Watch and cry, only love and faith last forever

? Last winter, my friends and I went to the Tianjin Grand Theater to see the long-awaited dance drama "Never Fade Away". It happened to be the first snowfall since winter in Tianjin, and although it melted as soon as it hit the ground, this real-world rain and snowfall and coldness corresponded to the scene in the dance drama. Due to the weather, the road conditions were not good, and this time we encountered a five-minute delay in the opening in order to wait for the audience.

? This time, the location is 1 row of 9 seats and 1 row of 11 seats, line of sight height is almost level with the stage. Before the show started, it was easy to see through the gap underneath the curtain the feet of the staff checking the stage and the flexible feet of the actors warming up and practicing.

? While waiting for the show to open, a man and a woman in 1940s Shanghai-style cheongsam coats walked to the first row, looking like they were looking for seats. Both of their hairstyles were also carefully done, simply a perfect replica of the look on the poster of the dance theater, especially nice. At first I thought it was an interaction between the actors before the show started, and I was really excited, but it turned out that they were just well-dressed audience members. This is enough to see that this dance drama, in addition to the content of moving, the choreography and costumes and makeup and hair of the degree of sophistication is also striking.

? The first thing to re-emphasize is that "The Neverending Radio" is a dance drama. In this dance drama, there are no lines or songs, and both the overall storyline and the emotional changes of the characters are presented only in the form of dance. The only hints of identity that appear in the dance will be hit with light on a specific backdrop. Suddenly I wondered what the script for the dance drama was like (laughs)

? Speaking from the most intuitive feeling, this is an extremely beautiful dance drama. This is the first domestic spy dance drama created by the Shanghai Opera and Dance Company. Personal evaluation of the kind of "extremely fine", mainly reflected in the grand, serious and heavy sense of the red theme, and delicate, beautiful and heart-wrenching unique temperament of the perfect fusion of Shanghai before the liberation of the history of the section of the audience to reflect on, and with a strong Shanghai style of life scenes (the Shanghai style). The reflection on the history of Shanghai before the liberation, and the strong Shanghai-style life scenes (such as the "Morning Glory Song" performed in the Spring Festival of 2020) are presented in front of the audience at the same time - this dance drama is like an exquisite work of art with ornamental qualities, which makes people impressed by the storyline and at the same time, they cannot help but be impressed by the beauty of this dance drama. The beauty of the show took your breath away.

? The dance drama takes place in the 1940s during the national **** civil war, and the whole is based on the main line of the underground intelligence workers of the ****productivist party, Li Man and Lan Fen, who tell the story of their heroic battle with other comrades on the eve of the liberation of Shanghai, in the pursuit of the Kuomintang secret agents, undaunted by the sacrifices they have made. The story, based on the martyr Li Bai and his wife Qiu Huiying, was released as early as 1958 in the movie Never Fade Away Radio Waves, made into a TV series in 2010, and adapted into an opera by the Opera Troupe of the General Political Bureau in 2012. The dance drama is a tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the nation in 2019 and is supposed to be the latest adaptation. In previous versions, Li Man's story begins with the War of Resistance against Japan. Due to time constraints, the dance drama omitted the first half of the play, there is no Li Man's imprisonment, but in the form of reminiscence, showing the couple from the beginning of the "pretending to be a husband and wife", and finally become a real couple of the process.

? At the beginning of the first act, the nine main characters walked up, the curtain only half up, the remaining half to take the light hit the words, the initial introduction of the identity of each of them appeared above. These include the president of a newspaper, a woman editor, and a photographer, a rickshaw driver and a flower seller on the street, a shopkeeper and a small fellow in a tailor's store, all of whom are not explicitly identified in real terms, but are only written out with their apparent occupations. The ones who are clearly identified at the outset are Li Man, a ****anist, and his wife, Lan Fen, also a ****anist and a nurse by profession. Nina Liou, who pretends to be an editor at a newspaper, is actually the head of the Shanghai branch of the Kuomintang's Intelligence Bureau (in other versions she is not only a female agent, but also a socialite and a traitor who defects to the Japanese). The photographers are her henchmen. They go around gathering intelligence and probing people's interactions, and are always hovering around Li Man. Li Man, Mr. and Mrs. Lan Fen, the tailor store owner and the little fellow, the rickshaw driver, and the flower seller are actually all ****ing members of the Communist Party. The president of the newspaper is a profit-oriented womanizer who is never seen again after Yanina reveals her identity. The first act concentrates on creating an everyday but slightly tense atmosphere. It begins with the photographer snapping a picture of Lee Man shopping at the tailor store and the shopkeeper handing over a box containing fabric, which later arouses Yanina's suspicion. When Lan Fan goes to the store again pretending to buy something, but in fact to pass on information, she is pulled up by Yanina, who just happens to be in the store pretending to buy clothes, but in fact to spy, and even has her bag secretly rummaged through. It is this time that the message that should have gone through Lanfen is finally taken over by the rickshaw driver, who successfully delivers the information.

