April 10, 2006
The opera girl again
I met her again at the SCO concert last Saturday.
Me: Arts Festival coming, going to see any show?
Girl: This year no good. No Chinese opera.
Me: Got leh (I showed her the programme booklet I have just taken from the SISTIC counter), see Chuan opera – looks like Dr Chua’s recommendation.
Girl: (after reading the brief introduction) this one no good – not top class. The Arts Festival committee don't know about chinese opera. Aiya, Dr Chua and the COI also don’t choose carefully. You see, during the Chinese cultural month, they invited the silly Wuxi Comedy instead of some good Chinese opera.
Me: I think the Comedy is OK – something different. Another one, Zhanjiang Cantonese Opera Troupe. (I pointed to her another page.)
Girl: This actually not by the Arts Festival committee, this organized by the Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre Foundation. I don’t like this Leong Siew Meng (lead male artiste of the Zhanjiang Troupe).
Me: I think he not bad – singing good, skills and acting good. He also one of the youngest. (I think he is in his twenties and his troupe has many young artistes and musicians.)
Girl: He has no 大將之風.
Me: Who you think got this 大將之風 – the younger ones?
Girl: Peng Qing Hua and Wen Ru Qing (Both were Ding Fan's students who performed at the Esplanade Theatre last week.)
Me: I see Peng Qing Hua also quite small size like Leong Siew Meng.
Girl: But I think he got it.
Me: You think Lee Hsien Loong got 大將之風?
Girl: Yes, he has leadership qualities.
Me: Hahahahaha……
The End
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
NAC doesn't seemed to appreciate Chinese opera alot. You see Chinese opera opera performances has been dropping in numbers for both Singapore Arts Festival and Chinese Cultural Month over the years. This year's the best, all gone!
Yes, I agree with Opera girl that Leong Siew Meng has no da jiang zi feng as with most young xiao sheng. Given time, hopefully, some of them would acquire some charisma as they accumulate acting and life's experiences.
As regards Arts Festival, I have given up hope on the organisers bringing in good opera performances. Afterall, it is a fact that attendance at opera performance is dwindling.
Mimi
Post a Comment