Showself Entertainment Brings You to Feel the Charm of Huai Opera

On the evening of September 6th, a large series of live streams “Hello, New China-Chinese Opera, Pick Me” organized by Mobile Management Bureau, Showself Entertainment, and Guangming.com visited Jiashan in Zhejiang province to perform a live stream of “Picture-in-Picture” to audiences.

Excellent plays bloom in different places

Huai opera, also known as Jianghuai opera, is an ancient local opera originating from Yancheng and Funing in Jiangsu province in the Qing dynasty. It developed in Shanghai and became popular near the Jiangsu province. Shanghai Huai opera troupe is one of the earliest art groups in Shanghai. Guan Yancao, the head of the troupe and a first-level screenwriter went to Jiashan taking along the play of “Picture-in-picture”. It is an important step for the cultural exchange and integration between Shanghai and Zhejiang province. Jiashan Cultural Department also organized local experts to come to watch the show and learn.

Guan said: "Since its debut in Shanghai, it has won the praise from numerous young audiences. This is also the first time for this play to go outside of Shanghai. We want to know their feedback about this innovative Huai opera.”

During the live stream, Shen Weimin, Vice President of Shanghai drama association, Ye Zhiliang, secretary of Zhejiang drama association, and Guan Yancai, the head of the troupe and a first-level screenwriter came to the studio. They shared their creative process to audiences. Many audiences expressed that it was the first time they knew those famous songs “Jasmine” and “Four season song” come from Huai Opera!

Inherit + Innovation to all generations

Different from the traditional Huai opera in the past, the beginning of the “Picture-in-picture” is conducted in “Tik-Tok” style; attracting significant attention from audiences. During the performance, a few actors performed their storylines with different emotions and sometimes they left the story to become a stranger, a table, or a chair which reflected the style of small theater drama completely. At the end of the play, deputy director Tan Yun and several leading actors performed a hip-hop dance. 

An elderly audience said, "The only 'new' aspect of the play is just its form. You can identify from the play that the leading actors’ chant, figure, and singing style in the storyline are all very traditional. Although I have not seen this kind of opening performance before, I am very satisfied that the foundation of the Huai opera is still there.”

Indeed, team members of "Picture-in-Picture" are very young; even three new actors were born after 1995. This innovative play retained the traditional singing style of Huai Opera and on the other hand integrated a lot of up-to-date and popular elements. “Young people may not feel bored when they are watching it while old people will also understand it. This kind of result is exactly what we want to achieve.”

Live stream help the spread of the opera

Guan Yancao's theory was proved in the live stream. Audiences of Showself Entertainment showed great interest in the new form of the Huai opera. Many of the audience asked about detailed information of the guests, the location of the live stream, and even asked the hosts to "spoil the story". The host of guanming.com initially worried that the play was hard to understand and invited Guan Yancao to explain it. However, some audiences said, "we can understand it!" and " Host, we cannot concentrate on the show if you speak. Your words destroy the atmosphere here!"

ScienJoy devotes itself expressing positive energy to the public and exploring more of the “Internet plus” strategy. It launched a series of live stream program such as “The beauty of the quintessence of China” last year and “Hello, New China- Chinese opera, Pick me” has attracted tremendous audiences. In the following weeks, they will go to Shanxi, Fujian, Hubei, Shandong and other places to perform wonderful shows including Qin-style opera, Puxian opera, flower-drum opera, Lv opera by live streams. It will enable more audiences to enjoy the performance of the wonderful opera.