These bits of gossip were from my opera-enthusiast friends:-Opera-lover, Sharp eyes, Keen ears. 18-12-2000 Opera-lover was quite critical of the Zhang Jiang Troupe. According to him, some scenes were omitted from some of the operas. He said that, for example in "War Drums", the scene after the one in which the 'general' (played by Leong Siu Meng) was thrice demoted was deleted. In this omitted scene, there would be special skilled opera moves (kung kar) by the artistes. He also mentioned that the scene in which Cheung Fei humiliated Zhou Yu in the opera "Zhou Yu" was shortened.
He was also critical of Lum Teng for forgetting her lines in an instance in "The Seventh Fairy". Sharp eyes who has seen all the operas by the Zhan Jiang Troupe except for the repeat ones would have preferred the troupe to stage new operas rather than to have repeated five of them. He said he would have loved to see Leong Siu Meng play "Lum Chong". Keen ears told us that in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebrations, there would be cantonese street operas during the first few days in the second month of the lunar calendar at the following places:
Lorong 17/Sims Drive, main artiste - Ho Chee Seng
Whampoa (near bus terminus), main artiste - Chan Kim Fung
Toa Payoh Lorong 8, main artiste - Wan Yuk Yue |
