八仙賀壽、新年頌 陳楚蕙, 方漢粧 of 香港新天彩潮剧团
十仙庆寿 or 五福连 by 广东潮剧院一团 and 香港升艺潮剧团

Time flies.

This year, the first day of Chinese New Year falls on Sunday, 18 Feb 2007. This year is the year of pig. I wish everyone good luck, pink health and prosperity.

Every year, I will play the cassette 八仙賀壽、新年頌 by 陳楚蕙 and 方漢粧 of 香港新天彩潮剧团. The cassette contains the standard songs and music for festive celebrations. It is a symbolic move to usher in the new year for health, wealth, growth and prosperity for the family, friends and relatives.

Then, I will play the VCD 十仙庆寿 or 五福连 by 广东潮剧院一团. 十仙庆寿是潮汕人仕传统喜庆节日,必备剧目。本剧共分五段,所又名(五福连);(一)十仙庆寿;(二)跳加冠;(三)仙姬送子;(四)唐明皇净棚;(五)京城会。 I will also watch the 五福连 version by 香港升艺潮剧团. I enjoy watching all the parts of 五福连 every year.

I have extratced the write up on the origin of 五福连 by 特区工报 (1997年8月16日) for reference. Enjoy reading.

«五福连»的由来
潮剧开场吉祥戏«五福连»,在1962年春天之前,并没有这个戏名,而是叫作«扮仙»,它包括«净棚»、«跳加冠»、«十仙庆寿»、«仙姬送子»、«京城会»五出,是以庆寿、祝福、团圆为主要内容。解放前每个潮剧戏班不论到哪一个演出点,每个开场,它都是必演的剧目,意在招来吉祥。十多年来潮汕所有潮剧团多演"广场戏",亦必须在开场时先演,甚至在戏演出中间插演此剧目,有时应主人的要求,还多次插演,但自解放后到1962年之前,此剧目被认为思想内容属于封建迷信,而没有演出。

1962年春天,一贯热爱潮剧艺术的领导人吴南生同志来住澄海,带领潮剧院几位编剧人员进行«续荔镜记»(«陈三五娘»下集)的剧本整理工作,同时鼓励潮剧院一团排练«扮仙»这个剧目,在演出之前,艺人们有所研究,认为如依叫«扮仙»,顾名思义,易于直接招来非议。吴南生同志看了内部彩排之后,根据其内容,提出改名为«五福连»的建议,得到艺人们的赞同而定下来并公开演出。当时«五福连»之名虽定,但因大气候的影响,各潮剧团还不可能放胆演出,直至改革开放之年,遍城乡的各演出点,才能逐渐听到«五福连»的锣鼓声。国际潮剧节期间终于正式奠定了«五福连»的思想、艺术地位,命名为潮剧开场吉祥戏。

1992年底为了迎接翌年初在汕头举行的国际潮剧节,和汕头市第六届迎春联欢节,以潮剧院为主体,选定了«五福连»进行大幅度的艺术加工,剧本方面除了作必要的文学加工之外,还把层次重新排列,以«十仙庆寿»这一折作为压轴,把整出戏推上高潮。演出方面突破舞台的局限,改在四面有观众的潮汕体育馆,参演人数增至两百人,演出当晚,美国、法国、新加坡、泰国、香港等国家和地区出席国际潮剧节的潮剧团都出台参演,一折«京场会»,各潮剧团都有一对生旦扮演吕蒙正和刘翠屏,同步演唱,济济一堂,煞是热闹壮观,加上此次演出,在音乐唱腔、舞台美术、灯光服装等各方面都有明显的创新提高,使整个潮汕体育馆充满祥和欢乐的气氛,博得海内外嘉宾、观众的高度赞赏,掌声经久不息。

«五福连»的这次大型演出,是潮剧史上前年未有的壮举,现场由汕头电视台录像,事后结合国际潮万里节的各项活动实录,由韩江影视公司出版专辑,名为«五洲潮曲共乡情»,发行海内外。«五福连»的剧本则发表于汕头市艺术研究室编的«潮剧研究»第一辑,同时还发表原广东潮剧院副院长林淳钧的«潮剧开台吉祥戏"五福连"摭谈»一文,详谈«五福连»的来龙去脉。

特区工报»1997年8月16日

猪年如意

18 Feb 2007 is the first day of Lunar New Year. I hope to see more Teochew Opera performances in Singapore. Looking forward to see 广东潮剧院二团 coming to Singapore since 广东潮剧院一团 had already announced that they would only come to Singapore in 2008. It is unlikely for 广东潮剧院三团 to return this year because they last performed in Singapore in Sep 2006.

