Cantonese opera is known as Guangdong opera.
Cantonese Opera, also known as Guangdong Opera or Guangfu Opera, is a traditional Han opera form originating from Nan Opera. It originated in Foshan, Guangdong, and is mainly performed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and overseas areas where Guangdong overseas Chinese live in concentrated communities. Cantonese Opera was formed in Guangdong. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, intellectuals changed the singing language to Cantonese in order to facilitate the promotion of the revolution, making it easier for Guangzhou people to understand.
Cantonese opera is sung in Cantonese dialect and integrates various performing arts forms such as singing, acting, chanting, playing, music by musicians, stage costumes, and abstract shapes. The performance system of Cantonese opera is becoming more and more perfect. Folk tunes are interspersed with banghuang, and falsetto singing is replaced by flat-throated singing. Around 1912, Cantonese opera performances basically switched to Guangzhou dialect, and the performance system became increasingly perfect.
Introduction to the performance layout of Cantonese opera:
Cantonese opera is accustomed to collectively refer to the positions and personnel of the stage scenery as the "painting department". In the early days, Cantonese opera was mostly performed in theaters in rural areas. Like other operas, a table and two chairs were combined to form a symbolic stage scenery. There was no "set" to speak of. At the beginning of the 20th century, Cantonese opera entered the city and began to transition from square art to theater art, which put forward requirements for changes in the Cantonese opera stage scenery. The scenery at this time was just a purely decorative painting and decoration.
With the changes in the content and performance style of the repertoire, performances increasingly require the cooperation of the stage environment. Under the promotion and influence of the drama improvements carried out by the Zhishi Class at that time, they learned from the drama, assembled realistic scenery, and used Different combinations of large paintings, soft paintings, and hard scenes are combined into different scenes that highlight the specific environment of the drama. This setting method and style has been used ever since.
Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Cantonese Opera