The Peony Pavilion - An Extraordinary Chinese Love Story
"Over the years, I have watched perhaps twenty to thirty productions of The Peony Pavilion, this production supervised by Pai Hsien-yung is the best. No exaggeration."
–Cheng Peikai, Director of the Chinese Civilization Center, Hong Kong City University(From Mudan huanhun (The Soul Returns to the Peony); Taipei: Shibao chubanshe, 2004, pp. 276-79.)
To bring his interpretation of the classic Kunqu Opera, The Peony Pavilion, to life, the producer Kenneth Pai (Pai Hsien-yung) broke the accepted theatrical traditions by picking young, beautiful actors for the male and female lead roles, infusing youthful vigor into the centuries-old story. In previous versions of The Peony Pavilion, veteran actors were given the lead roles because mastering the poetic lines, songs, complex movements required many years to achieve.
Pai sought help from two venerable masters of the Kunqu operatic form to individually tutor the young actors and train them to perform at a world-class level. Under their guidance, the young actors were required to undergo one year of vigorous teaching and rehearsing, despite having already studied Kunqu for four years which was followed by four years of stage experience.
No man alive has refined and updated The Peony Pavilion for the modern audience better than Kenneth Pai. A world-renowned writer, Pai drew upon his learning as a professor of Chinese literature along with his deep passion for Kunqu Opera, in order to edit the original fifty-five acts down to twenty-seven acts, cutting the performance time down from twenty hours to nine. The result brings a beautiful balance to the story for the modern audience while preserving the integrity of the original opera, both in terms of its overall structure and poetry.
- An Extraordinary Chinese Love Story -
The Peony Pavilion, a beautiful love story which is performed with a traditional Chinese opera, Kun opera, is now prepared to create some buzz in the West. Over the course of the centuries, Kun opera’s elegant costumes, beautiful music along with its well written plots have captured the hearts of countless audiences all over the world. Recently, Kun opera was designated by UNESCO as “A Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.” Today, the “ young version” of The Peony Pavilion, adapted by Pai Hsien-Yung, has once again surprised the world with its breathtaking storyline and the modified, yet preserving costumes that are designed to accommodate the perspective of the modern day viewers. Due to its popularity, The Peony Pavilion not only has performed 65 musicals in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China; its North American tour is also set to begin September, 2006.