In Sandakan, a coastal town in Sabah, Malaysia, there is a Dr Sin Sun Moi who practises medicine by day and becomes a Chinese opera performer by night. Not much of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde character here, I suppose but her story really reminds me of Cantonese operas and some Cantonese opera singers from Hong Kong especially. Veteran TVB actress, Lisa Wang Ming Chuen for example was said to have met her long-time boyfriend Law Kar Ying when performing together in a Chinese opera in 1988. Both of course, were accomplished Chinese opera stars. The latest is that both have tied the knot in Las Vegas.Then of course, there were female opera stars like Yam Im Fei and Bak Suit Sin who appeared in the first Cantonese opera movie ever in 1959. In the acclaimed Princess Cheung Ping or better known in Cantonese as Tai Lui Fah,Yam Im Fei, took the role of a male and a lover of Bak Suit Sin.Chinese opera was introduced to Sandakan almost 97 years ago in 1928 when the Ping Min Amateur Dramatic Club was set up. Dr Sin was exposed to Chinese opera at her father's record shop where opera songs were regularly played. I suppose these things have to start early.
Comments