It's all tears from the start of the second act. The transmission of information in the previous scene led to the rickshaw driver's arrest. Li Man remains under suspicion and is hunted down. The red scarf that Lan Fen knitted for him at the time became a clue to the manhunt. When the tailor learned that Li Man was in danger, he rushed out onto the street to find Li Man, who was in the process of hiding, and grabbed the red scarf to help him buy time to move, only to be shot dead on the street. One rainy night afterward, Li Man woke up after dreaming of the fallen rickshaw driver and the little tailor, and went to the tailor store with Lan Fen, who was pregnant at the time, to make sure that the shopkeeper was safe, only to watch the shopkeeper being shot by Nina Liu. The shopkeeper was actually the leader of a contact point group in East China. After Li Man and the other KMT agents leave, Li Man asks his wife Lan Fen to leave on a yellow bus, and goes to the tailor store to try to recover what happened before, and finds the ruler that the shopkeeper never leaves his body and always hangs around his neck, which indeed has important information on it. On the other hand, Lan Fen discovers that the driver of the yellow cart she is riding in is wearing the same numbered vest as the rickshaw driver who has already been killed, and realizes that the person who is pulling the cart is also a Kuomintang agent, and finally, in a state of horror and entanglement, she pulls out her gun and shoots the photographer who is pretending to be the cart driver to death. The two return home, where Li Man confronts his wife, who has received a huge shock, and tells her to move on first. Lan Fen is reluctant, but the two agree to do it for the sake of their children, so they have to go first. After his wife left, Li Man calmly walked up to the second floor and sent a telegram "KMT Yangtze River defense plan, urgent, take care" and was arrested. The last telegram was "comrades, goodbye forever, I miss you."

? Li Man, 12 years of hiding in Shanghai, was arrested on December 30, 1948, after sending the last telegram, and died on May 7, 1949, only 20 days before the liberation of Shanghai. "I would like to dedicate this play to the underground workers who sacrificed their youth and lives for the liberation of New China. The river runs away silently, but only love and faith live on."

? Just such a plot seems to be in every spy drama can be staged, but by this dance drama dance a thousand times, each moment can be framed as a picture, each picture and form a scroll, telling an era.

? First of all, I would like to praise the director and screenwriter. The story is clearly told, which is essential to be able to end up with a perfect presentation. There are hints at every ambush, so that when an object, such as a red scarf or a leather ruler, becomes a clue, the audience can easily understand it, but at first they will not think about it, so the suspense of the "spy" part of the rhythm and tension of the sense of suspense are just right. And it's not easy to create three-dimensional and distinctive characters just by dancing. Some people say that the characters in this drama are heavily profiled, but I personally don't think so. In fact, the different episodes before and after the revelation of their true identities have already brought out the multiple perspectives and richness of the characters. I think the characterization is successful, which is attractive enough in a 135-minute dance drama.

? The second thing I would like to praise is the compositions. The whole play has been about the actors dancing to the music, so the music is so important. Most of the music in the first act is light with a hint of tension, and most of the music in the second act is deep and touching. The opening music of the first act, at the same time is the second act near the end, Li Chivalry, Lanfen couple duo dance accompaniment, I do not know how the composition to make a piece of music is both grandiose and slender, the opening listen to feel is a big line, to the duo dance part and feel very delicate, *** through the feeling is a long and moving, so much so that the opening music is put out, the lights are thrown on the protagonists in turn, the characters in turn, along with the subtitle introduction Framed, especially when Li Man salute, tears almost flowed out.

? And then to make a strong praise of the actors. This dance drama, whether it is the main characters or group actors, you can see that it is highly trained, and there is a kind of heartfelt sentiment and heart. As an audience member, I felt that everyone's body and expression control was near perfect, and the long freeze-framed episodes were really done so neatly that they could have all been sent to Dance Storm. Recently watched this professional dancers gathered in the variety show, every time I marveled at the dancers can gently jump so high, a slight lift of the leg on one hundred and eighty degrees, a backward tilt on a backflip ...... These images, in the "Never Fade Away Radio Wave" this dance drama, can be seen with their own eyes. Both male and female actors and actresses, the movement is super light, at the same time the expression is very infectious. Sitting in the middle of the first row, the actor's expression can be seen very clearly, physical expression and expression are too perfect, the actor every second in the play, the first time by the dance drama so impressed. I have seen the tap dance drama "River Dance" before, violin and other accompaniment will be on stage, it is very easy to let people get involved, together with the joy and HIGH. "Never Fade Away" this subject matter of the overall plot fluent, other parts are also very compelling, is another kind of deep emotion, is also the same commitment. The actors showed beauty, not just in the so-called period sense of dress, light and set, but in the kind of physical beauty that transcends the rack of clothes and really gets the character down to the marrow of the bones. All the emotions were naturally cathartic with the dancing bodies and facial expressions. Exquisite makeup and hair also played a role, but the temperament of the dancers themselves, well into the plot, so that the kind of stature of the upright, through the performance and can be given a new meaning, so that there is a **** the height of the thought and spirit of the party members.

