Here are two pictures of the stage before the show started. They both suck, sorry. But you can sort of see it.
I don't know what the title of the opera was, but it was basically about this woman who went to this mystical mountain to get some magical herbs to heal her dying husband. Something like that. My little guide to Beijing book told me that the plots to these operas are sometimes incomprehensible and stupid. The plot isn't really what matters.
The show started off with a little band. Here's the band.
After the band played for a few minutes, the show started. There wasn't any dialogue throughout this opera, which I guess is similar to our operas (except soap operas, but those don't count). The first part just had some nifty music and people dancing around each other. Here are some pictures.
As you can see, the costumes are really detailed and elaborate. The makeup is super elaborate too.
The next part had singing. This type of opera singing is definitely an acquired taste. The voice was extremely high pitched and squeaky and she drew every syllable out. It was annoying and not very pleasant, I don't think. Youtube it if you can and see if you can find a video of it. Here's the singing lady. She's the one who went to the mountain to get some herbs.
This is her fighting for her herbs. She won this battle.
It was a nifty experience. It was definitely worth checking out. And it was free. That's always a plus.
No comments:
Post a Comment