^ WERD SHURA you stumbled upon the classic like me....cuz
ah ha!! Found the title to the classic opera of all time
"Dai Leui Fah" aka 帝女花 aka "Flower Princess" that I've been playing on the Communist Propaganda Hour, the tapes my mom left for me passed down from my grandfather. You may have seen me post pix of the soy sauce soaked tapes above.
Floral Princess (or the Princess Changping) is one of the most beloved Cantonese Opera for all times. It is a tragic love story of Princess Changping, the daughter of the last Emperor of Ming Dynasty, and Zhou Xixian, a talented scholar and son of a high official. On the day thte princess is supposed to be wedded to Zhou, she is ordered by her father, the emperor, to give up her life for the honour of the royal family. It is an order that is hard to defy as the dynasty is on the brink of destruction but it is also one which is difficult to come to terms with. So which path the 15-year-old is going to take?
The heart-rending story, the melodic musical scores and the beauty of the scripts all made this Cantonese opera, penned by Tong Tik-seng, an instant success when it was premiered at the Lee Theatre in 1957. The whole recordings (go the user's channel for more parts:
http://www.youtube.com/user/coold4pc) featuring the legendary stars Yam Kim Fai and Bak Sheut Sin of the 1950s.
The original actors, yes they were both women playing the male and female:
The movie version, in 1975, directed by John Woo (WERD,
HIM) and starred Long Jin-seng and Mei Xue-si, disciples of Yam Kim Fai and Bak Sheut Sin.
cop it:
http://www.multiupload.com/EK1VUGII46password: accatone
They even translated the text:
http://www.chineseupress.com/asp/e_Book_card.asp?BookID=2742&lang=CThis is the Cantonese Opera house (the only one left of its kind, in Hong Kong) Sunbeam Theatre (Chinese: 新光戲院) that Moms used to go to check out plays, when my uncle had free tix, so moms and aunt went and had better seats than some celebs lol:
A Hong Kong landmark! the site:
http://www.ua-sunbeam.com/index.htm