Birthday Celebration by Five Daughters

EVENT DESCRIPTION

China National Peking Opera Company’s adaption of Yue opera classic Birthday Celebration by Five Daughters, created for the debut of its newly established Youth Troupe, is a grand showcase of the impressive skill and versatility of the company’s young performers.

In 2022, China National Peking Opera Company founded its Youth Troupe as a way to cultivate new generations of xiqu talent. As the year also marked the 40th anniversary of the premiere of popular Yue opera Birthday Celebration by Five Daughters, the company decided to adapt it into a new Peking opera production. The creative team, led by renowned director Yang Xiaoqing, elevated the work’s depth and literary quality by giving the story better-developed characters and a fuller arc. Through the cross-genre transplantation, the new adaptation is strengthened by Peking opera’s distinct advantages including its comprehensive range of role types and schools while retaining the signature elegance of Yue opera.

Set in the Ming dynasty, the story begins on the 60th birthday of high-ranking politician Yang Jikang. All of his five daughters and their husbands have come to his residence for a party, but the least well-to-do couple, his foster daughter Sanchun and son-in-law Zou Yinglong, are shunned by the family and kicked out of the house. Soon, Yang is framed by a political rival and loses his title, wealth and home, and Sanchun turns out to be the only child willing to take him in. Fortunately, Zou gets his big career breakthrough just in time to help his father-in-law clear his name and rescue the Yang clan. As Mrs Yang’s 60th birthday rolls in, the whole family once again unites for a day of celebration, rejoicing together after pain and turmoil.