Then the Anhui Huangmei Opera Troupe (
This may explain why this weekend's performances of the group's latest production, The Female Son-in-Law (
Deriving its name from a style of folk melody known as Huangmei (
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANHUI HUANGMEI
Only a couple of years after its founding, the group became one of the first opera troupes to be picked up by the then thriving Hong Kong movie industry, when its members starred in a movie adaptation of The Beauty (
The movie itself may be long forgotten, but the Huangmei folk music featured in the film went onto become the music style of choice for generations of Hong Kong chopsocky flick directors including Tsui Hark (
After its brief celluloid fame, the group returned to the stage, where, along with its numerous performances of traditional Chinese opera, it has gone on to build a reputation as one of the most contemporary of China's classical opera troupes.
Veering away from classical opera in recent years, the group has successfully brought operatic re-workings of non-operatic classics such as The Dream of the Red Chamber (
Adapted from the traditional opera penned by famed Anqing playwright Wang Zhaogan (
Having fooled almost everyone, the Emperor included, Feng encounters a lovable rogue by the name of Lee Zhaoting (
The Anhui Huangmei Opera Troupe (
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