Cai luong (reformed opera) star Bui Cong Danh, winner of the famous TV show Sao Nối Ngôi (Bright Stars) 2021, will perform in a series of theatre shows on Vinh Long Television’s THVL1 channel next month. 

Thousands of people in HCM City and the Mekong River Delta region have been captivated by new theatre shows and TV programmes featuring cai luong (reformed opera), a 100-year-old traditional music genre of the south.

A new drama programme about cai luong (reformed opera) and tuong (classical drama) has been launched by two private theatres in HCM City. 

Meritorious Artist and cai luong star Phuong Loan and her colleagues from the HCM City-based Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theatre will stage a famous play from the 1980s by the late playwright and poet Luu Quang Vu of Hanoi. 

“The Magic Stick” has debuted in Hanoi as the first-ever combination of circus and “cai luong”, a form of Vietnam’s folk opera using a signature melancholic song structure nostalgic for the past.

Binh Tinh, a talented theatre actress of HCM City, will release two videos featuring cai luong (reformed opera) on YouTube this week. 

A book about the late Meritorious Artist Nguyen Ngoc Bach, a guru of cai luong (reformed opera), has been released in HCM City.

For the first time, veteran theatre artists are on a par with young actors at the 2020 Mai Vang (Golden Apricot) Awards, one of the country’s most prestigious art awards presented by Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) newspaper in HCM City.

The final round of the national Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Talented Performers 2020 Contest will be held on October 26 in HCM City.

Google Doodle today, September 28, honoured cai luong, a style of modern South Vietnamese folk opera, on the occasion of Vietnam Stage Day.

A photo exhibition featuring the career of People’s Artist Minh Vuong, a leading artist of cải lương (reformed opera), a traditional genre of southern theatre, will open in HCM City this week.

Vietnam’s first theatrical work made up of circus and cai luong (reformed arts) – Cây Gậy Thần (The Magic Stick) – has recently been launched in Hanoi.

People’s Artist Kim Cuong (second left, back row), who has 65 years of experience in Vietnamese theatre. Photo courtesy of the artist)

Despite its recent success, the cai luong (reformed theatre) market needs more young scriptwriters now that the number of skilled composers is decreasing.

People’s Artist and cai luong star Le Thuy will release an MV on YouTube next week to inspire people during the fight against COVID-19. 

A web drama series on cai luong (reformed opera), the south’s most popular theatre form, has started to be released on YouTube this week.

Four traditional music contests will be launched in HCM City and southern provinces this week.

Cải lương tuồng cổ (a form of Vietnamese reformed folk opera) is in need of state support as it faces a severe shortage of human resources, according to Người Lao Động (Labourer) newspaper.

“Everything that I have today is due to my love and contribution to cai luong (reformed opera),”  said actor Vo Minh Lam of Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theatre, one of HCM City’s leading art troupes in the traditional operatic art.