Reviving the Almost Lost Versions of Three Routine Plays in Cantonese Opera ─
The Sung Version of Eight Immortals Bestowing Longevity, the Male and Female Versions of Blessing of Promotion, and the Grand Scale Version of The Heavenly Maiden Delivers Her Son to the Mortal Father

重現三個瀕臨失傳的粵劇例戲版本 ─《八仙賀壽》唱腔版、《加官》男、女版及《天姬大送子》

以例戲揭開序幕是粵劇班的百年傳統，香港的神功演出至今仍然沿襲這個傳統慣例。《八仙賀壽》、《加官》及《天姬大送子》三齣例戲每於神誕正日日戲演出前依次搬演。例戲保存了早期粵劇的曲式、曲調、舞臺官話及演出習慣。現存曲譜及口述歷史記錄的研究揭示，例戲的部分片段在半世紀多之前的演出被刪除了，少數資深演員及樂師在不同程度上記得這些瀕臨失傳的例戲版本的演出規範。

年青演員將參考研究及節目策劃提供的口述歷史記錄和現存曲譜，並依照資深演員及樂師的指導，重現上述三個瀕臨失傳的例戲版本。

這台例戲將展示學者如何投入學術研究成果，為業界重構及重現部分瀕臨失傳的粵劇傳統略盡綿力。

演員（筆劃序）：
生角：文華、司徒翠英、柳御風、張偉平、郭俊亨、陳安橋、陳澤蕾、黃啟康、黎耀威、鄺紫煌
旦角：李沛妍、徐月明、袁學慧、梁心怡、陳紀婷、黃葆輝、黃寶萱、盧麗斯、謝曉瑩
樂師：［高潤權、高潤鴻領導］高永熙、孫迪飛、梁淑妍

製作：香港八和會館
藝術總監：李奇峰先生、阮兆輝先生
吹打領導 : 高潤權先生、高潤鴻先生

學術顧問：余少華教授、李小良教授、容世誠教授、伍榮仲教授 （《中國戲曲志》及《中國戲曲音樂集成》香港卷主編）
研究及策劃：林萬儀（《中國戲曲志》及《中國戲曲音樂集成》香港卷副主編）

資助：嶺南大學研究支援部「知識轉移項目基金」、文學院

Raising the curtain of a performance with routine plays has been for a century a traditional practice of Cantonese opera troupes and can still be seen regularly in ritual performances in Hong Kong. The Eight Immortals Bestowing Longevity, Blessing of Promotion, and the Grand Scale Version of The Heavenly Maiden Delivers Her Son to the Mortal Father are scheduled to be staged respectively during daytime on the main festival day in a series of ritual performances. The routine plays have retained the musical forms, tunes, official language and performance practices used in early Cantonese operas. The studies of the surviving musical notations and documented oral history suggest that some segments of the routine plays have been omitted in performance for more than half a century. Few experienced actors and musicians still remember (at least partially to different extents) the performance conventions of the almost lost versions of the three routine plays.

Young practitioners will stage the forgotten versions of the three routine plays by consulting documented oral history about the plays and the surviving musical notations provided by the researcher-cum-programme planner, and following the instructions given by experienced, older generation of actors and musicians. 

The stage performance of the routine plays will display how scholar inputs academic contribution to partially help the Cantonese opera profession revive and reconstruct part of Cantonese opera’s performance almost lost practices.

Performers from Catonese Opera Young Talent Showcase, and the Youth Talent of Cantonese Opera Training Course, The Cantonese Opera Academy of Hong Kong
Artistic Directors: Mr Danny Li Chi-kei, Mr Yuen Siu-fai
Wind and Percussion Leaders: Mr Ko Yun-kuen, Mr Ko Yun-hung

Academic Advisors: Prof Yu Siu-wah, Prof Li Siu-leung, Prof Yung Sai-shing, Prof Ng Wing-chung (Chief Editors, the Hong Kong Volumes of Annals of Chinese Opera and Anthology of Chinese Opera)
Researcher-cum-Programme Planner: Lum Man-yee (Deputy Chief Editor, the Hong Kong Volumes of Annals of Chinese Opera and Anthology of Chinese Opera)

Funded by: Knowledge Transfer Project Fund and Faculty of Arts, Lingnan University