Last Saturday, Queenstown Community Center’s Cantonese Opera Troupe (女皇镇粤剧团) don their Yang Warriors (杨门女将) costumes into battle Chingay 2013’s rehearsal.
The audience would not get to see the painstaking effort taken before the scenes. Daddy is proud to be one of the Marina Bay amBayssadors who gets to witness the awesome transformation !
At Queenstown CC, Ms Teo Lin Lee (Chairperson for Queenstown Arts & Culture Committee and also Opera lead actress & troupe leader) got us immersed in some Cantonese Opera. The original itinerary includes face-painting for the amBayssadors, but the tight schedule means our own makeover fail to materialized.
We did get to see the elaborate makeup process. The painted face, eye, eyebrows, lips, hair, and finally the costume. Lin Lee highlighted the troupe’s makeover process is like a conveyor belt, one section after another, non-stop.
There are only four makeup artists and one Shifu (Mr Ong is 師父), who work tirelessly to ensure the troupe is ready. They are the last ones to eat their lunch, at 4pm !
Nothing is taken for granted, we witness the makeup artists transform our Opera singers literally, layer by layer 🙂
The final touch-ups, to bring out 穆桂英, 杨文广 and 佘太君 (100 years old matriarch!)
The final steps would be the accessories, the costumes, hear gears, weapons, even shoes. All are elaborately selected to bring out their characters.
Edmund’s kids are curious about the painted faces.
Throughout the afternoon, there was a flurry of activities in the makeup rooms. Someone was always moving around. As photographers, you sense that something is going to happen, the anticipation is electrifying 🙂
We saw first hand the camaraderie, passion, and dedication of our proud Cantonese Opera troupe. You cannot help but gets enveloped in the festive-like mood, everyone is engergizing themselves for the evening.
Did you know the oldest member is 75 years old Auntie Julie (wearing Yellow).
Talk about active aging 🙂
The friendly and eloquent lady on the left is Lin Lee. The five fun-loving amBayssadors are from left Edmund, Jerome, Darren, Kevin and Daddy (not in pic).
What are some of the Fun and interesting scoops?
Our Uncles and Aunties are techies, most of them know WhatsApp, Facebook, and they sure know how to Pose 🙂
The Marina Bay paparazzi amBayssadors had a field day of FUN too !
At 4pm, the troupe is ready to depart for Chingay Rehearsal at F1 Pit. Are you ready to Party, Qing (dynasty) style 🙂
4 hours of preparation, 20 minutes of performance.
Behind the glamour, we witnessed the hardwork. Kudos to the passionate performers!
We hope you like our Opera writeup, Daddy is really happy to be part of the action.
For more photos, do pop by SengkangBabies fanpage, or you can readup our previous post about happening Chingay 2013.
Remember, Chingay 2013 will be on 22.23Feb, and tickets are on sale now.
More information about Chingay 2013 can be found at the links below :
– http://www.facebook.com/passionchingayclub
– http://www.chingay.org.sg/