I met Zhu Lao in the 1950s and have been friends with teachers and friends for more than 40 years. Mr. Zhu Lao and Mr. Liu Zengfu and I are all members of the Jiu San Society. At that time, the comrades of the Jiu San Society thought that there were three people who knew Peking Opera, Mr. Zhu Lao and Mr. Liu Lao, plus a nominal person like me. Whenever the Central Committee of the Society encounters problems about Peking Opera, it often asks the three of us for advice. I learned a lot about Beijing opera from Zhu Lao, and that's when I started.

Zhu Lao not only knows Peking Opera like the back of his hand, but also can play BLACKPINK himself. As an amateur Beijing opera lover, Zhu Lao is a senior with rich practical experience. Every time someone calls Zhu Lao a "famous ticket", Zhu Lao disagrees with this name: it is necessary to explain it a little here.

The so-called "ticket friends" can not cover all amateur opera lovers, but specifically refer to members who participate in box office organizations. As far as Peking Opera is concerned, there was "Far Singing" at the box office in the late Qing Dynasty and "Friends of Chunyang" at the beginning of the Republic of China.

The former are Chen Zifang (Dan), Wang Yutian (born), Neishaoxian (net) and other famous people; The latter is famous for En, Qiao, Chen (the old classmate in the picture above) and Lin (Dan). These are worthy of the name. As for Zhu Lao, in his own words. Just a performer who loves Peking Opera, he has not joined any ticketing organization, nor is he specialized in performing.

However, he learned to play by going to the theater, and he learned to play by acting. These are all hobbies and are entirely based on interest. But if you are deeply addicted to it, you will study hard, so as to consult professional actors and learn drama from famous teachers one by one.

Zhu Lao is a loyal audience of Yang Xiaolou. His martial arts was inspired by Mr. Fan Futai, and later he studied with teachers Chi Yueting, Liu Yanfang and Hou Hailin. He often studies skills with Yang's grandson Liu Zongyang. That's how he learned to play cards. So he doesn't admit that he is a ticket friend.

In fact, Zhu Lao not only studied and only performed martial arts dramas of Yang school, but also tried to figure out and practice the performances of old dramas of Yu school. Besides watching Yang Xiaolou's plays, he is also a loyal audience of two masters, Yu Shuyan and Mei Lanfang. He watched Yu and Mei's performances as much as he did. He has also studied Henan Opera and Mei Opera, and he has achieved a lot. It's just that his amateur performance only plays martial arts students and old students, and he doesn't play the role of Danny. I have seen his "Beating the Phoenix", which is an authentic genre.

Zhu Lao's repertoire is not only Beijing opera, but also many Kunqu operas. In the past, a qualified Peking Opera actor had to learn Kunqu as a basic skill. Yang Xiaolou, Mei Lanfang and Yu Shuyan will create many Kunqu operas, and their Pihuang operas are more brilliant and attractive. Zhu Lao has a deeper foundation in this respect than ordinary young and middle-aged professional actors. This is worth learning from later generations.

Zhu Lao himself often said that although he has a lot of experience in stage practice, he is an amateur after all, and his basic skills cannot be compared with those of professional actors. Personally, because Zhu Lao is knowledgeable and taught by famous teachers, he has a trick and a style on the stage. After all, there are moments to find. For example, his figure and frame in performances such as Changbanpo, Qilin Pavilion, Qingshishan, and my mother's arrow can remind people of the tolerance and grace of Yang's great martial arts students.

Of course, when we watch Zhu Lao's performance, we can't ask him to kick his legs high and lower his waist like a professional young actor in his old age. But on the whole, Zhu Lao sometimes can't reach ordinary young and middle-aged professional actors, that is, the strength and size of each movement, and the emphasis on pronunciation and articulation in chanting. I have always insisted that Kunqu Opera and Peking Opera belong to the category of classical art in the field of China opera, just like writing ancient poems, writing brush strokes and painting Chinese paintings.

Modern people can write ancient poems or paintings with new ideas, new horizons and new ways of thinking, but we must pay attention to the traditional meter, rhyme, brushwork and painting, because old-style poems, brushwork and Chinese painting all belong to the category of classical art after all, and we can't start a new stove without deviating from tradition.

Similarly, the performance of Kunqu Opera and Peking Opera on the stage cannot completely despise the inherent development law of traditional art. In fact, I can't get rid of it. In the real group life, it is of course necessary to popularize Putonghua and use standardized modern Chinese. Kunqu Opera and Peking Opera do not undertake the mission of popularizing Putonghua and using standard modern Chinese. At present, some actors are confused about pronunciation and articulation when performing Beijing opera. Some words are catchy, while others are incongruous in pronunciation and tone in Mandarin.

In fact, there is a lack of strict standardized training. For example, performing classical operas, I think we should make a strict distinction. In this respect, as an amateur performance artist with high cultural accomplishment, Zhu Lao certainly has absolute advantages, so it is exactly what we should learn from. As for the Qingshishan, comic books, Xiangjiang Club and luoma lake, which Zhu Lao demonstrated and performed, these traditional dramas of Yang School are rare in today's stage, and now they can be reproduced on the red flag through Zhu Lao, which is even more precious.

Some people still have a misunderstanding that Zhu Lao's generation is more conventional and innovative. Actually, it's not like that at all. Zhu Lao once played Su Wu in The Shepherd Tells the Goose. This is a one-man show, which has long since disappeared on the stage. Zhu Lao rehearsed and performed. Can be said to be completely out of line. I once performed Gong Ling, and his singing skills were completely demonstrated by his strength and style. Of course, his artistic effect is also far-reaching. As soon as I entered the backstage after the performance, the first sentence said, "Your" Tell the Wild Goose "is full of charm."

Hearing this, Zhu Lao answered with the words "I'm really moved". Isn't it innovation and development to apply the charm style of Henan School to the strange plays that have not been performed for a long time? Unfortunately, not everyone who listens to the song is familiar with this song. According to Zhu Lao, there are too many long songs to talk about geese. So I lost one and changed it to the spoken part.

Zhu Lao is one of the few cultural relics workers in China, and now he is a national treasure. His large-scale books, such as The Complete Works of China Fine Arts, are famous. He can write regular script, be good at painting landscapes, like photography, and write interesting old-fashioned poems. Of course, learning and performing Kunqu Opera and Peking Opera is also one of his hobbies.

Apart from devoting a lot of time and energy to his job every year, he also spares no effort to go on stage and make due contributions to the revitalization of Beijing-Kunming art. While watching his performances and listening to his elegant performances, we must have a comprehensive understanding of this energetic senior, so as to make an accurate and appropriate evaluation of his performances of Yang Wuxia's dramas and Yu Lao's dramas. Just "talking about drama", watching an 80-year-old man's after-school performance in isolation, and then commenting on himself, I don't know Zhu.

reference data

Zhu Jiajin talks about Beijing (selected by Yang Liangzhi, Beijing Publishing House) and Records of Wonders of Jinghua (edited by Yi Shu, Beijing Publishing House).

Complete Works of Cultural Relics in Dongcheng District, Beijing (edited by Tan, published by Beijing Yanshan Publishing House)

Oral History of Qigong (Beijing Normal University Press)

Liu Zengfu: He has been a doctor for 70 years and has been fascinated by opera for 90 years (Beijing Daily Mo Yunzai).