Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night

( 2020 )

————————————————————————————
Act I: Ravel Piano Trio/Fortuity
Act II: Sweet Georgia Brown/Gershwin Rhapsodie in Blue
Act III: Tchaikovsky None But my Lonely Heart/Schoenberg Verklarte Nacht/Farewell Cambridge/Epilogue

/
Sweet Georgia Brown/ ” ”
“ ”/ “ ”/ / 


1
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act I

I Do Not Know….

Description:

1910
East in the 1910’ s
Following the trace of the smoke-like lightness, as of in the
dream.
I Do Not Know…..
The words, expressed by calligraphy, by the muses
(dancers), given shape, life, and voice.
Stepping into the dream, gentle, open to possibility,
revising the memory of the three women in the poet’s short
lived life.

2
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act I-Scene 1 -

music: Ravel piano trio 1st movement

performers: poet, 2 dancers, piano trio

(Poet enters with 2 dancers)

(

POET

I do not know
which direction the wind blows ---
I’m in the dream
floating in the light ripples of the dream

I do not know
which direction the wind blows ---
I’m in the dream
her tenderness, my intoxication

I do not know
which direction the wind blows ---
I’m in the dream
sweetness illuminating the dream

I do not know
which direction the wind blows ---
I’m in the dream
her betrayal, my sorrow

3
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

(Trio enters) ( )

I do not know
to which direction does the wind blow --
I’m in the dream
heartbroken in the despair of the dream!

I do not know
to which direction does the wind blow ---
I’m in the dream
dimness illuminating in the dream

(piano starts, poet continues murmuring I do not know which ( “ ……”)

direction…… )

CHUNG YO-YI

All my life

(poet murmurs...the wind blows)

I thought my only calling was to obey you

with no other choice
Thank you
because for the first time I realize that
the three words of my name Chung Yo Yi
could fully represent myself
( ”..... “)
(poet murmurs..floating in the light ripples of the dream) ( )
(Trio plays Ravel first movement)

4
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act I-Scene 2 -

music: Ravel piano trio 2nd movement

performers: poet, woman #2, piano trio

(Poet enters with female dancer)

(

POET

There was magnolia blooming in the yard

the same fragrance, she said
the blossomed and the wilted

There was a bygone nightingale in the woods

almost dead, she said
but I do not regret my infatuation

This nightingale
this wilted magnolia
I pondered, reflecting on my own silhouette
Where is she?
Why despairing?
withered?
broken?

( )
(Ravel Piano Tiro 2ne movement)

5
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act I- Scene 3 -

music: Ravel piano trio 3rd movement

performers: poet, Woman #3, piano trio

(Poet enters, Lin Hui-Yin enters)

(
POET

Water, could not embody her transparency.

Music, could not express her melodiousness.
While in this boundless ocean of people
I will go on seeking my one and only soul mate
I’m fortunate if I find her
it’s my fate if I don’t
That is all
LIN HUI-YIN

I would rather morph into a leaf

wandering in the wind and in the rain
or as a cloud, in the deep blue sky.

Forgetting that there was this world, or you

Lamenting love that ever existed

Nothing is left when the day arrives

No more trace than a gleam of light
or a breath of air
You must forget about me
ever have lived in this world.
( )
(Ravel Piano Tiro 3rd movement)

6
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act I- Scene 4 -

music: Song #1 “Fortuity”

performers: poet, piano, erhu

POET

I am a cloud in the sky

at times casting shadows in your wavering heart
you need not startle nor take delight
For in an instant I would vanish from your sight

You and I met at sea in the darkness of night

You have your destination and I have mine
You may remember
though it's best if you forget
the glowing light as our wakes mingled behind

7
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act II

Which Direction ….

Description:

1920
West in the 1920’s

The world turned on its side with new possibility.

The landscape that was not seen before emerges.
Celebrating the abandoned and awakened sensuality.
Puppy running around, excited about the new flavors, new
colors, new smells, new sounds, and new movements.

A party of liberated selves.

8
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act II-Scene 1 -

music: Sweet Georgia Brown Sweet Georgia Brown

performers: Whole ensemble (13 musicians+2 dancers) 13 2

9
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act II-Scene 2 -

music: Gershwin Rhapsodie in Blue

performers: Whole ensemble (13 musicians+2 dancers) 13 2

10
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act III

Blow

Description:

East in the 1920’s 1920

The party crowd recedes.

The poet returned to the East, left alone with the half
waning moon.

Under the moonlight on the shore, the poet is

contemplative, tormented, unsettled, insatiable.
Searching for eternal love and desiring for transfiguration.
Bidding farewell to the world.

