Grasping the Party’s standpoint on building an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identities, the Military Operetta (Cheo) Theatre has actively undertaken reform, preservation and development, contributing to improving artistic values of operetta theatre works and keeping traditional values alive while absorbing artistic quintessence of the renovation era, meeting the needs of soldiers and people.
The Military Operetta Theatre, whose forerunner is the Operetta Art Company, under the General Department of Logistics, has become more mature and powerful, successfully implemented cultural, artistic guidelines of the Party, closely followed and vividly mirrored realities of glorious, magnanimous life and combat of our military and people. On the grounds that where there were soldiers there was singing and the singing drowned bomb explosion, artists-soldiers of the Military Operetta Company went to every theatre of war to serve soldiers regardless of hardships and sacrifice, which made soldiers forget pain and tiredness, heighten willpower and resolve to fight the enemies, contributing to victory of the country.
In recent years, the Military Operetta Theatre has continued to bring into play the fine tradition of a leading art unit to promote traditional operetta art and perform many works of high value in terms of content and art. Many of their once famous works have also been reperformed successfully. Additionally, the Company has collaborated with playwrights and directors both inside and outside the military to hold seminars, organise field trips, place orders, assess quality, etc., with the aim to create many new performances, which are of high quality and appreciated by public opinion.
The Military Operetta Theatre has been consistent with traditional values and interlacing old and new schools of operetta so far. When the traditional theatre faced great difficulty, some operetta companies had to change their themes and ways of performance in the commercial direction to obtain high incomes. The Military Operetta Theatre, however, remained steadfast in and pursued the traditional, modern guideline identified by the Party. Works on the themes of common people and revolutionary warfare made a strong impression on audience in the military and nationwide, which served to keep tradition alive forever and guide generations of cadres and artists of the Theatre to thrive at present and in the future. The Theatre’s position on preserving and leveraging traditional artistic values does not fade with time but still exists and prospers. They are appreciated by higher echelons and public and are awarded with many distinguished prizes in performance periods. The Military Operetta Theatre has been awarded Hero of the People’s Armed Forces by the State and many other noble prizes to honour their achievements. The Excellent Artist title has been conferred on over 30 artists. Five artists have been awarded the title of People’s Artist.
Nowadays, the preservation and development of traditional operetta in the military is of significant importance, contributing to introducing artistic values deeply imbued with cultural quintessence of the nation and human race as well as the breath of life to soldiers and people, encouraging them to bring into play the dignity of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers and successfully accomplish every assigned task. Meanwhile, hostile forces’ acts of sabotage in ideological, cultural field, negative influence of the market economy, and increasingly deep and wide international integration place higher requirements on ideological work in general and cultural, arts-related activities in particular. Activities of performance arts, especially various types of traditional theatre, have confronted much difficulty in recent years. Miscellaneous culture greatly impacts audience’s passions, including military officers and soldiers, making them less interested in operetta theatre. The Military Operetta Theatre advocates adopting the following solutions synchronously to promote the operetta and traditional values.
First, enhancing education to raise awareness, responsibility and professional ethics of cadres, artists, actors and actresses regarding the preservation and development of operetta art in the military. The Party’s “Draft Cultural Platform” in 1943 enlightened and enabled artists to join the massive ranks of the masses to bring victory to the August Revolution. Many of them became artists-soldiers. They wished to devote their effort, talent and singing to serve soldiers and the revolution. Drawing on this experience, the Military Operetta Theatre Party Committee and Board of Directors always conduct political education, guide thinking and grasp guidelines, resolutions and directives of the Party on culture and arts, particularly Resolution of the 5th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (tenure XI) on “building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to satisfy the demand of sustainable development of the country,” Resolution 23 of the Politburo (tenure X) on “continuing to build and develop literature and arts in the new era,” etc., thereby enabling cadres, artists, actors, actresses, and contractor personnel to perceive the role and importance of traditional operetta art to the cultural, artistic cause of our country in general and in the Military in particular, contributing to promoting national identity in the hearts and minds of each cadres and soldiers. Based on correct awareness, all artists, actors, actresses, and musicians heighten their sense of responsibility for preserving and developing of this type of arts, put more effort to art creation, love and have a strong attachment to the Theatre. They are requested to actively study, train and cultivate political steadfastness so as to refrain from blowing hot and cold and being induced by cultural, artistic activities in market mechanism, stay away from evils and wrongdoings, have no manifestations of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation,” and resolutely struggle against hostile forces’ plots and tricks to exploit culture and arts to implement the “peaceful evolution” strategy and depoliticise the military.
