阮黎帆
“曾记得,菊花赋诗夺魁首,海棠起社斗清新,怡红院中行新令,潇湘馆内论旧文”,浪漫轻柔的钢琴伴奏越剧《红楼梦》选段凄美地萦绕在座无虚席的杭州剧院内。林黛玉弱柳扶风的形象和脍炙人口的王派唱腔,引来场内掌声雷动……已很久没有这种体验了,前阵子这场《“琴越”独唱音乐会》,着实让笔者被惊艳到了。
简洁大气的舞台上,着一袭粉色绣花礼服的中国戏剧梅花奖得主、著名越剧演员陈晓红清丽优雅、楚楚动人,她正与浙江音乐学院钢琴系教授陈琼联袂演绎“琴越”独唱音乐会。随着越剧《红楼梦》《白蛇传》《班昭》,新版越剧《梁祝》,沪剧《金丝鸟》,昆曲《牡丹亭》等多剧种多声腔呈现,她的演唱如行云流水般不绝如缕,其千回百折、旖旎唯美“嗨”翻了全场观众,鲜花与掌声相伴始终,直到音乐会落下帷幕。有观众说,听过钢琴伴奏京剧,却第一次欣赏钢琴与越剧联手演绎这独特的美,很享受这份新颖和别致,由衷为这种大胆探索和尝试点赞。
陈晓红,这位在舞台上塑造过系列鲜明艺术形象的越剧表演艺术家,眼下的新身份是:浙江音乐学院戏剧系教师。其实,这场“琴越”独唱音乐会,是她华丽转身后的第二部作品。
艺海无涯学作舟
认识陈晓红,大概有十年了。记得那时她是杭州越剧团的当家花旦,被“暂借”来浙江小百花越剧团与茅威涛搭戏,饰演新版越剧《梁祝》中的祝英台。能被顶级越剧院团浙江小百花“相中”,与名家演对手戏,想必她的演技、唱腔在圈内已是好生了得。新版越剧《梁祝》公演后好评如潮,各地巡演邀约不断。在去台湾演出途中,笔者与陈晓红有了些接觸。很喜欢看她舞台上的祝英台形象,那一颦一笑一转身的自如灵动和拿捏,欣赏她的角色把控和驾驭能力,尤其喜听她婉转细腻、极富韵味的唱腔,简直就是不可多得的美妙享受。
感觉她在台下淡泊宁静,很少与人闲聊和空谈,常独处、看书或一副若有所思的样子,这种特立独行“范儿”在戏曲演员圈里似乎有些不合时宜。与陈晓红熟悉后,才发现她其实是个率真活跃,很有想法和个性的人。
喜欢阅读的她,身上弥漫着淡淡的书卷气,这在戏曲演员中并不多见。一般戏曲演员小小年纪就入行学戏,文化基础薄弱。而13岁开始学戏的晓红,却从未停止过读书。1985年已学艺三年的她,从桐庐越剧培训班考入浙江艺术学校,如饥似渴地学了三年专业和文化,毕业成绩名列前茅。进入杭州越剧院后,忙排戏演戏、结婚生子,还自考上杭师院音乐系,之后学了中文专业,一边练功,一边读书,一边参与各种专业赛事,忙得不可开交,却什么也没耽误。她主演的《胭脂河》《玉蜻蜓》《梨花情》等角色异彩纷呈,好评有加。其间,还将中国戏剧“梅花奖”、文化部“文华表演奖”尽收囊中。此后,晓红又瞄上了上海戏剧学院导演专业,学的课程之多让她应接不暇。已过不惑之年的她,竟考取了上海戏剧学院艺术硕士研究生。于是,她频繁往返奔波于上海、杭州和各演出地之间。
“有时为了能赶上第一节课,头天晚上在椒江某村演出,辗转一夜,第二天一早就坐在上戏的课堂听课了,将田埂的泥巴直接带到了教室里。”三年的艰辛,哪是她说的这般云淡风轻?想必是使出了洪荒之力的。但遨游于艺术知识海洋的她,忙并快乐着。听过各艺术门类大师讲课,完成了研究生课程和十多篇论文,她成了越剧界第一个MFA艺术硕士。
梅花香自苦寒来
显然,陈晓红日渐成熟的表演水平和不断提升的角色塑造能力,得益于她善学习、爱思考的习惯,更与她开阔的视野和良好的综合学养不无关系。如她在越剧《班昭》里,饰演东汉时期博学高才的女史学家、文学家班昭,要从14岁天真少女演到71岁垂暮之年,且要表现出角色骨子里那股书卷气和修养,如果没有“上戏”的这几年学习和积累,恐怕难以应对这样的挑战。演出成功后,她由衷地庆幸“读书真好!”