Silently I depart
as I silently arrived
I wave my sleeve
taking not a piece of the cloud

No need to mourn, no need to judge

When I die, my dear,
Do sing a sad song for me

11
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act III-Scene 1 -

music: Tchaikovsky “None but my Lonely Heart” ” “

performers: poet, piano

(sextet enters during song)

(
Poet

Fluttering
Charming
Calming
Alluring

None but the Lonely heart

can know my sadness
Heaven's boundless arch I see
spread about above me

O what a distance dear to one

Who loves me

None but the Lonely heart

can know my sadness
Alone and parted in the wintery night
Far from joy and gladness
O what a distance dear to one
Who loves me
None but the Lonely heart
can know my sadness
( ” “)
(Tchaikovsky “None but my Lonely Heart”)

12
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act III-Scene 2 -

music: Schoenberg “Verklarte Nacht”

performers: poet, 2 dancers, string sextet

Poet

There was the half waning moon tonight ;

I would like to take her hand
walking towards the moonlit place
----
the same pool of bright glow, I said
Whole or …
broken?

(beginning of Schoenberg, Sehr Langsam)

---
I stand by the screened window
in the darkness
watching her rise from the jagged ridge
;
A sleepy and messy glow
like a virgin clutching her chastity
frightened, exposing ferocious claws
It made me think of you, my love
when you too were struggling between the teeth of demons

13
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Poet

And now, as the bright moon in the blue sky

You have risen at the foothills of happiness
illuminating the hardship left behind on the ground

You and I must never desecrate the word

do not forget the oath we took in front of God

I want not only your tenderest sweetness

like sugarcoat forever wrapping my heart round
I want your love to stand as strong as pure steel
;
to build a wall in this fleeting heart
Let autumn leaves be blown all over the yard
Let termites rot the ancient frescoed walls ;
Even if a thunderbolt strikes the universe
it could not strike down the walls of our Love ;
or our Freedom
-------

14
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Poet

I wait for you

looking out the window into the dim twilight
as if looking into the future
My heart has trampled over and muted my voice
Why aren’t you here?
Hope is blossoming at every second
I await your footsteps
your giggles,
your face,
your silky hair ;
I await everything of you
Hope is withering at every second ——
Where are you?

Why aren’t you here?

You must know that your absence is a fatal blow to me
Making the darkness as impenetrable as a coal mine
crushing my thoughts and my breath
But I can not turn the rudder that has set its course ;
I can not turn back
Fate is calling me
even though I know this leads inevitably towards destruction

15
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Poet

Outside the window, the dim light

has gathered the black of night
Silence...
is the universe in mourning

The hands of the clock

keep gesturing
as if pointing fingers
as if sympathizing
as if deriding
the pounding of every second
sounding to me
like me,
myself,
my own heart
buried with the sound of funeral bells

When I am dead,
my dear
do not sing a sad song for me

16
 Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Poet

Do not set roses on my grave

nor plant shady cypress trees
let the green grass covering me
be soaked in the rain and beaded with the morning dew
;

If thou wilt, remember me

Should it please you to forget me
I shall not see the shadows on the ground
I shall not feel the sweetness of the rain
I shall not hear the nightingale
chanting her sad tunes in the darkest night ;
I would be dreaming through the twilight, lost
where the sun does not rise ;
nor set

Perhaps, perhaps I remember you

Perhaps...
I may forget

17
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Poet

I do not know what landscape exists in the mountains tonight

reckoning there would be moon and pines ;
and the deeper quiet

I would like to ride on the moonlight

conjured into a breeze
waking up the pines, drunken in springtime
to go wander in the mountains

18
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Poet

Gently I have departed

;
the way I gently arrived
I gently wave goodbye
to the rainbow sky

Those golden willows on the riverbank

;
are brides in the sunset
The sensual reflection in the shimmering light
ripples in my heart

The moss on the soft mud

undulating tenderly on the river bed
in the gentle currents of the Cam
I would rather be a blade of water grass

Quietly I have departed ;

the way I quietly arrived
I sweep my sleeve
bringing not even a wisp of cloud

19
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act III-Scene 2 -

music: Song #2 Farewell Cambridge

performers: poet, female dancer, string sextet, erhu

Poet

Gently I have departed

the way I gently arrived
I gently wave goodbye
to the rainbow sky

Those golden willows on the riverbank

are brides in the sunset
The sensual reflection in the shimmering light
ripples in my heart

The moss on the soft mud

undulating tenderly on the river bed
in the gentle currents of the Cam
I would rather be a blade of water grass

The pond under the shade of elm trees

holds not water but rainbow from the sky
shattered to pieces among the duckweeds , ,
settled into the rainbow-hued dream

20
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Poet

Seeking the dream, I punt

looking for greener grass
in a boat full of starry glow

I unleash a song into the splendor of the starry night

But I cannot sing out loud
Quietness is my farewell instrument
even summer insects hold the silence for me
tonight, silence is the River Cam

Quietly I have departed

the way I quietly arrived
I sweep my sleeve
bringing not even a wisp of cloud

21
Xu Zhimo & His Transfigured Night script / 2020

Act III-Scene 3 -

music: Epilogue
performers: string sextet, erhu, bass

CHUNG YO-YI

Waiting for him to sing

we watched in silence
fearing to disturb him

But he flapped his wings breaking the fog

transfigured into a rainbow cloud

He flew away
disappeared
gone
——

Gone like the spring light

like a flame
like passion

22