Jennifer say:




tonight was my first night watching minghuayuan. i quite enjoyed the performance. quite surprised that there do not have any clown role today but nevertheless, it was a excellent performance. 陳昭香 as zhou is very good as xiaosheng, she had quite a powerful voice. 孙诗雯 as princess wenling is also very good but somehow, does not leave any deep impression on me, her voice is equally good.

the below poster is from this website- http://blog.xuite.net/hsianghsiang/mhytian?st=c&p=1&w=1488461

the first performance fenghuangtaizhu 鳳凰珠胎 is on tuesday, 7/7/09 but i did not get to watch. in fact, i only watched on fri and sats only.


万古流芳 - 10/7/09

today performance is quite interesting. storyline happen in a palace.

zhou married emperor sister, wenling. wenling was pregant with zhou kid. meanwhile zhou servant, bao ahd wenling maid whom had married each other also had a child due to be born. zhou and his family are all loyal subject of the tang emperor. on zhou's dad birthday, evil minister, jia send the dad incense papar and 2 candles at zhou doorstep. jia refused to enter the house and asked the servant to inform zhou. when zhou servants informed zhou, zhou was furious and asked his servant to hit jia away. zhou servant hit jia away.

tang emperor had a strange dream about a stone saying 万古流芳. the emperor asked jia to help him to solve the mystery of his dream. jia ask the emperor to give a 圣旨 to ask zhou to help to solve the mystery of his dream. evil jia went to find zhou. at the doorstep, zhou servant recognized jia as the previous guest whom tried to create trouble and was beat away. the servant informed zhou and under zhou instruction, jia was beat again. before jia left, jia laughted aloud and warned the zhou they had fallen into a trick.

when jia left, the servant immediately informed zhou. zhou and his family knew that they had fallen into a evil plot that would killed the whole family. princess wenling upon hearing this, said that she will entered the palace to inform her brother emperor about the plot. wenling left with zhou two servant, bao and old su.

true to zhou word, evil jia informed emperor that zhou and family refused to recive the sengzhi and chased him out. emperor was very angry and ordered jia to take a army to capture the zhou family. shortly after wenling left, jia arrived with the army. zhou tried to fight back but was hold back by his dad. evil jia captured the zhou family and killed the whole family on the spot.

meanwhile, bao informed wenling that the zhou family had been wiped out. jia was looking for the princess and her unborn child. wenling shortly gave birth to a son in su house.old su though of a plot that required a newborn baby.bao asked his wife that was formly wenling maid to bring their son to su. su told bao that in order to save the princess and zhou only offspring, boa had to let his son died in replace of wenling son. the plot was su wife would need to die and bao will bring his own son to jia claiming that the son was that of princess wenling. wenling refused the plot but bao and su insisted princess that she must live.su begged wenling to take care of his own son, chengzai. so su set fire on his own house killing his wife. this is to make jia believe that wenling had died in the fire. bao carried his son to jia whom murdered the newborn by throwing the child on the ground. jia also killed su when su cried that his son master had died.

12 years later, 武子 son of wenling was in the jungle looking for tiger. a young guy was about to be killed by the tiger when wuzhi saved him. the young guy was in fact the son of emperor. to thank wuzhi, the young prince agreed to be with blood brother with wuzhi. the young prince also informed wuzhi his true identify and informed wuzhi that when the old emperor died, the prince will take over the throne.the young prince gave wuzhi his own fan. soon, wuzhi recieved news that the old emperor had died and the new emperor was in the street to introduce his own subjects that he was now the new dragon. wuzhi stopped the new emperor. jia tried to stop wuzhi. after some agruement, the angry new emperor gave wuzhi a sword and gave wuzhi a offical role. when wuzhi returned home, wenling was stocked. bao then told wuzhi his true background. a anger wuzhi went to find jia. now jia was actually plotting with the enemy before wuzhi came. jia guy was supposed to come out when jia shouted'大胆'. whose know when wuzhi came, jia acidentally shouted the word and the guy came out. wuzhi and chengzai killed the guy and grabbed the revolt letter. wuzhi then killed jia. wuzhi went to find the emperor and told him everything. upon knowing that his aunt was still alive, the emperor went to find his aunt and gave his aunt new clothes. bao wife upon seeing that the wuzhi had seek revenge, she killed herself as she was still unable to accept that her son had died 12 years ago. her husband also killed himself. when wenling whom had changed into new clothes and the emperor came out of the house, they found the couple bodies. the emperor build a stone tablet to let his subjects know about how the two couple done to save the lives of wenling and wuzhi.