? In addition, the choreography and costumes and props are exquisite. Folded on both sides of the stage backdrops, staircases and the entire second floor, backdrops extending from above to the stage, iron gates, bamboo poles for drying clothes hanging between the buildings to highlight the atmosphere of the Shanghai alley, the rest of the props that need to be moved by people as large as double beds, bedding, tables, chairs, floor lamps, as small as rickshaws and bicycles pulled and pushed by the actors on stage, and then as small as a fan held in the hand as shown in the above picture of the Morning Glory part of the song, The box, umbrella, red scarf, suitcase, newspaper, flower basket, lunch box, baby's quilt roll, each time the stage is transformed, the use of props is interlocked, the feeling of difficulty is very big, but the overall presentation is very smooth.

? One of the rickshaws was skillfully used in the fight episode. The rickshaw driver is not quite the same temperament as the other protagonists from the moment he appears, his body movements will be slightly larger, and he carries a kind of brashness and bravado with him, which is very much in line with the identity of the streetwalker. During the fight with the three KMT agents on the street before his arrest, the rickshaw is designed to exist like a seesaw, adding visual impact between the fights. The other sets are very period appropriate. Not only is the story good, but the hardware is very well crafted, a memorable texture.

? Getting back to the plot, what struck me the most were the several duet dances between the couple Lee Man and Lan Fan. The ****common feature of each duet is that the actress is always "overcoming gravity", her back is pressed against the actor's body to "roll" 360 degrees, and many other movements require the actor's support while strong muscle control is required. As a layman, I don't know how difficult such movements are, but I feel that it must be very tiring, but the actors' performance was very easy. Moreover, the drama has seen multiple people playing the same role regarding the two identities of Lee Man and Lan Fan. At the very beginning, when Lee Man picks up a photo dropped by Nina Liu and realizes that a photo of himself with the tailor store owner has been stolen, a split character appears in the background behind him to interpret the scene in the photo at that time. Later, as Li Man watches his little buddy pretend to be himself get shot in the street, he returns home and breaks down emotionally, Lan Fan comforts him, and the duo recalls how they first started out pretending to be a couple, how they grieved when they learned of their comrade's death, and then eventually pulled through and continued their underground work. Then it's back to the duo getting married for real and being together. Each pair of doppelgangers appearing in this duet represents their struggle for their ideals, their love that blossomed in the midst of that struggle, and also the lives of millions of dedicated people. Lanfen's most common gesture in expressing her concern for her husband is to smoothen the corners of her coat with force. Simple actions in daily life become tear-jerking even at special moments.

? The point of tearfulness throughout the play, and I guess most people are at the time of the little dude's sacrifice. This part comes shortly after the start of the second act. I thought the pacing was particularly well mastered at this point. Because the earlier, longer consecutive segments, with Li Man hiding in the street and walking around, had actually made the audience nervous, the little dude grabbed the red scarf barely three seconds later, and the gun went off. The tear-jerking here is largely based on the audience's mood switching from nervousness to grief. When the little dude was sacrificed, it didn't go straight down or with a blood bag or anything like that. Instead, after the group dance exits and only the grieving Li Man and the tailor store owner are left on stage, the little dude smiles and comforts the two, and there's also a showing of the three being photographed together as comrades earlier. At the end of the little dude first ran hard to the front of the stage, and then slowly waved his hand back when the girls in the second row were about to break down in tears, all the sound of pumping paper out. This part really hit home. I was not yet crying, clearly saw a detail, the little man ran to the front of the time, in fact, from the first row is very close, from my point of view to see the actor in the corner of the eye of the tears flashed so a moment, in the light crystal clear, just that moment, feel the impact is too big. Every **** production party membership in the play is in the sacrifice of the time to be revealed, when we see the character sacrificed when only fifteen years old, the scene reaction became greater, I heart is also very painful feelings.

