Stage Performance

1. Stage Performance Group: 2 Member: Nina Tata Star Erica Cynthia Tiffany

2. Definition Stage: • any scene regarded as a setting for exhibiting or doing something • a large platform on which people can stand and can be seen by an audience Performance: • the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work • can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body and a relationship between performer and audience.

3. Intriduction • Beijing opera or Peking opera (simplified Chinese: 京剧; traditional Chinese: 京劇; pinyin: Jīngjù) is a form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. • It is regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China.

4. History • It is regarded that Beijing opera was born when the Four Great Anhui (安徽) Troupes came to Beijing in 1790. • Beijing opera was initially an exclusively male pursuit. The Qianlong Emperor (乾隆皇帝)had banned all female performers in Beijing in 1772 • In 1828, some famous Hubei troupes came to Beijing They often jointly performed in the stage with Anhui troupes.

5. Origins • The combination gradually formed Beijing opera's main melodies. Beijing opera is generally regarded as having fully formed by 1845. • In 1884, the Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后) became a regular patron of Beijing opera, cementing its status over earlier forms .

6. Beijing opera after the Chinese Civil War • After the Chinese Civil War (1949), Beijing opera became a focal point of identity for both involved parties. • When the Communist Party of China came to power in Mainland China in 1949, the newly formed government moved to bring art into line with Communist ideology, and "to make art and literature a component of the whole revolutionary machine".

7. Beijing opera after the Chinese Civil War • To this end, dramatic works without Communist themes were considered subversive, and were ultimately banned during the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命) (1966~1976). Among the eight model plays (樣板戲) eventually retained during that time were five Beijing operas. Notable among these operas was The Legend of the Red Lantern(紅燈記), which was approved as a concert with piano accompaniment based on a suggestion from Jiang Qing (江青), wife of Mao Zedong (毛澤東)

8. Beijing opera after the Chinese Civil War • The endings of many traditional plays were changed, and visible stage assistants in Beijing opera were eliminated. After the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s, traditional Beijing opera began to be performed again.

9. Modern Beijing opera • During the second half of the 20th century, Beijing opera witnessed a steady decline in audience numbers. • This has been attributed both to a decrease in performance quality and an inability of the traditional opera form to capture modern life. • The influence of Western culture has also left the younger generations impatient with the slow pacing of Beijing opera

10. Modern Beijing opera • In response, Beijing opera began to see reform starting in the 1980s. • New works have naturally experienced a greater freedom to experiment. Regional, popular, and foreign techniques have been adopted, including Western style makeup and beards and new face paint designs for Jing(淨) characters.

11. Chinese Opera • Characters: According to gender, character, age ,job and the state in society, we have 生 旦 淨 丑 ,the four types of the characters.

12. Sheng • The Sheng(生) is the main male role. • There are 老生 小生 武生 紅生 娃娃生. • Except 紅生 and 武生，other shengs just put a little makeup to become more good looking. It is called 俊扮 。

13. Laosheng(老生) is also called 鬚生 or 鬍子生，because of his beard. • Beared has a special name in Chinese Opera ,髯口。 • Laosheng has there parts:唱工老生 做工老生 武老生 。 • Another laosheng is 紅生。It is red-faced older male.

14. Xiaoshenh(小生) • Xiaoshenh(小生) is a young male. • Usually he plays as a handsome man. • Xiaoshenh has to learn the ability of using real voice and fake voice. Fake voice should use special way to be trained. It has high shrill voice.

15. There are two types of Xiaosheng:文小生 and 武小生。The role of the young officer is called 紗帽小生。The man with fan often plays love stories. This man is called 扇子生。翎子生 plays a handsome man.武小生 has two kinds. One is 穿長靠的武小生and the other is 短打的武小生 。 Wusheng(武生) are highly trained in acrobatics and have a natural voice when singing. Last is娃娃生，it’s a role for kids.

