiao-sheng(young male characters) fully reveals the on-stage charm of “Kun-sheng.” As for his acting, he combines elements from the Southern School and the Northern School of Kunqu Opera. For example, in The Returning Ghost, the scene of “Picking up the Painting” in the Northern School is called “Calling the Painting” in the Southern School. With both scenes performed on stage, the audience can quickly distinguish between the styles of the two schools. In the two scenes, Wen Yiu-hang pays respect to his two masters, Ma Yu-sen of the Northern School and Yue Mei-ti of the Southern School.
In addition, “Lan-ting” invited Zhang Shi-zheng, a top-ranked Chinese lao-sheng(old male characters) Actor of the Southern School, to perform in these scenes. Besides performing the scene of “Interrogation” from The Returning Ghost, he also performed in the scene “Beating the Son” of The Embroidered Robe and the scene of “An Intimate Dinner” of An Interlocked Strategem with Wen Yu-hang who was originally trained in the Northern School.
Category | Xiqu(Traditional Opera) |
Type | Kunqu Opera |
Chinese Title | 百變崑生經典折子戲選粹—《蘭庭六記》 |
Group | Lanting Kun Opera Troupe |
Creative staff | Lanting Kun Opera Troupe |
Subtitle | Mandarin Chinese /English |
Premiere | 2006-08-08 |
Venue | Novel Hall for performing arts,Taipei |
Duration | 150min |
Image Source | |
Other Works | New Melody from the National Palace Museum---The Palace of Eternal Life Quest for the Garden Saunter and the Interrupted Dream |