[Photo/China Daily]

While retaining the best-known arias, Mao tinkered with many musical passages to find the best expression for the drama. She even borrowed the theme from the violin concerto version, which was inspired by Yue Opera in the first place, for a heart-achingly lyrical moment.

Visually, the stage did away with realistic sets and used an iron-cast structure that is abstract, yet expressive, capturing the essence of the story rather than architectural details. Traditional hand-held fans are used as a major prop. The whole production has a cleaner and classier look that seems to be inspired by a Chinese poem.

For her new production of The Good Person of Szechwan, now renamed The Good Person of Jiangnan - Jiangnan refers to the Yangtze River Delta - the musical idioms are so much richer, with hip-hop for comedic effect and a Pingtan melody as a leitmotif for the appearance of the lead in female form - Pingtan is a Suzhou-based storytelling form of singing - and a Broadway-style number for the factory scene.

Amazingly, the opera does not look like a jumble but like a fresher form of Yue Opera or even Yue Opera meets stage musical. All the explorations in artistic expressions serve to bring out the poignancy and relevancy of the story, which fits contemporary China more than any other time, even though it is set in the early 20th century.

Mao is a conscious innovator, and she constantly agonizes over the difficulty of attracting young theatergoers.

"What can I do to enhance the appeal of Yue Opera and at the same time retain its core values?" she often asks herself.

She knows she is not living in the best era for her art form and is sometimes reminded that, had she worked in another medium, she might have achieved more.

"Any form of culture has its own season to bloom," she says. "We may not be in this season, but we can be steppingstones toward the next."

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