之后,陈晓红又在经典名剧《红楼梦》中饰演林黛玉。当时已40多岁的她心中忐忑,自己能演好一个十多岁的青春美少女吗?王文娟饰演的林黛玉早已家喻户晓,标杆太高了,观众对黛玉也有审美定势,真是压力山大。面对挑战,她再次通读原著《红楼梦》,又几乎看遍所有版本的《红楼梦》影视片、理论书籍及话题评论,还做了大量案头笔记。黛玉为什么爱哭?为什么易恼?为何葬花、焚稿、求死?孱弱的外表内包裹着一颗怎样的心?她不断拷问、感受着角色的内心逻辑,揣摩黛玉形象、捕捉黛玉神情,从自身气质、神情、声音造型中寻找与角色的契合点,力求精准把握其“神”与“形”。
通过两个多月的排练,原本气质较硬朗的陈晓红脱胎为蹙眉爱哭、多愁善感、柔弱病态、才情横溢、孤高自诩的林黛玉。人们耳熟能详的这一个“林黛玉”生动、空灵地“活”在了越剧舞台上。该剧先后到北京、山东、江苏、上海、宁波、绍兴等地演出,所到之处反响热烈。有评论认为,陈晓红饰演的林黛玉是“最具文化气质的林黛玉”。
面对掌声和好评,她说:“要感谢恩师王文娟,为我打开了一扇崭新的艺术之门,让我领会到王派艺术的精髓。每一部剧的演出成功,都应该是一段积淀后的重新开始。”
演员这个职业,很多人视作饭碗,而于陈晓红,却是一份事业,一种目标追求。如果说,当年晓红选择越剧是懵懂被动的,那么从艺后,尤其是在杭越27年的舞台实践,让她在越剧表演艺术方面已颇有造诣和建树。30多年来,陈晓红的演出足迹踏遍了祖国大江南北,也曾出访日本、新加坡、加拿大及我国的香港特区、台湾地区演出。
衣带渐宽终不悔
照理,这么钟爱演艺事业,该一直往前走才是,为何事业如日中天的台柱陈晓红要离开舞台、义无反顾地转身去音乐学院做“园丁”?
日前見到洗净铅华的陈晓红时,她述说缘由:“随着年龄的增长、舞台经验的积累和阅历的增加,感受到了传承的重要性,我愿付出辛劳与汗水将前辈越剧艺术家的艺术和品格传承下去,培养出更多优秀的人才登上戏曲表演艺术这方舞台。”晓红追忆道,学艺初期,因形象、嗓子、基本功平平,令她几乎失去自信,几度想打退堂鼓;即便考入省艺校,面对佼佼者如林,自己也乏善可陈,是张兰珠、俞珍珠、王文娟等恩师鼓励、引领她扬长避短,走好每一步,这才有了今天的艺术成就。“艺术新苗能遇上良师是何等幸运,将受益终身,这就是我转身的初衷。”于是,陈晓红在2015年以人才引进的方式,被调入浙江音乐学院戏剧系,做了一名专任教师。
要培养优秀表演艺术人才,既要不断提升自身素养,也应当不断磨练自身技艺,在求索中形成和完善科学的教学方式。她说:“从这个意义上说,我并没有离开舞台,而是走入了一个新的、更大的舞台。”
为此,2016年8月陈晓红在中国婺剧院举办了集多剧种和文武戏为一体的“筑梦路上:陈晓红表演艺术专场”,展示自己在艺术道路上艰辛求索的成果。无论是出场时的柔弱才女“林黛玉”,还是压轴的昆曲武戏《扈家庄》,她的表演均可圈可点,获得了满堂彩。尤其是她演的扈三娘武功洒脱、唱腔清亮,刚柔并济,让人眼睛一亮,观众叫好声不绝。
走上讲台后,她主教越剧表演课程,每周16节课。“与学生们在一起,看着他们的点滴进步,忙碌而开心。”她真的很忙。除了上课,就是筹备有关课题和项目,一年一个演出项目,几乎占用了她所有的业余时间;每月有越剧演出活动或讲座、听课,暑假高温天也没闲着,听课和项目计划排得满满当当……她利用各种方式寻师求学,提升自我,从中觅取传统教育与现代教学之间融合点。
如今的陈晓红,不是在浙江音乐学院的课堂上讲课,就是在去听别人讲课的路上。她的跨界并不轻松,是从演员到教员、从舞台到讲台、从实践到理论的全新起点。
然而,陈晓红在转身后更优美,她在讲台上辛勤播种和耕耘,培育戏曲桃李满天下,拓展自己生命的宽度和高度。
The 49-year-old Yueju Opera artist Chen Xiaohong has long since turned her attention to teaching. She is a winner of Meihua Award, Chinas top honor for theater performing artists. She is also a winner of Wenhua Award, an honor issued by the Ministry of Culture for artistic brilliance.
