RED BOAT TROUPES AND CANTONESE ... - University of Georgia

Selecting virtues of a few male friends from the perspective of a female performer, and
combining them to create the character she performs may be one privilege of a female who plays
men. Male performers might not be as observant as women in playing same sex roles.
I was surprised to find many of the 120 Cantonese synopses I participated in translating
and editing in corporation with the Opera Information Center at the Chinese University of Hong
Kong, used zong jyun culture as a theme. 155 An ideal man, in the heart of many Chinese women,
is a gentle, understanding, and not so macho scholar. Wearing a long gown with padded
shoulders, hats and platform shoes, a handsome young man appears in the body of a woman.
Women playing man is ideal in singing duet with a fa dan. It is not only acceptable; it is a trend.
In non-professional singing clubs, two women can have fun singing in an afternoon or after
work. When there were no microphones, Chinese opera singers used high pitch to make the
voice audible. Today, most performers use microphones. When the range becomes
uncomfortable, a performer can raise a passage an octave higher (or lower) to a comfortable
tessitura, at her discretion.
With more movie production after WWII in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, the United
Kingdom, and the United States, Cantonese opera was at its low time in the 1950s and 60s. After
the 1970s, there seemed to be a re-birth of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong. Since then opera in
Hong Kong has been developing steadily. The relaxation of travelling policy in China in the 1980s
facilitated more cultural exchanges between artists in Hong Kong and China. A typical Cantonese
opera today has little kungfu. More emphasis is on singing. Wan plays dominate the stage. The
orchestral sound is more balanced than before so as to accommodate the performance venues;
155 http://corp.mus.cuhk.edu.hk/corp/trans/content.html
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