? Once the tears came, there was no stopping them, literally whimpering while watching the show. I roughly from the second act of the little dude sacrifice, until the end of the cry Lanfen tied a red scarf, holding the child followed the crowd out. The thing I couldn't stand the most was when the actors smiled. Shanghai is liberated, people on stage are smiling, and the audience is moved to tears.

? Friends specifically praised the villain role of the actor acting is also very good, the performance is very tense. A turn, feet on the table, head forward, with a little lazy aggressive look and cold and ruthless. I also think that the actress really is a person to support a villain team feeling, and beautiful to look at. The follow cameraman himself doesn't have much of a role, he's an interloper at best, and the parts that focus on the villain are all on this female agent. The character of Yanina is also said to be very memorable in the movie. This actor performs smoking on stage and is literally exhaling smoke rings, and more than once. The white smoke against a black background brings the audience an eerie aesthetic experience. There was no flicker of light from the tip of the cigarette, and I later wondered if the actor was smoking an e-cigarette (a misplaced emphasis)

? Next, a word about the seats at the Tianjin Grand Theater. You can see the actors' expressions clearly from the front row, but the first row at the Tianjin Grand Theater is still a bit too close and very low. During the intermission, we observed from the back and felt that the height of the three or four rows was just right, while the first two rows needed to tilt their heads up to look at them, which made it easier to fix their eyes on a single person, and it wasn't easy to see all the parts of the group, and the more the position was in the center, the less the subtitles could be seen. The key thing is that the stage is not visible. Even so, I give full marks to the choreography, so it would have been stunning to sit in a place with a panoramic view!

? The most important thing to gripe about needs a separate paragraph. My friend's seat was row 1, seat 11, and in front of her was a green light for the safety lane, which I found very wobbly even when I was sitting on her right side. And Pixie said that the spotlights on the stage floor were just blocking her view, for example, when the little dude was on the floor after being shot, because it was shown as a rainy day, the stage lights were dimmer, and she couldn't see if there was anyone on the floor at all even though she was sitting in the first row. It's definitely an illogical theater seating setup.

? The last time I saw Letters from a Strange Woman in a small theater, it was also the first row. This time it was at the Opera House Amphitheater, and it was also the first row view. As we all know, the better aspect is that every micro-expression of the actors, whether it is firmness, warmth, sadness or hope in their eyes, can be seen very clearly; subtle sounds such as stomping of feet, collection of umbrellas, gasping for breath during an emotional breakdown, and the soft laughter of the flower girl selling flowers after the liberation of Shanghai can also be heard clearly, so you will feel that it is more delicate and moving as a whole. First you're drawn in, then there's ****ing.

? The audience for this dance theater is the most balanced age group I have ever seen. Very evenly split between the old, middle-aged and young generations. And the quality of the audience was so good that every time an actor completed a difficult move, or a scene ended, the theater erupted in applause. I didn't hear any phone calls or talking the whole time. There was a mother and daughter sitting to my right, and the mom was sitting next to me, wiping tears from her eyes at the end of the show. The young girls in the second row sitting behind us were not watching the play for the first time, and I heard them chatting in the back during intermission, crying during the first act because they knew how everyone ended up. As it turns out, the girls in the second row almost cried until they broke in the second act. My friend and I both cried later in the show as well, and I ended up crying so hard that I realized my hands were shaking when I recorded the return, which was actually partly because the row behind me was crying so hard. But this dance theater is really touching, and I'd like to brush up on it more if I get the chance, and bring tissues.

? Normally, I really rarely watch dance dramas, but the birth of Mango's variety show Dance Storm has pushed ordinary people to pay attention to dance dramas, just as The Voice has promoted opera and musicals. The "Morning Glory Song" (originally titled "Fisherman's Song" and accompanied by the famous "Fisherman's Song") from "Never Fade Away" was chosen to be performed at the Spring Festival Gala not only because of the theme of the play. As the dancers' mentors in Dance Storm say, a good dancer has to have good basic skills and techniques as well as being a good actor. Full-bodied emotion gives technique a temperature, and that temperature will turn technique into art. All of the dancers in The Neverending Radio did that.

? Other melodramas I've seen, such as the musical Broken Bridge (script not quite fluent, songs slightly stiff, choreography and props are clever, actors are great), the Sambo Guanshan musical Wang Er's Long March (script clever, musicality weak, actors are great), this Red Dance Theatre can be said to be near-perfect from the choreography to the presentation.

? At the curtain call, the actors slowly bowed, there was a lot of applause, the curtain fell and opened again, a **** three times. The actors were exceptionally sincere and hard-working, and there was a late show that day.

? The final credits read: farewell.

? Really looking forward to seeing you again.

? "The long river runs away without a sound, but only love and faith live on."

? I would like to recommend this dance theater to everyone.