談音樂：香港音樂劇裏三個代表作品 ｜岑偉宗 On Music - Three Representative Works of the Hong Kong Musical (by Chris Shum)
香港音樂劇裏三個代表作品 Three Representative Works of the Hong Kong Musical
撰文：岑偉宗 By: Chris Shum
岑偉宗。香港作詞人。詞作多見於音樂劇及舞台劇，亦散見於電影、電視及流行曲。 Chris Shum is a celebrated lyricist with work spanning musicals, plays, movies, television dramas and pop music.
香港音樂劇有五十年的發展歷史，在公眾眼中，廣泛認知仍是不足。 於是 ， 這「 代表 」二 字該從何判斷？的確考起。不過，難還難，總有些脈絡可尋，就這樣說吧⋯⋯
從無到有的代表— 《白孃孃》
香港首部本土創作之華語音樂劇，由 潘迪華女士於一九七二年耗資百萬港元 製作。作曲是顧嘉煇先生，作詞的 有黃霑、盧景文和莊奴。導演是盧景文 先生。潘姐姐大胆創舉，成就了永恒的傳 奇，留下《愛你變成害你》這支歷久不衰 的金曲。於我而言，如果唱詞是粵語， 就 是 香 港 粵 語 音 樂 劇 的 起 點 了。
賣座鼎盛的代表— 《雪狼湖》
單是一九九七年在紅磡香港體育館首演 四十二場的觀眾量，已夠《雪狼湖》 稱冠。不少人談及香港音樂劇、華語音樂 劇，都會想到《雪狼湖》，而它的「創作」 方式，也有別於傳統音樂劇。翻開曲目 表，它 的 作 曲 人 已 不 止 一人，作 詞 也 是， 而主導整件事情的，也是主演的巨星張 學 友 。 可 以 說 ，《 雪 狼 湖 》 是 因 着 巨 星 而 成功的範例。
曲詞本交融的代表— 《風中細路》
一九九四年，我在香港藝術節首次看到 這音樂劇。驚訝於其劇本跟曲詞寫得 水乳交融，當然，潘光沛一手包辦曲 詞劇本，要左右調撥自是手到拿來。 不過，遣詞用字是個人修養，騙不得 人，劇中俗文口語入詞之順滑程度， 今 天 再 看 ， 仍 是 典 範 。
想領略《白孃孃》和《雪狼湖》之妙， 可以買本《我們的原創音樂劇》琴譜彈 唱一下。至於《風中細路》，或許要等 有心人放到公共圖書館的資源庫裏才可 一 睹了。
Despite a history of fifty years, the Hong Kong musical is still not very familiar to the general public. As such, how do we define which works are “representative”? It is indeed a bit difficult. However, there are still some clues that we can follow. Let’s say...
A representative brand-new production – Pai Niang Niang (A Story of White Serpent)
The first Mandarin musical created in Hong Kong, Pai Niang Niang was produced by Ms Rebecca Pan on a budget of a million Hong Kong dollars in 1972. The music was composed by Joseph Koo, and the lyrics were written by James Wong, Lo King-man and Zhuang Nu. The director was Mr Lo-king man. Ms Pan’s bold innovation produced an eternal legend, leaving behind the evergreen classic Loving You Has Resulted in Hurting You. For me, if the words were sung in Cantonese, it would have been the starting point of the Cantonese musical in Hong Kong.
A representative box-office hit – Snow•Wolf•Lake
With a run of 42 performances during its premiere at the Hong Kong Coliseum in 1997, Snow•Wolf•Lake was a top box-office hit. When talking about Hong Kong musicals and Chinese-language musicals, one would invariably think of Snow•Wolf•Lake. Its development was also different from traditional musicals. If you look at its musical numbers, there were more than one composer and one lyricist.
The whole project was initiated by superstar Jacky Cheung who was also the main lead. One could say that Snow•Wolf•Lake was an example of resounding success thanks to a superstar.
A representative work with seamlessly merged book and lyrics – Children of the Wind
When I first saw this musical at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 1994, I was surprised by the seamlessly merged book and lyrics. Of course, both were written by Eric Pun Gwong-pui, so he could juggle easily between the two. However, writing has to do with one’s literary talent. Even today, the use of slang and colloquial language in the musical is still exemplary.
If you wish to get a taste of the ingenuity of Pai Niang Niang and Snow•Wolf•Lake, you can buy the piano score Our Original Musicals and play and sing the songs. As for Children of the Wind, we may have to wait until someone puts it into the public library collection to find out.
Translated by: Christine Chan