▌中文  

 

 

        Red Boy, who lives in Mount Flames, is very naughty. He likes playing with fire and bullying Tu-Di, the son of the local god. Everybody is afraid of him. One day, Tripitaka the monk and his disciples, Sun Wu-Kung and others, passing by Mount Flames on their journey to the west for the purpose of gathering Buddhist scriptures, are made fun of by Red Boy. As a result, Tripitaka misunderstands Sun Wu-Kung and asks him to leave. The master and the disciple thus go separate ways.

        To cross Mount Flames, Tripitaka asks Princess Iron Fan to lend her fan to him. Princess Iron Fan and her husband, Bull Monster, have been desirous of devouring Tripitaka’s flesh for a long time as they believe it will make them immortal. Now that Tripitaka comes to her to borrow her fan, she is more than happy to trick him with a fake fan and capture the monk after Pigsy and Sandy leave with the fake fan. Anxiously, Pigsy and Sandy ask for help from Sun Wu-Kung. Red Boy and his parents want to eat Tripitaka, while Sun Wu-Kung wants to arrest his master, so the two parties get into a serious fight.

     Sun Wu-Kung transforms himself into the image of Bull Monster and tricks Princess Iron Fan into giving him the real fan. Bull Monster then transforms himself into Pigsy and gets the fan back. As everybody is busy transforming themselves into somebody else, Red Boy cannot tell who is who any more. Who gets the real fan in the end? Does proud and naughty Red Boy lose the fight? Can Tripitaka and Sun Wu-Kung cross Mount Flames? Nothing will be revealed until the final moment…

 

        This is an opera for children, a revised version of the Chinese opera, Mount Flames. It is said, “Education starts from little on.” From its beginnings, the Guoguang Opera Company has dedicated itself to presenting Chinese operas exclusively for children. In the past decade, the company has produced a number of operas for children, and Red Boy was the very first one.  It has gained much acclaim and has often received invitations to perform it, making it one of the blockbusters of children’s Chinese Opera.
        The opera is an adaptation of a story in Journey to the West which is known by all and familiar to children. The adaptation retains the original plot, but the plotline and the characters are modernized and animation-like so as to be accessible to children. For example, the family of Bull Monster is similar to a modern family. Red Boy and Tu-Di stand for a bully and a weakling being bullied. The plot development is smooth. Though there are no gimmicky interaction games, there is interaction between the actors and the audience, which serves to create a friendly atmosphere for the audience. The fantastic and adventurous elements of Journey to the West give the playwright and the director much room to utilize their creativity. Modern stage techniques are used properly throughout the performance; besides the creative use of lighting and dry ice that are commonly used stage effects, a flying wire is used, too. These techniques, combined with the acrobatic-like movements and gestures of the actors, are a source of constant amazement for the audience. 
        Among all of the children’s operas produced by Guoguang, this opera is the richest with singing. Original songs instill a new element to the traditional patterns of Chinese Opera as these songs are easy to sing but rich with the flavor of Chinese Opera and create a unique style for children’s musicals.