陈楚蕙潮剧艺术演唱会 2008 (第一场演出)Tan Chor Hwee Teochew Opera and Concert – Day 1
Friday, 25 Apr 2008

Tan Chor Hwee (陈楚蕙) put up a 3-day performance in Singapore from 25 to 27 Apr 2008. It has been a year ago since I last saw her performed in Malaysia. This time round, she only performed for 3 days with a total of 4 performances. I managed to squeeze time to watch 3 performances.

Unlike all previous performances, Chor Hwee adopted a concert style followed by performance of selected opera segments (折子戏) from her movies and some of the popular shows put up by China Teochew Opera Troupes. On Day 1 of her performance on 25 Apr 2008, I arrived as early as 7 pm but was wondering why the door to the backstage was locked. This was unusual as in the past, whenever there was a performance by Chor Hwee, the door to the back stage was always opened. I saw many mature aunties sighing and cursing. So, boh pian loh, cannot go in mah.

The performance started promptly at 8 pm. I nearly fell off my seat when the MCs appeared. The male MC, Niu Ma Ding (牛马丁) was doing a fair job because he could speak Teochew and amuse the audience but I bet he was not very familiar with Teochew opera. It was unbelievable to notice that his counter part, the female MC, could not even speak the Teochew dialect. She said fragmented words in Teochew, supplemented by Hokkien and Mandarin and it was obvious that she knew nuts about Teochew opera. I admired her courage to host such a performance. I personally heard many audiences cursing at her. I also contributed by unhappiness by joining the crowd. Really, buay tahan.

Chor Hwee kicked off the performance like what one would normally see in any performance by superstar in concert. She sang two songs from her latest album and a Cantonese song, 碧海狂僧. She also had a quick chit chat with the audience. She also picked some lucky tickets for the lucky draw.

The first opera segment (折子戏) was 救夫 by 沈惠贞. This is a segment from the opera performance 三娶相国女. In my opinion, I think 沈惠贞performed better when she played the same role in Malaysia last year.

The second opera segment was 梦魂 by 陈楚蕙 and 陈国来. This is first time I see 陈楚蕙 performing this segment. She played the role of 郭佳 in this segment adapted from赵少卿. This is also the first time 陈楚蕙 put on 长水袖 and I could see she was trying to overcome the length of the long sleeve. I also watched林燕云 of 广东潮剧院一团 performed this role before. In my opinion, her performance was superb. I have heard of 陈国来 from my internet friends from China but have never had any opportunity to watch his performance before. As a 老生, his voice is very solid. He played the role as 赵少卿very well. Heard he is young man. I am amazed that he could act so well.

扫窗会 was the third opera segment that night. 陈楚蕙 played the role as 高文举and 林玉 acted as 王金真. This segment lasted almost 40 minutes and I enjoyed the performance very much. I still prefer the black and white movie扫窗会 by 陈楚蕙 and 方巧玉.

Finally, the last opera segment for the night was 洛水仙姬 by 陈楚蕙 and 余丽莉. This is a segment of the well know opera piece 洛神. The original movie in colour was performed by 陈楚蕙 and 方巧玉.

I walked quickly to the front stage when the performance ended. I managed to take a few shots of my favourite idol. I left Kreta Ayer Theatre at 11 pm.