“The Peony Pavilion: Young Lovers’ Edition” 100th Performance Souvenir DVD

Produced by the Public Television of Taiwan, a set of DVD was made of the 2004 opening performance of “The Peony Pavilion: Young Lovers’ Edition” in Taipei. It was a valuable and historic recording. Besides a live recording of the three-night cycle, the set has included a special 50-minute track of production tidbits, scripters of the show describing their original concepts, and rehearsals of “The Peony Pavilion: Young Lovers’ Edition” over the past year. Unfortunately, because of limitations of lighting and camera angles, the live recordings were unable to completely capture the artistry of the masterpiece.

After ninety-nine stage shows in the next three years, in China’s mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, as well as the US West Coast, “The Peony Pavilion: Young Lovers’ Edition” was finally brought to the Beijing Exhibition Centre in May of 2007, in celebration of its 100th performance. With experience from ninety-nine shows behind them, all actors had made tremendous progress, and stage craft and lighting had gone through numerous changes with marked improvement. We hoped to catch the performers at their best, and the show at its peak. Hence, a professional production of a DVD set went underway, and we made a permanent record of “The Peony Pavilion: Young Lovers’ Edition”, to be passed on to many generations to come.

In March of 2007, Artistic Director Wang Tong brought the production team to Hangzhou, rented the Hangzhou Grand Theatre, worked for ten days, and finally finished taping all nine hours of the complete Young Lovers’ Edition. The Hangzhou Grand Theatre offered perfect facilities. Lighting was designed specifically for video taping; five cameras were employed to capture the performers from different angles. The use of High Definition Design (HDD) system has resulted in images of extremely high resolution. The bonus track of production tidbits was more than 80 minutes long. The edited footage became a chronicle of the difficult yet splendid journey of “The Peony Pavilion: Young Lovers’ Edition”, from the first rehearsals in 2003, through the opening night in Taipei, the traveling performances on school campuses, shows in the United States, to the grand finale at the Beijing Exhibition Centre in 2007. It was also a digest of thoughts, passions, expectations, and well wishes of the original producers, performers, audience, and benefactors of the show. Thanks to the relentless support of Mr. Gabriel Yu, we have now a collector’s item – “The Peony Pavilion: Young Lovers’ Edition” DVD set. Mr. Gabriel Yu is the Chairman of Digital Heritage Publishing Ltd. of Hong Kong. Not only has he given us generous donations, he has also actively participated in the production of the show. Mr. Gabriel Yu and his wife Mrs. Teresa Yu’s passion and expectation for “The Peony Pavilion: Young Lovers’ Edition” have been our greatest encouragement and confidence.

Kunqu is a treasure of the Chinese people and a legacy of world cultural heritage. To preserve and to revive Kunqu is rightfully every Chinese person’s responsibility.

Kenneth Pai
Producer