To mark her 60 th year in Chinese opera, the 74-year-old recently released her biography, Joanna Wong: An Indomitable Life, An Operatic Legacy. That same year, she received a Cultural Medallion, the first ever awarded to a Chinese opera artiste. The science graduate and former registrar of the National University of Singapore founded the Chinese Theatre Circle with her husband Leslie Wong in 1981 to preserve Cantonese opera in Singapore.
Joanna Wong Quee Heng, a veteran of Chinese opera in Singapore who rose to fame in 1968 after her debut performance in a modern adaptation of Madam White Snake, has personally witnessed the changing face of Chinese opera here over the decades. With dwindling audiences and even fewer youths expressing interest in it, this intrinsic part of Chinese heritage is on the verge of becoming the next casualty in a city consumed by globalism. The whole carnival feel of the experience – there were vendors peddling all manner of snacks and toys nearby – made an evening at the opera such a thrill, whether you caught it at a theatre, a community club or an open-air space, where characters were played out on a makeshift wooden stage.Īlas, three decades later, Chinese opera has become an “endangered” art form.
Affectionately known as Chinese wayang to some, these spectacles of colour, sound and culture drew grannies, adults and young children alike – never mind if they didn’t understand a word of what the performers were saying. A common sight in Singapore during the 1980s, particularly during Seventh Month festivities, Chinese opera performances were a distinct part of family entertainment during that era.
0 kommentar(er)
