舞臺動物：與四條腿的朋友們共享聚光燈

“永不跟兒童或動物合作。”

——W.C. 菲爾茲

如果你跟一群演員在一起，大多數人都會同意美國喜劇演員威廉·克拉克·杜肯菲爾德（William Clark Duckenfield）的名言：他們（我指的是，兒童與動物）完全不可預測，經常搶盡風頭。誰會愿意跟他們同臺演出？

我們最近聽說了很多在歌劇中亮相的兒童的事情，比如在《波希米亞人》（La bohème）或《托斯卡》（Tosca）中客串的小群眾演員，或是在《魔笛》（The Magic Flute）、《帕西法爾》（Parsifal）和《仲夏夜之夢》（A Midsummer Night’s Dream）中屢次出場的不同角色，甚至在《阿馬爾與夜來客》（Amahl and the Night Visitors）一劇中擔任主角的孩子。這些年來，兒童合唱團對于提高歌劇演出上座率發揮了關鍵作用（“六個口袋，一張嘴”這句話，套用至演藝范疇就變成“六張門票，一張嘴”）。很明顯，某些歌劇制作人對菲爾茲針對兒童的評價并不買賬。

然而，我發現很少有人提到跟動物合作這個議題，這激發起我這方面的思考。在我的記憶之中，至今為止聽到反對動物參與舞臺演出最強烈的聲明，來自新加坡濱海藝術中心（Esplanade）的前負責人。濱海藝術中心開幕的第一個演出季，邀請到了國際各大演藝機構來新加坡搬演不同種類的制作，除芬蘭薩翁林納歌劇節（Savonlinna Opera Festival）之外，還有來自澳大利亞的馬戲團，可謂包羅萬象。此舉意在嘗試不同形式的不同節目，摸索濱海場地未來運作的方向與目標觀眾的喜好。結果呢？“堅決謝絕動物！”（“你曾否嘗試過，當大象在舞臺上謝幕后的地板清潔工作嗎？”他問我。）

有一個案例恰恰相反——弗朗切斯卡·贊貝羅（Francesca Zambello）執導的《卡門》（Carmen）。這個制作在倫敦科文特皇家歌劇院首演，后來巡演至臺北。跟其他制作版本不一樣的是，贊貝羅堅持讓一頭活生生的馬匹走上舞臺。為了達到要求，制作人宣布在當地范圍內進行海選，以挑選出最適合該角色的馬匹。

事實證明，幾乎大都會歌劇院的每個演出季，你都可以在舞臺上找到活生生的動物：從《玫瑰騎士》（Der Rosenkavalier）中的狗，到《毀滅天使》（The Exterminating Angel）里的三只羊。當然，我們也不能忽略馬匹、駱駝以及——千真萬確的——大象，它們都在《阿依達》（Aida）的凱旋進行曲中一個接一個地踏上舞臺。可是，眾多動物中，沒有任何一個能像比利（Billy）那樣光芒四射。駿馬比利在《阿依達》的第二幕中獨占鰲頭，搶了其他動物以及臺上150名演員的風頭。

今年年初，當《紐約郵報》（New York Post）刊登了這頭20歲的挪威峽灣馬的專題報道后，比利成為紐約炙手可熱的大明星——起碼是《紐約郵報》的焦點。比利并非舞臺新秀，《阿依達》也不是它的首次登臺。它在演藝界是一位老手，曾在《最偉大的表演家》（The Greatest Showman）的電影版中為休·杰克曼（Hugh Jackman）拉過馬車，也曾參加過梅里爾·斯特里普（Meryl Streep）主演的電影《小婦人》（Little Women）。它更是《星級馬匹》（The Star Horse）這部青少年小說的主人翁，《紐約時報》（New York Times）記者莎拉·馬思琳·尼爾（Sarah Maslin Nir）正是在撰寫回憶錄《為馬而狂》（Horse Crazy）時，遇上比利后，它成為她新小說的靈感來源。

幾年前的演出季，另一只四腳演員也受到《紐約時報》文藝專版的關注，那就是15歲大的旺達（Wanda）。這頭毛驢首次在大都會舞臺上亮相，是在佛朗哥·澤菲雷利（Franco Zeffirelli）執導的經典制作《波希米亞人》中，它拉著帕匹尼奧的玩具車到了莫墨斯餐廳門口。旺達的首次亮相令人期盼：上一任的毛驢名為加布里埃爾爵士（Sir Gabriel），曾扮演這個角色并拉著同一頭車有16年之久——加布里埃爾爵士更是多才多藝，曾連續12個演出季參演了《塞維利亞理發師》（The Barber of Seville）、《鄉村騎士》（Cavalleria Rusticana）與《修女安杰麗卡》（Suor Angelica）。大家都認為，加布里埃爾爵士已經成為大都會歌劇院成員中一位受人愛戴的成員。

