Academy Chinese Opera: Forty Years of Cherished Love

The Cantonese Opera Forty Years of Cherished Love tells the sad love story of the Song poet Lu You and his wife Tang Wan. After three years of marriage, Tang does not get pregnant, so her mother-in-law – a devout Buddhist gullible to malicious gossip – forces her to become a nun and orders her son to marry Wang Chun’e. Tang is so devastated that she decides to take her own life but is saved by Zhao Shicheng. She marries Zhao to stop Lu's yearning for her. It is a painful severance for the two who still love each other, and when they remarry on the same day, the wedding music becomes lamenting songs. Three years later, Lu runs into Tang and Zhao at the Shen Garden, churning up mixed feelings and memories for both Lu and Tang. Lu inscribes on the wall a poem The Phoenix Hairpin before he leaves. Tang reads it and is heartbroken, so much so that she falls ill. She responds with another poem, then slowly pines away until she dies. Forty years later, Lu visits the Shen Garden again. He laments the demise of his love and his country as he reminisces the past, with sigh after sigh.

Directors: Hong Hai, Liu Li

Production Coordinator: April Chow

Music & Percussion Director: Zhao Riwei

Music Director & Vocal Coach: Mach Tuy Nghia

Percussion Director: Ching Weng Sung

Set Designer: Ryan Lo

Lighting Designer: Lai Ka-ki

Sound Designer: Boolu Hui

Production Manager: Rica Chan Nga-wun

Performed and accompanied by students of the Performance Major and the Music Major of the Academy's School of Chinese Opera. Production team comprises faculty members and students of the School of Theatre and Entertainment Arts.