Joanna C.Lee

小瓊：新冠肺炎讓我們不少人被迫待在家中。不過，音樂家們大都是隨機應變的人，當中尤其有創(chuàng)新精神的一位就是我多才多藝的朋友——謝炳順。他最近創(chuàng)作了不少令人驚嘆的阿卡貝拉音樂視頻，由他一個人演唱所有的聲部。

小薇：你上個月跟我說，要再多聊聊他在紐約傳奇的阿馬托歌劇院的工作經歷。

小瓊：這是家小劇團，1948年由兩位勇往直前又敢于實踐的紐約人——托尼與莎莉·阿馬托夫婦共同創(chuàng)立。阿馬托歌劇院的61個歌劇季均在僅能容納107人的“劇院”里演出，舞臺也很小。

小薇：謝炳順年輕時在那里演出過嗎？

小瓊：許多音樂家的生涯都是在那里開始的。以下是謝炳順的一些回憶：

托尼·阿馬托在新澤西州出生，但卻深深浸淫于意大利的歌劇傳統(tǒng)，因而從頭到腳都像是從19世紀穿越而來的人。有一天晚上，我提早到了排練現(xiàn)場，在劇院后面閑逛準備做什么，這時他突然經過，于是我們開始聊天。他跟我說那個星期他去看了新出的《星球大戰(zhàn)》系列電影，特別喜歡，就是覺得特效跟劇情有點夸張過頭了。我沒想過這位從來只喜歡討論普契尼、威爾第、莫扎特，還有什么總譜、舞臺調度、歌劇傳統(tǒng)，以及各種音樂趣聞的老先生會去看電影，更不用說《星球大戰(zhàn)》了。

還有一次我們排《風流寡婦》里某場戲的時候，有個演員忘詞了，當時他本應看手里拿的扇子后面寫了什么然后念出來（劇里他的情人在扇子背面寫了“我愛你”，那一場要問他上面寫了什么），該演員靈機一動，愣了一下，然后說：“中國制造？”大家都笑翻了！托尼特別喜歡，之后的《風流寡婦》制作都保留了這句臺詞。

小薇：托尼·阿馬托2010年出版了名為《世界上最小的大歌劇院》的回憶錄，一年后便去世了。我在想書中會不會提到了謝炳順。

Joan： COVID-19 has forced many of us to stay at home. But musicians are resourceful people， and one of the more inventive is my multi-talented friend Phillip Cheah. Hes been creating amazing videos of a cappella music， singing all the vocal parts himself.

Valery： Last month， you promised to tell me more about Phillips involvement with the legendary Amato Opera Theater in New York.

Joan： This small company was founded in 1948 by the husband-and-wife team Tony and Sally Amato， intrepid New Yorkers with a “can-do” attitude. The Amato Opera produced 61 opera seasons in an“opera house” that only seated 107. And the stage was tiny， too！

Valery： So Phillip performed there when he was younger？

Joan： Many musicians got their start there！ Here are Phillips memories：

Tony Amato， who hailed from New Jersey but， being so steeped in the Italian operatic tradition， seemed for all intents and purposes like an anachronistic man from the 19th century. There was one evening when I was early to a rehearsal and hung out at the back of the house to do some work when he walked by and started chatting. He told me about how he had gone to the movies earlier that week to watch the new Star Wars movie that had just come out and how much he enjoyed it even though he thought the special effects and plot were a little over the top. I would never expect a man who only ever talked about Puccini and Verdi and Mozart or operatic traditions in the score or stage blocking or other musical tidbits to watch a movie， let alone Star Wars.

Another time， we were rehearsing The Merry Widow and one of the actors had forgotten his line during a scene when he was supposed to look behind a fan that he was holding to read what was written. （His lover， who had written “I love you” at the back of the fan earlier in the operetta， was asking him in the scene， “Well？？ What does it say？”） The actor， in a moment of hilarious brilliance， hesitated for a moment， and then said， “Made in China？” We all lost it right after that. And Tony loved it so much， he kept the line for all future productions.

Valery： Tony Amato published a memoir in 2010 entitled The Smallest Grand Opera in the World， a year before his death. I wonder if it mentioned Phillip.