16. Dan The Dan(旦) refers to any female role. Dan roles were originally divided into five subtypes .Old women played by Laodan (老旦),martial women were wudan(武旦 ) and vivacious and unmarried women were hudan (花旦 )

17. Hua Dan (花旦) • These are lively, vivacious young female characters. They normally wear short blouses with pants or skirts. The Hua Dan focuses more on movements and speech. They must be able to speak quickly and clearly. They also need to project an image of cuteness and innocence as Hua Dan always represent girls of around 12-16 years old.

18. Wu Dan (武旦) • Wu Dan specialise in fighting with all kinds of weapons. The Wu Dan engage in fighting with opponents besides just doing stunts. In the past, the Wu Dan needed to perform cai qiao (踩跷). Cai qiao is a very difficult skill requiring the actress to stand on tip toe throughout the whole show. The actress will wear something akin to high heels shoes, but the heels of this special kind of shoe are so high that the actress is practically standing on tip toe. Fake small shoes are then attached underneath so that it appears that the actress has very small feet. It is an imitation of the foot binding practice. Wu Dan must master many acrobatic movements. They specialise only in fighting hence they seldom sing or speak.

19. Lao Dan (老旦) • Lao Dan are older women. They have their own set of movements and gestures and singing styles. Lao Dan sing in a lower pitched voice. Lao Dan costumes are also less vibrant compared to other female roles and they have much simpler hair styles.

20. Cai Dan (彩旦) • These are the clownish female roles. Cai Dan do not act like normal Dan and they do clownish gestures. Their movements resemble normal daily movements and they speak in normal voices. Clownish dans are now normally performed by men; hence they are physically unattractive, which is exaggerated by their hideous make up.

21. Jing The Jing is a painted face male role. He will play either primary or secondary roles. Jing must have a strong voice and be able to exaggerate gestures.

22. There are three types of Jing. • 正淨 is also called 大花臉。 • 副淨 is included 架子花臉 and 花臉。Sometimes they are similar to Chau. • They are humorous and cunning.

23. Chou • The Chou is a male clown role. The Chou usually plays secondary roles in a troup. • Chou is also called 小花臉or 三花臉。This role can be justice and evil. Chou character often plays the role of lower class. Chou role is cunning, vivacious and optimistic.

24. 《宇宙鋒》 《貴妃醉酒》 《斷橋》 《霸王別姬》 《穆桂英掛帥 》 《鴛鴦塚》 《荒山淚》 《青霜劍》 《英台抗婚》 《竇娥冤》 《二進宮》 《祭塔》 《昭君出塞》 《梁紅玉》 《紅娘》 《金玉奴》 《釵頭鳳》 《荀灌娘》 The Representative Works

26. Plot • Farewell My Concubine is the common English title of a famous Chinese Peking Opera. A more accurate translation of the Chinese title is Farewell to his Queen. • The play tells the story of Xiang Yu (232 BC - 202 BC), who battled for the unification of China with Liu Bang, the eventual founder of the powerful Han Dynasty. In the play, Xiang Yu is surrounded by Liu Bang's forces and is on the verge of total defeat, so he calls forth his horse and begs it to run away for the sake of its own safety. Against his wishes, the horse refuses. He then calls for the company of his favorite concubine, Yu Ji. Realizing the dire situation that has befallen them, she begs to die alongside her master, but he strongly refuses this wish. Afterwards, as he is distracted, Yu Ji commits suicide with Xiang Yu's own sword.

27. Western Opera

28. HISTORY OF OPERA • The story of opera can be traced back to ancient Greece where people would perform musical dramas with an occasional song from the choir to further the plot. • In the European culture of the 1500s, one of the most popular forms of music was a madrigal, a song with at least three different voices singing different words at different times. As the text became increasing important to listeners many found the use of multiple voices and words distracting. The result was the creation of recitatives; a mainstay in opera, where the accompaniment holds a note while one singer sings the musical line.