Second, paying attention to establishing a strong corps of cadres, artists, musicians, actors and actresses with good professional knowledge, ensuring continuity between generations. To preserve and develop operetta art in the military first requires building a corps of people, who possess fine dignity, competence, a strong attachment to traditional arts, and passion for training and creation in each song, melody, dialogue, dance, operetta skill, and so forth. Based on its operating plan, the Theatre conducts training to foster professional knowledge and skills for its employees according to the motto of closely following traditional operetta plots, knowledge and skill development by means of creation and performance, combining on-site training with sending to colleges, and successfully linking planning with training and use of personnel. Commanders of the two companies of the Theatre, functional departments and division are requested to well manage performance activities and conduct performance as stipulated by the State and military rules and regulations. They also must carry out periodical, professional assessment of cadres, actors, actresses, musicians, and technical personnel so as to work out measures to train and encourage their staff to self-study to improve their qualification. The Council of Specialists and composers heighten their sense of responsibility and promote cooperation with authors, directors, musicians, painters, and choreographers both inside and outside the military to create new, highly-qualified operettas, contributing to preserving traditional values while supplementing art programmes with breath of military life,
Third, focusing on identifying theoretical, practical bases and content of the preservation and development of operetta art in the military. Against the backdrop of current trends in cultural, artistic development, the renovation of operettas without affecting traditional styles is an urgent task. This will make performances of “military operettas” attractive to many cadres and soldiers. Consequently, it is necessary to undertake research into theoretical matters regarding old operetta art and modern operettas in the context of cultural, psychological changes, current development of operetta art in the military, effects of sociocultural environment on the traditional arts in general and operetta art in particular, and propose measures to preserve and develop operetta art. To fulfil these tasks requires preservation, collection of scripts and reperformance of old operettas of artistic values, restoration of excellent performances of the Military Operetta Theatre, and preservation to popularise operetta melodies and dances. Moreover, attention should be paid to preserving and developing musical instruments of the operetta music band, preserving and storing costumes and ways of decorating stages and disguise, and proposing practical, concrete solutions to operetta preservation and development in the military. Today, the preservation and development of operetta art in general and in the military in particular face a great deal of difficulty, which requires the Theatre Party Committee and Board of Directors to closely follow leadership and instruction of its higher echelons to work out appropriate policies and measures, mobilise collective power, and stick to the breath of life and entertainment demand of the public while maintaining unique characteristics of operetta in national cultual, artistic life.
Fourth, well implementing policies on improving material, spiritual life of cadres, artists, actors, actresses, musicians, and contractor personnel. Negative effects of the market economy, development of means of communication and modes of entertainment have changed ways of enjoying arts of audience, cadres and soldiers. Musicians, artists and choreographers have concerns, show less emotions at composition and less identify themselves with the Theatre. Therefore, leaders of the Theatre must pay attention to improving material, spiritual life of cadres and contractor personnel, especially those with difficult backgrounds, to make their life less inferior than artists in the society. In addition, there needs to successfully praise and reward individuals and collectives, who show high responsibility in preserving and conserving traditional values of operetta, record great achievements in their careers, obtain excellent prizes in competitions, and so forth. On the basis of implementing existing policies, it is necessary to create suitable conditions for artists to bring into play their abilities within the limits of regulations, ensuring their accomplishment of assigned tasks while improving their qualification and life. The functional agencies should pay attention to laying out regulations to honour the corps of artists in general and the corps of cadres, actors and actresses of the Military Operetta Theatre in particular and attract young artistic talents to into the military ranks.
Senior Colonel, People’s Artist, Nguyen Quoc Truong,
Director of the Military Operetta Theatre