Cai Luong version of "Butterfly Lovers"

I've bought this Cai Luong DVD "Luong Son Ba Chuc Anh Dai" (Butterfly Lovers) quite some time back together with some other titles from an Internet website. However, due to my busy schedule, I am only able to blog about it only today.

This version of Cai Luong was produced in 2001, starring Manh Quynh and Phi Nhung (once known as the "Golden Couple" in Vietnamese entertainment scene) as the lead roles. In terms of costumes, I think it was a big improvement from those produced in the 90s, as the clothes looked more stylish. Those produced years ago featured costumes which looked more like costumes borrowed from street opera troupes. However, the hairstyle of the male roles are still not very nice; many of them still spot those clip-on hair-pieces, which do not quite go well with the actors' real hair. As for the "golden couple"'s performance, although they looked compatible on screen, they are somehow lacking in their emotions, which I think is a pity.

Well, enough of my comments. Allow me to show you some of the clips extracted from the show!

Cai Luong Finale

This shall be the last of my posts on Cai Luong, unless I've got something new which I think I should strongly recommend. Anyway, this is the first Cai Luong video which I've found on the net, sung by popular singer Manh Quynh.

Actually, this is not authentic Cai Luong, but a parody version meant to make people laugh. Nevertheless, it was this video clip which made me more curious to know how does Cai Luong looked like, as I had previously seen promotional pictures of Cai Luong shows over the internet. Futhuremore, from what I had read before, it has got strong influences from Chinese opera, though not as strong as Hat Boi (Hat Tuong), the Vietnamese rendition of authentic Chinese opera. Unfortunately, I've only managed to see a few small and blurred pictures of a Hat Boi performance, but not any video or music, hence I won't be able to comment much on how Hat Boi is like. However, I do hope that one day, I'd be able to catch it in action somewhere.