Jia Baoyu Cries for the Death of Lin Daiyu—From The Dream of the Red Mansion
This excerpt is a classic of the Xu School, and is the typical training material for young male actors of this opera.
The story happens in the later part of A Dream of Red Mansions. Jia Baoyu is arranged by his family to have a wedding. He takes for granted that the bride is his lover, Lin Daiyu. But later he finds out the bride is another lady the family has chosen for him, and Lin Daiyu has passed away, knowing the arrangement.
The atmosphere is rather tragic when Baoyu sees the mourning hall of Daiyu, and it is really hard for the actor to convey the emotional reminisce with tearful singing, but Xu Yulan, a master in playing Jia Baoyu on Yueju stage, handled it very well. Later, she directed her student to play the same role. Now, her successor, Qian Huili, has nailed the key point and formed her own style.
Meet in Pavilion—From Butterfly Lovers
This excerpt is the most famous piece of the Fan School.
The story Butterfly Lovers is about the prevented love between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, and “Meeting in the Pavilion” is the breaking up process of the two. After mutually expressing their unswerving love, they decide to die and be buried together, now that they cannot get married during their lives. In the end, Zhu Yingtai jumps into the thunder-split tomb of Shanbo, and the two transform into two butterflies flying toward the sky.
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