San Francisco Chinatown, Cantonese Opera, and the New Millennium

Abstract

Great Star Theatre, 623 Jackson Street, Chinatown, San Francisco, 2003: the Cantonese opera The Lioness Roars (Shihou ji), a romantic comedy reminiscent of Taming of the Shrew, was performed by amateur opera lovers in celebration of the seventh anniversary of the founding of Oakland’s Red Bean Opera Club. Cars and pedestrians crowded the narrow street as if all of Chinatown were pouring into the storefront theatre. A typical preshow excitement and chaos were clearly on display Against a background of honking horns and shouting people, posters, banners, flower wreaths, and baskets overflowed the lobby and spilled out onto the sidewalk. People young and old greeted friends, snacked, bought tickets, and waited for the show to start. A century and a half after the first documented performance in San Francisco, Cantonese opera still seems active and vibrant, and one can imagine that the bustling scene outside of the Great Star today echoes similar scenes outside the Royal Chinese Theatre in the 1860s. Is a time machine at work? Has this traditional art, alien to American soil, seen significant changes and breakthroughs in these many decades? In this chapter, I revisit San Francisco Chinatown and examine the current state of Cantonese opera performance.