Viet Nam News
HCM CITY — A three-hour gala featuring cai luong (reformed opera) will be held on Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street in HCM City on Sunday (January 13).
The event, which is part of a month-long programme on traditional arts, celebrates 100 years of cai luong, according to the city’s Department of Culture and Sports.
It will feature 400 young and veteran performers, musicians and dancers, many of them working for leading State-owned traditional art troupes in the city and southern provinces.
Cai luong stars of different generations, including People’s Artist Le Thuy, Minh Vuong, Thanh Dien and Thanh Kim Hue, have contributed to the art’s development.
The artists will perform famous excerpts from historical plays from the 1970s and 80s that are still popular today.
The excerpts will feature stories about the art’s establishment and development.
The event’s highlighted performances will be staged by young artists from eight private cai luong and drama troupes in the city.
Excerpts from Thai Hau Duong Van Nga (Queen Mother Duong Van Nga), Chien Binh (The Soldier) and Rang Ngoc Con Son (Pearl in Con Son) will feature patriotic themes.
Rang Ngoc Con Son premiered at the National Cai Luong Festival in Long An Province late last year.
The play revolves around the unjust death of national hero Nguyen Trai, one of Viet Nam’s greatest politicians and poets.
Meritorious Artist Kim Tu Long, director of Kim Tu Long Entertainment and Service Company, one of the city’s private drama troupes, invested VND800 million (US$34,490) in production.
Long played a leading role in the play and won a Golden Prize for Best Actor at the festival.
“Through our gala, residents and visitors will learn more about the establishment, development and achievements of cai luong,” said Meritorious Artist Hoa Ha, the event’s producer and art director.
“Our artists have worked several hours a day in rehearsals. We hope to offer a classic performance style with technology used in cai luong dozens of years ago,” she said.
The gala will start at 7.30pm on Sunday and Monday. The Sunday show will be broadcast live on Ho Chi Minh Television’s channel HTV9. — VNS