Unlike some other artists, she has been enriching herself by reading books and taking advanced courses since she started her performing career at the age of 13. In 1985, the 16-year-old enrolled herself into Zhejiang Academy of Performing Arts. Three years later she graduated with top honors. She was employed by Hangzhou Yueju Opera Troupe. These years she was busy: she appeared in various plays, got married and gave birth to a son while she took an advanced course at Hangzhou Normal University and then engaged herself in a Chinese language course.
While she studied very hard and busily, she missed nothing in her career, as testified by the top honors she won at the national level. Then she enrolled herself into a theater direction course at Shanghai Theater Academy. After she was 40, she even passed the entrance examination and became a graduate student at the academy in Shanghai. The three-year graduate study got her into a difficult situation. She had to shuttle fast between her road shows across the province and Shanghai where the academy is. The schedule could be tight: one evening she was performing on a village stage far away from anywhere and the next morning she was sitting in a classroom on the campus of the academy in Shanghai. She is the first Master of Fine Arts in the Yueju Opera circles of Zhejiang.
Her studies have helped her career as a performing artist.
In , a Yueju Opera play that features a namesake woman historian of the Han Dynasty (202BC-220AD), Chen Xiaohong appeared as the lead woman. The play covered the life of the historian and Chen evolved from a 14 year old girl to a 71-year-old matriarch within a few hours. The character required her to look scholarly and speak scholarly. She owed the successful characterization to the education she had received.
Her characterization of Lin Daiyu, heroine of , was another proof of her advanced studies. She was in her 40s when she was chosen for the lead woman in the Yueju Opera presentation. Wang Wenjuan, a master under whose tutelage Chen had studied, is the best Lin Daiyu on the stage and on the big silver screen in the national memory. Audiences know how the perfect Lin Daiyu speaks and sings. To create her own Lin Daiyu, Chen Xiaohong read the novel, watched all the film and television adaptations of the classic, and studied criticisms and commentaries concerning the character. She jotted down a thick pile of notes asking questions and formulating answers and conducting minute analyses. The homework paid off. The character she created satisfied the expectation of the audience. A critic said that Chens was the most cultured Lin Daiyu.
In 2015, she was officially transferred to the Theater Department of Zhejiang Observatory of Music. She explained her motivation this way: “I would like to teach what I learned from my masters and help to cultivate a new generation of Yueju Opera talents. Learning from my career experience, I am fully aware of the significance of teaching and learning.” She recalled that she almost lost her confidence at the start of her learning, thinking herself mediocre in everything and probably there would be no future for her. Her masters did not agree with her. They encouraged her and guided her carefully through difficulties and helped her give full play to her strengths. “Masters teachings can benefit young talents all their careers. Thats why I decided to be a teacher,” she concluded.
Again, she is busy. She teaches 16 classes a week, focusing on the performing art of Yueju Opera. Her work schedule also includes lectures she must give or attend and a monthly workload as a Yueju Opera star. In her spare time, she prepares her own annual performing project. One of her latest projects was her vocal concert at which, she sang arias from various regional operas in the accompaniment of piano. It was something no one had ever tried in Yueju Opera performance. In August 2016, she held a solo concert. At the concert, she not only sang arias but also showed her kungfu stunts.