梁山伯与祝英台 莊雪娟,石玲

香港东山潮剧团

In the 60's, there were two popular Teochew Opera troupes in Hong Kong. One of them was 新天彩潮剧团 with key leads like 陈楚蕙、方巧玉、陈丽丽、曾珊凤 and 张应炎. There was another troupe called 香港东山潮音剧艺社 or also known as 东山潮剧团. The key leads include丁楚翘、莊雪娟、石玲、陈金枝、黄艳秋、卢淑娟、吴泽、陈瑛、陈文昌、李缘绒、林静仪、李美英. As these were the two popular troupes during that time, they were in hot demand and faced stiff competition for movie productions. If you have read about news regarding fans supporting stars like 甄珍, 林青霞 and 林凤娇 in the 70's and 80's, you should be able to imagine the competition that took place between the 2 troupes. Any way, 方巧玉 was first with 东山影音剧社 and later she switched to 新天彩潮剧团.

Although I am a strong supporter for movies produced by 新天彩潮剧团, I also like many movie productions by 东山潮剧团. Some of the movies that are worth watching include 梁山伯与祝英台, 刘明珠三审玉芝兰, 天波楼, 吴汉杀妻、莲香戏鞋、双珠凤 and 喜门环. I did not get a chance to watch 双驸马 and 明珠宝剑 but I am quite sure these are good movies too.

I recalled watching 梁山伯与祝英台 by 莊雪娟 and 石玲 many years ago. It was indeed a very excellent production. The music, songs and script were composed and written. It was with much regret that I did not make a copy of the movie. It is difficult to locate this movie again.

梁山伯与祝英台 is a common and popular story which has been produced in 黄梅戏， 越剧，粤剧，福建戏 etc. Among these, I like the 黄梅调 version of 梁山伯与祝英台 by 凌波, a production by Shaw Brothers (邵氏), most. I can sing many of the songs in the movie 梁山伯与祝英台. The love story and romance between 梁山伯 and 祝英台 is comparable to many well known love stories found in English literature books.

I hope to find the 梁山伯与祝英台 VCD by 莊雪娟 and 石玲 one day. Not sure if any one has the VCD. If not, I hope to see 广东潮剧院一团 put up this performance the next time they come to Singapore. So far, only 林初发 of 广东潮剧院一团 acted in a 折子戏, 忆十八.