How did Shanghai's burlesque come about?

Funny opera is one of the Han Chinese theatrical genres around Shanghai, originating in Suzhou and now mainly popular in Shanghai and its neighboring Wu-speaking areas. It uses Shanghainese as its language of expression, while imitating the Taihu dialect of Wu, and occasionally imitating other dialects such as Northern Chinese and Cantonese. The form of performance is similar to that of northern comedy and sketches.

Brief History of Development

The formation and development of burlesque is inextricably linked with civilized opera and one-legged opera.

Civilized drama, also known as new drama, early Chinese drama, was popular in the early twentieth century in Shanghai. There was no formal script for the performances, and most of the performances were based on a curtain system, which allowed for improvisation. The role of civilized opera has a comic line, and the young, sad Dan, Shudan, the old, known as the "four court columns, a positive beam". Comic opera was just derived from the civilized opera, its performing arts and footage line is still civilized opera style, only changed from the big comic line of actors led by the play to arrange more jokes. After the one-legged opera and civilized opera merged to form a special theatrical performance art with talking and singing focusing on creating jokes.

The one-legged opera, also known as "comic", was first performed by one person alone, and then developed into a two-or-more-people performance, formed in Shanghai around 1920. The birth of one-legged opera shows that it is inextricably linked with folk rap, and that the "Three Greats of Comic" - Wang Wengneng, Jiang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan - were all directly influenced by urban folk artists. The "Three Greats of Comic" - Wang Wengneng, Jiang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan - were all directly influenced by urban folk artists, and the folk raps such as "Saying News" and "Little Hot Fu" by street artists selling pear paste candies are the artistic sources of this form of art. Most of the early one-legged opera actors had been civilized opera actors, one-legged opera said that some of the paragraphs, some of them are also from the civilization of the comical drama extracted and adapted, as Ouyang Yuqian said:

"Shanghai one-legged opera artists such as Jiang Xiaoxiao, Wang Wengneng, Zhang Yier, Lu Xiaoxiao (Xiaoxiao) Wu, Yi (Yi) Fangshuo and so on are the actors of the new opera, so the comical opera can be said to be the same as the new comical theater performance is the same. a lineage."

The 1930s and 1940s were the heyday of the development of one-legged opera, with the maximum number of artists performing in Shanghai's major amusement parks, radio broadcasts and halls reaching more than 100 stalls. The first generation of famous one-legged opera artists also included Bao Lele, Zhao Xixi and Lu Qiqi, and the second generation of one-legged opera artists that succeeded them included Zhu Xiangfei, Cheng Xiaoting, Fan Haaha, Laughing Mimi, Laughing Hip-Hip-Hip-Hip, Yao Mushuang, Zhou Bochun, Yuan Yiling, Yang Huasheng, and Wen Bunbin, etc., and many of them were also famous performers in comical operas in the later years.

At the end of 1941, when the Pacific War broke out and the Japanese army entered and occupied the Concession, the business of Shanghai's amusement parks was depressed, the business of the halls was slow, the radio stations were blocked by the enemy and the hypocrites, and it was difficult for one-legged opera artists to earn a living, so there appeared large-scale comical operas and comical theatre troupes in which one-legged opera artists banded together for performances.In the beginning of 1942, Jiang Xiaoxiao initiated and organized Yang Tianxiaoxiao, Zhao Baoshan, and Zhongxinxiaoxiao, who adopted the system of civilized theatre, to Using comic acting techniques, they performed the first large-scale opera with a storyline and characters, "A Bowl of Rice", which satirized the rice store owner who hoarded money and sympathized with the lower-class people who had no means of food and clothing and aroused widespread ****sing among the public, which was quite popular and was regarded as the first play that changed from one-legged opera to burlesque opera. At the same time, Jiang Xiaoxiao, Bao Lele and other organizations set up the first burlesque troupes "laughing troupe", the initial performance of the play "ridiculous", "colorful" and so on, followed by other one-legged opera artists and some civilized opera actors have also organized burlesque troupes, since then, opera one-legged opera is still in existence, the drama of the burlesque was Since then, although the opera one-legged opera still exists, the theater burlesque is born, many actors are also one-legged opera and burlesque in two.

The repertoire

The repertoire of burlesque can be roughly divided into five categories:

The first category is based on the development of one-legged opera and adapted into the "paragraph".

Three of them, "The Student's Will" and "72 Tenants", because of their profound thought and complete artistry, have become the excellent tradition of burlesque to preserve the repertoire, and have been moved to the screen.

The second category is transplanted from the civilized drama.

Mainly, there are "Fangqing see girl", "Bao Gong to catch the wind of falling hat", "Jigong" and so on.

The third category is transplanted and adapted from dramas, operas and movie scripts in the early period of liberation.

Transplanted local theater plays include Suzhou Two Businessmen (i.e., Refining the Seal) and Mr. Nice Guy (i.e., Three Family Fortunes); those adapted from drama scripts include Happiness and Westward Look at Chang'an; and those based on drama scripts include Little Nine Sisters (i.e., The Dragon Girl) and Foolproof (i.e., Dragons' Net).

The fourth category, is based on foreign plays.

For example, the play "The Living Buddha" was performed for one year and nine months, creating a record for the most performances since the beginning of burlesque.

The fifth category, is the newly created plays.

Such as "kind of pipe", "night village", "full of spring", "life and death", "one thousand and one days" and so on.