As we were starting on month #3 of our food, drink, and crazy animal tour of the world, it was time once again to inject a little culture into our lives…we were going to another opera! During all my research of Chengdu (namely, which panda base was the most likely to let my husband sit on a Giant Panda’s lap…) I kept seeing mention of the famous Sichuan province “changing faces opera”. It had become touristy, no doubt, but it still sounded amazing, so months before our trip I researched where to go, how to buy tickets and even directions of how to take the local subway there. I saved it all in my Google Drive folder. Google…in China. Thanks to my lack of foresight to print that file and mainly China’s Great Firewall, all things Google were non-existent for 10 days. Back to square one!
Determined to do it, I took to Bing Search [Ed. note: 5 cents] and an old-fashioned paper map of the city…and somehow we actually found it!
The show was in a tea room (that thankfully served beer) and before it started, guests could one extra service: dressing in the costumes, traditional face painting (which the Boy rejected in half a second because he’s no fun), a 10 minute ear cleaning (yup, it’s as gross as it sounds), or the best 15 minute massage I’ve ever encountered. After nearly 20 km on the Great Wall and nights on end sleeping on stone floors and plywood mattresses, this woman was a miracle worker. I asked to take her home with me, but I think something got lost in the language barrier.
As we learned from the last opera, me telling you what happened isn’t any fun, and while I didn’t have a translation screen this time, I did try to listen to the MC’s descriptions. Unfortunately, she would speak animatedly in Mandarin for 10 minutes, and then her English translation would be “Welcome to Chengdu. The wife is mad. Please enjoy.”
So, once again, here is the opera, according to the Boy…
[Ed. note: Real talk people. I’m sure this will come as a complete surprise to everyone, but I don’t speak Chinese. No version of Chinese, at all. Not Mandarin. Not Cantonese. I can’t read Simplified. Nothing. I can’t read any of it, can’t speak it, and even my gestures get lost in translation. So I have no idea what the Opera was really about, or what was happening in front of me – again. Luckily, they served beer.]
At the start, it was really unclear what was transpiring on stage. It had been described to me as a “variety show”, but that didn’t really make sense for a “Chinese Opera”. I quickly realized that the show was supposed to be a set of Court performances for the Emperor – each troupe from the countryside was to perform their bit in an attempt to entertain him. Once I figured this out, the pieces began falling into place.
The first troupe was a group dressed in traditional costumes, dancing around stage while their star woman sand a beautiful Chinese song. She seemed to be aiming her career for a Celine Dion-esque solo show, but she wasn’t French-Canadian, so she was singing for the Emperor of China instead. A good gig if you can get it. The song sounded like it was about how amazing the Emperor was, the dancers were an interpretative dance to illustrate his amazing strength (including swordplay); the Emperor I guess was pleased and the troupe was then dismissed.
The second group was a solo act – a man and his violin-guitar. His first number was again all about “the Emperor is amazing”, hitting all the right notes in a traditional musical key. His second number, however, took a turn…There was a snare drum in the background, drumming a Sousa-like march. Things seemed…ominous, not pro-Emperor, and I think it upset the Emperor greatly. This performer was quickly replaced with a woman and a very dexterous hand-puppet. It was neat, but it seemed like Court filler as the Emperor seethed.
We realized this quickly because the Emperor was then on stage, demanding the man I presume to be the violinist to be executed. Yeah, executed. The first troupe is summoned back on stage, hauling the guy up as a prisoner. There is some arguing and hemming and hawing, but sure enough, they put his head on a chopping block and killed him. It got dark.
A band member then came on stage and soloed on his oboe-trumpet instrument for a while. It was a valiant attempt to distract the entire Court from what had just happened, but a cloud had fallen over the cast. This was followed by a ridiculously amazing finger-puppet performance – an allegory with peaceful doves (the troupes) living life, a nice bunny (the violinist), and then a wolf (the Emperor) arrives. By the end of the shadow puppet performance, the wolf had eaten the bunny – reminded everyone about the precariousness of their situation in the Emperor’s Court.
A final duo arrived on stage and performed a Chinese version of “I Love Lucy” (with the gender rolls reversed). The husband had some ‘splaining to do!
The Emperor was still in a foul mood and stormed the stage with his entire entourage, breathing actual fire (awesome) as everyone’s face actually changed (think Game of Thrones, people – but in real life. It was cool) – this was a metaphor for the vastness of the Emperor’s kingdom and subjects. It was during this final act that the Emperor’s face changed as well. This sudden occurrence struck a nerve with the Emperor, leading him to realize that he too is just one man in a long line of Emperor’s, and he soon too will be dead and replaced. His realization about life led him to repent and apologize to the Court, whereby all the troupes accepted his apology.
At least, I think that’s what happened. Maybe it was just an 8 Act really cool variety show?
favorite wanderers 