Yangcheng Evening News reporter Xie Xiaowan reported: At 18:30 on February 10, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the "Pearl River Red Boat", which had been renovated and transformed for about three months, set sail again from the Fortune Wharf of Canton Tower. With the sound of the whistle, China's first water mobile theater show "Boat Speaks of the Pearl River" also kicked off and was officially performed.
In 2016, after two years of preparation, the Pearl River Red Boat was officially launched as a cultural industry project of "combination of culture, business and tourism" in Guangzhou, and the premiere play "Boat Talk" combined the Pearl River night tour with the scene theater show to tell the dramatic life and emotional stories of Cantonese opera singers. At the end of 2023, on the basis of "Boat Talk", the main creative team of Pearl River Red Boat will comprehensively upgrade the Red Boat and the repertoire, rename it "Boat Says Pearl River", and it is scheduled to be officially performed on February 10.
After the official performance information of "Boat Says Pearl River" was released, it attracted the attention of many Guangzhou citizens and tourists, and the tickets for the two performances on the first night of the sale were sold out in a short time. Jin Zhu, deputy general manager of Guangzhou Chenggang Tourism Development, said that due to the shortage of tickets and the hot box office, in response to the call of tourists, "one more performance will be added on the basis of the original two performances per night, and three performances per night during the Spring Festival (the first to the eighth day of the Lunar New Year)."
He Jiqing, a national first-class writer and vice chairman of the Guangdong Writers Association, who has been serving as the screenwriter of the play, explained that after the repertoire, the repertoire is more in line with the internationalization of Guangzhou in the new era, and there are also many interactive links, which are more in line with the tastes of young people: "We hope that the whole play will shock the audience at least five times. ”
On the basis of retaining Lingnan elements, the refurbished red boat adopts the appearance design of the golden roof and red body, which has exquisite carved columns, peony shadow walls, etc., and also uses a large number of mechanical devices to cooperate with the performance, such as movable horse tracks, hidden Cantonese opera theaters, robotic arms, etc. "As soon as I came in, it was like traveling back to **, and the changes in the stage and scene were ingenious, especially the Cantonese opera fragments added, which have our Guangzhou characteristics and Cantonese flavor. Miss Liu, a citizen, said that in the end, the audience can choose the ending of the story by themselves, "with a strong sense of interaction".
"The Boat Says the Pearl River" tells the story of the entanglement between the Cantonese opera boss Liang Jianqiu and three women. Xing Shimiao, a national first-class choreographer and former head of the Soldier Art Troupe of the Political Department of the Guangzhou Military Region, served as the chief director of the play, and he mentioned: "This play is also written about the struggle of Guangdong Cantonese opera artists. I also take this opportunity to encourage myself and those who have aspirations to do a good job and complete their mission, only in this way can our art move forward. He hopes that this drama can better spread Lingnan culture to the north and south of the country.
Liang Zhenyun, a member of the Guangzhou CPPCC, served as the chief producer of the play, and at the third meeting of the 14th Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the CPPCC, he jointly submitted relevant proposals with Wu Feifei, Yan Hui and a common proposer to promote the Pearl River Red Boat Project to break the circle. "At present, Guangzhou is speeding up the cultivation and construction of an international performing arts center, and we hope that "The Boat Speaks of the Pearl River" can become a normalized cultural tourism performance project and an important starting point for this work. Liang Zhenyun said.