The Silver River

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The Silver River is a musical theatre piece in one act composed by Bright Sheng in 1997, with libretto by playwright David Henry Hwang.


The Silver River combines Western opera, drama, and dance with Chinese opera and virtuosic solo playing of the pipa (Chinese lute). The duration of the work is approximately 75 minutes. The story is based on a 4,000-year-old Chinese folktale about the creation of day and night. The Silver River is the Milky Way which bathed heaven and earth in constant light and connected both realms together allowing earthly and celestial creatures to meet. The Jade Emperor, Lord of Heaven, dreams of a choas that plunges heaven and earth into darkness. His nightmare comes true when the mortal Cowherd falls in love with the immortal Goddess-Weaver. When love preoccupies the Goddess-Weaver from her duty to spin the stars of heaven, the skies begin to darken. The Jade Emperor turns the Silver River into a barrier separating heaven and earth. The lover's grief is so great that chaos reigns until the Jade Emperor allows the lovers to meet each other once a year (the seventh day of the seventh moon of the lunar calendar) on the banks of the Silver River.

Contents

[edit] Soloists and orchestration

[edit] Soloists

  • African-American Actress (Western style)
  • Asian Male Singer (Chinese Opera style)
  • Baritone (Western Opera/Music Theater style)
  • Asian Female Dancer
  • 2 Dancers
  • Baritone

[edit] Orchestration

The flutist appears onstage as a male cowherd, the pipa player appears onstage as a goddess-weaver

[edit] References

v • d • e
The works of David Henry Hwang
Full-length plays
FOB (1980) · Family Devotions (1981) · Rich Relations (1986) · M. Butterfly (1988) · Face Value (1993) · Golden Child (1996) · Peer Gynt (1998, with Stephan Muller; from Henrik Ibsen) · Tibet Through the Red Box (2004, from Sis) · Yellow Face (2007)
Short plays
The Dance and the Railroad (1981) · The House of Sleeping Beauties (1983, from Kawabata) · The Sound of a Voice (1983) · As the Crow Flies (1986) · Bondage (1992) · Trying to Find Chinatown (1996) · Bang Kok (1996) · Merchandising (1999) · Jade Flowerpots and Bound Feet (2001)
Film/television
Blind Alleys (1985, with Kimball) · M. Butterfly (1993) · Golden Gate (1994) · The Lost Empire (2001) · Possession (2002, with Jones and LaBute, from Byatt)
Music theatre
1000 Airplanes on the Roof (1988, with Glass and Sirlin) · The Voyage (1992, with Glass) · The Silver River (1997, with Sheng) · Aida (2000, with Woolverton & Falls, John and Rice, from Verdi) · Flower Drum Song (2001, with Rodgers and Hammerstein, from Fields, Hammerstein, and Lee) · Ainadamar (2003, with Golijov) · The Sound of a Voice (2004, with Glass) · Tarzan (2006, with Collins, from Burroughs) · Alice in Wonderland (2007, with Chin, from Carroll)