29. Using recitatives, Jacopo Peri (1561-1633) created the very first opera, Dafne, which debuted in 1594. This music is called an intermedi, which is a musical interlude between acts in a play. When Peri created his second opera, L’Euridice both the recitative and intermedi were used. • By combining the styles of recitatives, intermedi and sacred music-drama style of oratorio, Claudio Monteverdi created opera’s first masterpiece, L’Orfeo, which premiered in Mantua, Italy in 1607. Venice soon became Europe’s home for opera. As popularity began to spread throughout Europe, the plots became more complicated, performances were divided into three acts, songs were added and the sets and costumes got bigger and more glamorous. This was the birth of grand opera.

30. OPERA IN POP CULTURE • Opera has exploded into pop culture in the last decade. Take for example the fact that 1999's MTV video music awards were held live from the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center and featured an operatic theme both in their advertising and programming.

32. Writer • In 1986, Lloyd Webber premiered the musical, The Phantom of the Opera, inspired by the 1911 Gaston Leroux novel. He wrote the part of Christine for his then wife, Sarah Brightman, who played the role in the original London and Broadway productions alongside Michael Crawford as the Phantom. The production was directed by Harold Prince, who had also earlier directed Evita. Charles Hart wrote the lyrics for the musical with some additional material provided by Richard Stilgoe, and Lloyd Webber co-wrote the musical's book with Stilgoe. Lloyd Webber's score is sometimes operatic in style but he maintains the form and structure of a musical throughout.

33. Plot • Christine was brought up in the Paris Opera house when her famous musician father suddenly dies, telling her he will send her and angel of music to look after her. She grows up and discovers that she is hearing a voice, telling her and teaching her to sing. She believes he is the angel of music but in fact he is a disfigured genius, The phantom. He falls in love with her whilst. Although she is fascinated and drawn towards the phantom, she falls in love with her childhood sweetheart. The phantom gets madly jealous, kidnaps Christine, and threatens to kill Raoul. She, to save Raoul, agrees to marry the phantom and kisses him. He then realizes what he's done and then makes Christine go with Raoul, disappearing forever.

34. Characters • Erik, the deformed phantom who lives in the catacombs of the opera house. • Christine Daae, a young, Swedish soprano. • Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, Christine's childhood friend and love interest. • The Persian, a strange man who guards Erik's home. • Madame Giry, Erik's loyal box-keeper. • Meg Giry, Madame Giry's only daughter, a ballet girl. • Carlotta, the spoiled leading soprano. • Joseph Buquet, the chief scene-shifter. • And so on…

35. Cats

36. THE BACKGROUND OF CAT • Cat is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. It introduced the song standard, 'Memory'. • The musical first opened in London in 1981 and then on Broadway in 1982, in each case directed by Trevor Nunn. It won numerous awards, including both the Laurence Olivier Award and the Tony Award for Best Musical.

37. The London production ran for 21 years and the Broadway production for eighteen years, in both cases setting historical long-run records. Actresses Elaine Paige and Betty Buckley became particularly associated with the musical. • Cats has been performed around the world in numerous productions and has been translated into more than 20 languages. It was also made into a 1998 video that has been broadcast on television.

38. Characters • Asparagus / Gus - The theatre cat. The same actor usually plays Asparagus as a general chorus cat, and a younger version of Gus, up to the song "Gus the Theatre Cat", in which he portrays an older Gus, and Growltiger, then afterwards continues to play younger Gus, "Asparagus." • Bombalurina - A saucy red female sings a duet with Demeter. • Bustopher Jones - A fat cat, a "twenty-five pounder." Dresses in a snappy tuxedo and spats. Respected by all, as the upper class "St James' Street Cat." In most productions, the actor playing Gus also plays Bustopher, though in early productions the part was handled by the actor playing Old Deuteronomy.[3] • Demeter - A very skittish female cat. She unmasks Macavity when he disguises as Old Deuteronomy. • Grizabella - The former Glamour Cat who has lost her sparkle and now only wants to be accepted. Grizabella left the tribe when she was younger to see the world for herself. In doing so she faced the harshness of the outside world. • And so on…

39. Video • http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=4-L6rEm0rnY • http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=LI1DMZ6J_RM&feature=related • http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mn3gU9aLQg&feature=related • http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=4HWNKDmlnnQ • http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=hfiGPxs6sj0

40. The EndThank You For Attention