details from this website in chinese;;

萬 古 流 芳（原趙氏孤兒）

相爺杜欒賈與趙頓父子，忠奸不合，適逢趙頓王爺壽長，皇上命百官前去賀壽，杜欒賈相爺百般不願，但聖命難違，故在壽宴上百般刁難而遭郡馬－趙束命人毆打，杜欒賈懷恨在心。

皇上夜夢，魁星下凡，命百官解夢，杜欒賈解釋，需建魁星廟，極力推薦趙家父子，擔任重職，並請命宣讀聖旨，但卻封鎖消息，致使再與趙束郡馬起衝突。回宮奏明趙氏父子欺君罔上，皇上命杜欒賈為欽差抓拿詢問。杜欒賈改稱趙氏抗旨，將其滅九族。忠僕－程嬰以其子代死，換趙氏遺孤，含辛茹苦養育十六年。

十六年後，太子遊山玩水，遇猛虎命危，趙武子救駕，並與太子結義。在趙武子得知結義兄弟已榮登皇帝，即進宮面聖，受封親王，而此時趙武子亦得知其家仇血恨，怒而持劍斬殺杜欒賈……

Jennifer say:





I had not updated what i had watched at 韭菜芭城隍庙 this year.

At new year, Taiwan 台北飛鳳儀歌劇團 came to 韭菜芭城隍庙 for performance. We had watched 6 days of performance mainly on the first day of cny and friday and sats performance.


In march, 韭菜芭城隍庙 had 131 days of chinese opera - noted that this is the longest opera performance in aisa and the temple is set to have this record on world record. performance will invite singapore, taiwan and china operas troupes- overseas opera troups include the following -

1. 中國福建漳州薌劇團

2. 台灣小飛霞(聯合新加坡福建筱麒麟劇團)

3. 台灣台北宏聲歌劇團

4. 台灣明華園天字團

Details from the chinese newspaper - source

宋佳佳


　　韭菜芭城隍庙今年庆祝城隍诞，一连上演131天酬神大戏，创下新加坡纪录大全连演酬神戏最多天数纪录。


16个国内外剧团参与
　　在这次于昨晚开锣演出的131天酬神大戏中，除了6月20日（农历五月廿八日）城隍爷圣诞那场戏是由城隍庙自行出资上演之外，其余130天都是由信众赞助，总共筹集约50万元，聘请16个国内外剧团演出。


　　对于今年的酬神戏，非但不受经济低迷影响，反而一举打破了多年来演酬神戏天数纪录，城隍庙的总务陈添来受访时说：“这一方面是因为今年农历闰五月，能有多一个月的时间演出，另一方面也是答谢神恩信众热烈支持所致。”


　　韭菜芭城隍庙每年都从农历三月十五日开始，根据信众的赞助多寡，一连多日聘请戏班上演酬神戏。不过，酬神戏最迟必需在进入农历七月前一天，停止演出。


　　今年农历闰五月，城隍爷“清溪显佑伯主”，今年有两天可庆祝寿辰。陈添来说：“闰五月要隔12年才会有一次，非常难得，而为了表示虔诚，酬神戏的天数一定要比往年多。演出天数‘131’也谐音‘一生一’，是一个好兆头。”



　　他也透露，韭菜芭城隍庙已经向新加坡纪录大全申请演酬神戏最多天数纪录，纪录大全负责人会在酬神戏演出的最后一天，也即8月18日（农历六月廿八日）晚上，在台上将纪录证书发给城隍庙。



　　韭菜芭城隍庙从1992年开始，每年举办连续多日的酬神戏，而在过去17年中，有6年演出的酬神戏在100天以上，其中以1998年演出的天数最多，总共109天。当年，恰巧也是闰五月。



　　从事物流业商人林水金（52岁），今年独自出资10万元赞助15场由台湾明华园戏剧团演出的歌仔戏。




　林水金也是韭菜芭城隍庙的信托人兼名誉主席。他说：“我在1992年开创物流公司前，曾来城隍庙求签，结果求到好签，办了公司，一切果然很顺利，今年的酬神戏又刚好做得很大，所以就捐得比往年来得多，算是还愿。”




　　社会发展、青年及体育部政务部长符喜泉，昨晚应邀主持敲锣开演仪式。首晚由中国福建漳州芗剧团呈献《梁山伯与祝英台》，全场600多个座位，座无虚席，部分戏迷甚至站在过道旁看戏。

The first performance troup is from 中國福建漳州薌劇團.



