2. Chuanqi Opera Production by NUS
2.1 Literary Origin
- The West Wing 西厢记 ( Xixiang ji ) derives from "Meeting the Fox Fairy" 会真记 ( Huizhen ji ), a short story by Yuan Zhen 元稹 of the Tang dynasty (618-907). The original story has inspired many versions belonging to a diversity of literary genres. It has also been adapted successfully for narrative entertainment and stage performance.
2.2 Dramatic Adaptations
- During the Yuan dynasty (1234-1368), Wang Shifu 王实甫 transformed the story into a five-play series of zaju opera. The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) playwrights, Cui Shipei 崔时佩 and Li Jingyun 李景云 , adapted Wang's version to a chuanqi opera, resetting its librettos to contemporary Ming music, when the Yuan music had already lost its currency.
2.3 Stage-Script of the NUS Production
- The NUS production is an abridged version of the Ming chuanqi opera. It is translated from classical Chinese to modern English by Drs Leong Liew Geok and Grant Shen. Following the precedence of ancient tradition, the libretto is again recast, using the popular music of today.
2.4 Melody Selection and Music Arrangement
- Four operational principles, namely, Intelligibility, Popularity, Suitability, and Variety in Unity, are followed in the selection and musical arrangement of pre-existing melodies. See Appendix 2, “Operational Principles of Musical Arrangement.”
- Synopsis in Heroic Couplets
- Zhang, a scholar of talent from Luoyang, 西洛张生
- And Oriole of Boling, charming and young: 博陵崔氏
- A perfect pair of gold and jade they make 一双白璧
- By what fair means their growing thirst to slake? 两南金
- Shelter seekers at a Buddhist temple, 寄居萧寺
- On time-honored codes they cannot trample. 无计达佳音
- When Flying Tiger launches an attack, 忽遇孙彪作耗
- Zhang plots to have the rebels driven back. 君瑞请兵退贼
- Oriole's hand in marriage Madam has touted,
- Should loutish rebels ever be routed. 当许下成亲
- How could a worthy hero so driven, 岂料功成后
- Expect Madam to break the promise given? 老母背前盟
- Scarlet serves as go-between for the night, 托红娘传密意
- So star-crossed lovers hold each other tight! 遂初心
- Madam relents, the pair is united; 重谐伉俪
- To this day, their story has delighted! 传说到如今
The play is directed by Grant Shen, an Asian theatre specialist. He is included in Who’s Who in the World (2008) for “outstanding achievement” in his field. He directed the Chinese zaju opera, Freed by a Flirt (1995); the Japanese kabuki play, Sukeroku: Flower of Edo (1998); and the Indian Sanskrit dance-drama, Shakuntala of the Mahabharata (2002).
The librettist is Leong Liew Geok, author of two poetry collections, Love Is Not Enough (1991) and Women Without Men (2000), and editor of More than Half the Sky: Creative Writings by Thirty Singapore Women (1998). Her poems have been anthologized, most recently in Over There: Poems from Singapore and Australia (2008) and Language for a New Century: Contemporary Voices from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond (2008).
This production has received assistance in costuming, makeup, and movement training from the Chinese Opera Institute.