I wonder if 陈楚蕙 would perform in Singapore in 2007. Although she will be performing in JB in Apr 2007 but it is rather inconvenient for working adults like many of us to rush across the causeway to watch her performance.

During Lunar New Year, many Chinese would like to paste the lucky word '福' upside down at some prominent parts of their house. In Chinese, it is '福到' and means luck has arrived. I can think of one Teochew opera which associates with the word '福'. This show is called 三家福. I understand that 陈楚蕙 will be performing segments of 三家福 in JB in Apr 2007.

碧玉簪 The Jade Hairpin
Hong Kong’s 新天彩潮剧团

I like to watch this teochew movie 碧玉簪 very much. I think this is one of the very few teochew movies which 曾珊凤 and 陈楚蕙 had acted and sang fantastically well that had touched the hearts of their opera fans.

陈楚蕙 paired off with 林玉of China when they performed 碧玉簪 in Singapore. 陈楚蕙 also paired off with 谢子兰 of Thailand when they performed 碧玉簪 in Thailand. I managed to rent a set of video tapes in the 1990's.

Personally, I think the teochew movie production is still the best.

刘璋下山 - 陈楚蕙,曾珊凤
包公会李后 - 陈楚蕙,曾珊凤
刘明珠三审玉芝兰 - 庄雪娟,方巧玉

Infiltration Of Teochew Opera In Hostel and Examinations Hall

I stayed in Hall 3’s hostel when I was pursuing my undergraduate studies in NTU. During that time, I brought along a walkman and some Teochew cassette tapes as a key source of my recreational activities. Some popuplar teochew opera cassettes by 陈楚蕙 and 庄雪娟 including 包公会李后 (also known as 貍貓換太子), 刘璋下山, 刘明珠三审玉芝兰, 双珠凤 etc accompanied me during my days in the hostel.

My room mate is also a Teochew of the same age but he simply could not understand why I liked opera so much. During my final year, I behaved like most Singaporean students and was under stress to score well in my studies. To overcome stress, I listened repeatedly to the cassette 包公会李后.

When I was in the examinations hall for a particular paper, I could not recall my answers. All I could memorise was the lyrics of the Empress 李后 when she revealed to 包公 how she was harmed and ill-treated by the Empress 刘后 and the Eunuch (太监) 郭槐. That lasted for about 1 hour and I was seating worrying that I would not do well for that paper. I told my mum about the incident when I went home after the examinations and she laughed. But surprisingly I obtained a very good grade for that subject.

In a few days time, 中国潮剧著名青衣花旦姚璇秋已应新加坡潮阳会馆的邀请，随广东潮剧院三团到我国客串演出。 广东潮剧院三团在牛车水人民剧场演出10场重头戏. '狸猫换太子' and '包公会李后' are two of the 10 shows.

May be one day, some China teochew opera troupes will put up 刘明珠三审玉芝兰.

孟丽君 - 陈楚蕙,方巧玉
新天彩潮剧团
Another Teochew Movie By The Heavenly King 陈楚蕙

孟丽君 is a very popular script as it has been produced in movies of different dialect groups, for example, Teochew, Hokkien etc. In the 1980s, there was also a very popular Chinese serial produced by Taiwan and a Taiwanese actress known as 陈丽丽 played the role as 孟丽君.

I like the original soundtrack of the Teochew movie 孟丽君 by 陈楚蕙 and 方巧玉 of 新天彩潮剧团. I watched that movie screened on Channel 8 of television Singapore many years ago. My mother and sister also like this movie very much and they spent some money to buy a set of 3LP (large plate) black records in the 1970s.

There is also another Teochew movie 孟丽君 by 庄雪娟 and 石玲 of 東山潮剧团. It is a totally different production compared to that of 新天彩潮剧团 as the movie has more dialogues than opera singing. I managed to rent the video from a shop near Yishun swimming complex in the 1990s. Not sure if the shop still keeps a copy of the video tape.

I have also watched the stage performance by 陈楚蕙 when 楚蕙潮剧团 performed in Singapore. I remembered I went there after work and paid for a $30 ticket just to have a closer look of 陈楚蕙. Below is a picture of 孟丽君 by 楚蕙潮剧团.

陈楚蕙 also performed 孟丽君 when she paired up with 谢子兰 of 泰中潮剧团 in the 1980s. See pictures below.

I am still waiting for the release of 孟丽君 by 陈楚蕙 and 方巧玉 of 新天彩潮剧团 on VCD.

严兰贞打破玉花瓶 - 陈楚蕙, 曾珊凤
白 字 戏 - 放走曾荣
严 兰 贞 - 背 夫
Another Tale of Teochew Opera

I like the original soundtrack of the Teochew Opera movie 严兰贞打破玉花瓶 by 陈楚蕙 and 曾珊凤 very much. I can sing several segments of the movie. However, I have not able to watch this movie on TV or via VCD.