I had watched 'liang sanbo and zhu yingtai', 'bao ying ji', 'lu meng zhen', 'guo wenying', 'yuan yang xiang bao' and ' lee san siang'. I had actually watched lee san siang on year 2006 but mum said that lee san siang was a rather sad show and suggested us to watch. upon watching, i realised that i had watched the same performance before but cannot remember when i watched the performance.

That is also the same reason i decided to blog about my opera watching on my blog again so that i get to know what troupe i had get to know from watching opera here.

My favourite performance by this china is the one on bao ying ji - story of protecting a baby --

The story was about a woman whose son was dying. Before dying, he informed his mum to get care of his future wife whom was pregnant. The mum went to find the woman. after giving birth, the woman realised that the mum son was not her own husband. Her husband was supposed to be killed and the mum's son was a good friend of her husband. The woman tried to hide the truth as she was very thankful of the mum whom saved her. In the past, woman cannot be pregant without a husband or the woman will need to be drowned. The woman real husband managed to find his wife.The story ended happily with the woman and her husband acknowleding the mum as their foster mother.


Second performance troup was from 台灣小飛霞(聯合新加坡福建筱麒麟劇團).
I heard from mum that 小飛霞 and 小龍女 are both godchildren of the singapore troup 筱麒麟劇團. that is the reason why both taiwanese returned to singapore yearly for performance too. i am amazed that the 筱麒麟劇團 boss -- a pair of elderly couple - husband already in his 80s and wife in her 60s are still performing. In fact, the wife whom is most commonly known as 'xiao jing kee' still have a powerful singing voice despite her old age. this is admirable in the opera industry. The husband Lau Hor Xin only perfomed a small role due to his age but he had a major role in holding the whole troupe to survive in singapore.

'xiao jing kee already in her 60s

Lau Hor Xin already in his early 80s

Combined performance with their godchildren had such a great effect that the troupe received many generous donation for their wonderful performance. Mum counted at least $500 plus for one night performance. A blogger had set a website for this troupe - http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/w3688sg-opera/article?mid=7&sc=1#61.

I am not too sure what performance i had watched already as i cannot find the performance schedule online. I realised one thing about the net - there are many ppl whom know about this performance at our local temple but almost all sites i managed to find are from our fellow singaporeans or taiwanese.


小飛霞


小瓏女


Third performance troup is from 台灣台北宏聲歌劇團 .

Dad boss had 赞助 the day performance on the first day on performanc - du wen long. My parents and i get to sit right at the first row for the performance. There was quite a small drama over sitting issue before we got to sit in the front rows.

I really love the troupe xiao sheng - lan yajun. She is very good as xiao sheng. At crying show, i can see her tears really dropping. You can never see this from the behind rows and so that is why i thought yajun was real good. She is quite beautiful despite her thick makeup with deep dimples on both side of her face.

xiao sheng - lan yajun 藍雅君

Actually i love all the xiao sheng role in most opera troupes. it is not easy to be cast as xiao sheng where u need to have deep voice, wear thick shoes and behave like a real man. the last time i had any real 'feel' for xiao sheng is the troup from the china troupe. Btw, the xiao sheng 'lan yalan' in yang li hua troupe is also very handsome as her role as a guy.

I only watched the first day of their performance on 21 june, 4 and 5 of july. i liked yesterday performance, 错爱。The story involved love between human and foxes. The story of coures ended as expected as moral and demons can never be together. What i loved abt this performance is the 'clown' roles are real funny, it lighthen the whole atmosphere and made the whole story seem more interesting. Yesterday, the actors came down the stage selling buns for chartiy. It was a pity that my SE phone is unable to take good photos at night or i would had take some photos of yajun. Yajun had went right to the end of the audience row to ask them to donate by selling them buns. But one thing abt taiwanese performance is the words they used in hokkein can be quite vulgar. anyway hokkein words can be quite vulgar at times.yesterday donation by selling buns got the temple $1726 for charity.

the last performance troupe is from 台灣明華園天字團. Mum and i had already plan to watch on fridays and sats where at most we will only get to watch for two more weeks.