The Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe: In the 1980s, Zhejiang made great efforts to cultivate new talents in traditional opera. In 1982, more than 2,000 opera trainees from the whole province were selected, and 400 of them participated in the provincial opera ‘Xiaobaihua’ festival. Two hundred new talents won the ‘Excellent Xiaobaihua Award’ and the ‘Xiaobaihua Award’. Under the attention of the Zhejiang provincial Party committee and cultural departments, 40 new Yue opera talents (with an average age of 18) were carefully selected from the award-winning personnel of more than 70 professional Yue opera troupes in the province in the above two festivals. They were concentrated in Zhejiang Art School for strict training. They received personal instruction and careful guidance from famous artists in the field of Yue opera and from multiple opera genres such as Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, and Wuju Opera. Renowned playwrights in the province created new plays for them, and excellent directors, composers, stage designers, and orchestra personnel worked together to carefully rehearse new plays and excellent traditional plays. The main plays include large-scale historical plays such as ‘Five Daughters Offering Birthday Felicitations’ (playwright: Gu Xidong. Director: Zhang Junsheng (executive), Yu Airu, Wang Shiju. Composer: Fan Runhe, He Zhiwei. Stage design: Luo Zhimo. Costume design: Yu Fang. Makeup design: Lan Ling), ‘Han Palace Resentment’ (playwright: Gu Xidong. Director: Hu Ruhui (executive), Hu Qixian, Jin Baohua, Wei Keyu. Composer: Hu Mengqiao. Orchestration: Tan Shengxian. Stage design: Gong Jingchong. Costume and makeup design: Lan Ling), ‘Double Jade Cicadas’ (adapted from the same-named Ningbo opera script by Wang Xing. Adapted by Wei E and Chen Jing. Director: Chen Jing (executive), Wang Shiyu, Ma Peiling. Composer: Gu Dachang. Stage design: Le Guoqing. Costume and makeup design: Lan Ling), and more than ten traditional excerpts such as ‘Meeting on the Tower’, ‘He Wenxiu – Crying Card – Fortune Telling’, ‘Wang Qianjin Sacrificing Her Husband’, ‘Picking up a Jade Bracelet’, ‘Broken Bridge’, ‘Releasing Sons in the Second Hall’, ‘Sending Flowers to the Tower Meeting’, ‘Revealing the Truth’, etc. In April 1985, Zhejiang Yue Opera Theatre was established in Zhejiang Province. As one of its subordinate troupes, it is internally known as the Second Troupe of Zhejiang Yue Opera Theatre and externally known as the Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe of Zhejiang Yue Opera Theatre. The opening hours are from 10:00 to 15:00 all year round.
Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Theatre
The Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe: In the 1980s, Zhejiang made great efforts to cultivate new[...]