In early 2000s, the Television Corporation of Singapore screened a 40-minute 白 字 戏 entitled 放走曾荣 on TV Central. I was extremely thrilled to discover the programme while reading the newspapers that Saturday morning. I told my mum about the good news and we watched that show that afternoon. The whole show centred on how 严 兰 真 saved her husband 曾荣 from her parents. Strangely, there was very little singing. The dressing and make ups were very different from 陈楚蕙 or local Teochew Street opera. But, it was my first time watching 白 字 戏. My late dad did tell me about 白 字 戏 but I could not understand what he was trying to tell me until I saw it myself. I undertand that in the past, 白 字 戏 was a type of performance dedicated to the high class rich Teochew people. Later, Teochew opera stole the thunder and emerged as a popular entertainment.

In Nov 2004, 陈楚蕙 returned to Singapore to perform two weeks. We did not have much time so we decided to watch some 折子戏 on a particular Sunday. Then, we were shocked that the tickets for that particular Sunday was sold out before 陈楚蕙 commenced her series of performance. Later, we discovered that all the tickets were booked by Nee Soon East Community Club. A/P Ho Peng Kee was the MP for that consituency. The tickets were sold to residents at $6 each, on a first come first serve basis with no seat number assigned. My wife and I made some enquiries and managed to buy 6 tickets for the whole family.

On that day, A/P Ho Peng Kee was present and he gave some short remarks. However, we were quite unhappy with the organizer. They changed the set of 折子戏 just before the commencement of the show. Actually, we wanted to watch 背 夫 of 严 兰 真 and 别 窑 of 红鬃烈马. These are two special 折子戏 that we wanted to watch. I recalled 陈楚蕙 actually performed 严 兰 真 in Thailand in 2002 but she never do so in Singapore. That year, I told myself that the 折子戏 背夫 should be good enough but to my disappointment, nothing at all. The only 折子戏 we loved for that day was 碧玉簪.

However, QL had a chance to watch the 折子戏 背夫 on a separate day. This blog shows some of the photos taken by him.

Lady Precious Stream - 王宝钏 (or 红鬃烈马)

Are you an opera fan? If yes, is Lady Precious Stream ’王宝钏’ or ‘红鬃烈马’ or ‘别窑’ a familiar title to you?

‘Lady Precious Stream’ was one of the literature books I studied in secondary school. Coincidentally, during that year, our local Teochew Opera troupe, 织云潮剧团 also performed 王宝钏 during the lunar seventh month festival in Toa Payoh when my teacher started to introduce the book ‘Lady Precious Stream’. As the script by 织云潮剧团 was very similar to that book, it helped me to deepen my understanding of the various segments of the story. 织云潮剧团 put up an excellent performance. During that time, it was a big troupe and was able to field different male and female leads to act as 王宝钏 and 石平贵. By the way, there is something that is still puzzling me for many years. Is the main male character called 薛平贵 or 石平贵? 新天彩潮剧团 and 楚蕙潮剧团 named the male character as 薛平贵 but 织云潮剧团 and 广东潮剧院一团 used the name 石平贵. Please pen your comments if you are aware of this.

There is a Teochew opera movie production by 新天彩潮剧团 but it is called红鬃烈马. Above is collection of pictures from that movie. 陈楚蕙 and 方巧玉 performed the role as 薛平贵 and 王宝钏, respectively. I have not seen this movie. I only have the cassette. What a pity!

In 王宝钏, I like the segment 平贵别窑 most. I watched 陈楚蕙 performed this segment with many different actresses. Personally, I feel 陈楚蕙 and 陈碧霞 had put up the best performance. Not sure if my assessment will change if I have a chance to watch 红鬃烈马 by 陈楚蕙 and 方巧玉. I have not been able to collect any photos of 陈楚蕙 and 陈碧霞 in 红鬃烈马. Below are some photos showing 陈楚蕙 as 薛平贵 (provided by Q L) and 陈楚蕙 and 谢子兰 in 红鬃烈马.

薛丁山与樊梨花 by 陈楚蕙,曾珊凤 and 陈楚蕙,陈碧霞

Spent almost 4 hours this afternoon watching Part 1 and Part 2 of the black and white Teochew opera movies 薛丁山与樊梨花 by 陈楚蕙 and 曾珊凤. I like the story very much. I had watched 陈楚蕙 performed 薛丁山与樊梨花 in Singapore many years ago. 陈碧霞 played the role as 樊梨花. I prefer 陈楚蕙's stage performance because she did all the stunts personally. Here are some of the photos taken when 楚蕙 and 碧霞 performed 薛丁山与樊梨花 in Singapore.