任何物種的歌劇明星都不是憑空出世的。倘若你知道旺達與比利同屬一家名為“全都是馴服動物”（All Tame Animals）的經紀公司，那就不會覺得驚訝了。這家公司專門為電影拍攝、舞臺演出和偶爾的時裝秀訓練動物。同一位馴獸師培養了比利與勛爵（Lord）——勛爵與旺達在《波希米亞人》中聯袂擔綱要角，勛爵負責搭載穆賽塔到同一家餐廳用餐的車——毫無疑問，它們也有著同一個公關顧問。

你猜，這些四腳朋友有資格和那些歌唱明星并駕齊驅嗎？讓我重申下，在舞臺上，四腳動物演員與只用兩條腿站立的演員都需要有臺風、有自信。你或許會覺得導演與制片人寧愿找些安靜、溫順的動物來出演，但是根據“全都是馴服動物”公司創辦人南希·諾沃格拉德（Nancy Novograd）的看法，那種性格的動物非常容易受到驚嚇，甚至一上臺就會跑回后臺（我肯定這類型的視頻在網上隨便搜搜都可以找到）。

另一方面，大多數訓練有素的動物在積聚了舞臺經驗后，甚至連出場的音樂都能認得出來。“它們在黑乎乎的后臺打著瞌睡，”諾沃格拉德接受《戲院場刊》（Playbill）雜志訪問時說，“但一聽到自己的入場音樂就會提起頭來，準備就緒。”換句話說，就像它們的許多人類同事一樣。

對于那些喜愛動物，但又怕跟動物們同臺演出的人，現代舞臺科技提供了不少新的可能性。現在大都會歌劇院公演的黛博拉·寇克（Deborah Colker）執導的《艾娜達馬》（Ainadamar，劇名為阿拉伯語，意為“眼淚之泉”）中，利用了投影：為了營造佛朗哥暴政下西班牙的緊張局勢，塔爾·羅斯納（Tal Rosner）所設計的影像是一頭正要沖向觀眾席的憤怒公牛。另外，動物世界中也有不少代表在百老匯演出，它們的登場方式全都是木偶戲：除了常年上演的《獅子王》（Lion King），還有《大象的眼淚》（Water for Elephants），把木偶藝術更推進一步，展現新生代藝術家的才華。

素食主義者應該會感到滿意，尤其是《艾娜達馬》的觀眾看到一大個疑似要沖向他們的動物蛋白質生物，但還好只是個投影。木偶大象當然也有自己的優勢——尤其是對晚上清理后臺的員工而言。

但是，聘用“動物代替品”的最大優勢是讓寵物主人與動物保護者不用擔心：無論如何，舞臺上或節目冊中最糟糕的聲明可能是：“本制作過程中沒有任何人類受到傷害。”

Never work with children or animals.

—W.C. Fields

Ask a roomful of actors and most will agree with the American comedian formally known as William Clark Duckenfield： They’re completely unpredictable and usually steal the scene （children and animals， I mean）. Who wants to share the stage with that？

We’ve heard quite a bit lately about children in opera， from cameo star turns in La bohème and Tosca to recurring appearances in The Magic Flute， Parsifal and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and even a title role in Amahl and the Night Visitors. Children’s choruses in particular have also long played a key role in increasing opera attendance （the adage “one mouth， six pockets” easily translates to the arts as“one mouth， six tickets”）. So you obviously have a few opera producers who don’t exactly fall in the Fields camp where children are concerned.

Not much， though， has been mentioned about animals， which got me to thinking. The most vociferous anti-animal response I’ve encountered came from the former head of Singapore’s Esplanade， who filled his first season at the theatre complex with everything from productions by Finland’s Savonlinna Opera Festival to an Australian circus just to see what would and wouldn’t work at his venues. The verdict？ No more animals. （“Have you ever tried to clean the stage after the elephants come out？” he asked.）

A totally opposite response came when Francesca Zambello’s production of Carmen， originally staged at London’s Royal Opera House， appeared in Taipei. Unlike many versions of this classic warhorse， Zambello calls for an actual horse， inspiring the local producers to announce island-wide auditions in search of the best steed for the job.

It turns out you can find live animals on stage pretty much any season at the Metropolitan Opera， from the dogs in Der Rosenkavalier to a trio of sheep in The Exterminating Angel. And of course there’s the menagerie of horses， camels and—yes—elephants that trot to the Triumphal March in Aida. Few， though， made the headlines like Billy， a horse who upstaged his fellow animals and some 150 human performers in Act II.

Billy became the toast of New York—or at least the New York Post—earlier this year when the newspaper ran a profile of the 20-year-old Norwegian Fjord. Aida wasn’t his first rodeo， so to speak； Billy had appeared in films pulling a carriage for Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman and appeared with Meryl Streep in Little Women. He was also the inspiration for The Star Horse， a novel for young adults written by New York Times reporter Sarah Maslin Nir， who met Billy while researching her memoir Horse Crazy.

A couple of seasons ago， another four-legged performer appeared in the New York Times arts pages when Wanda， a 15-year-old donkey， made her Met debut in Franco Zeffirelli’s production of La bohème pulling Parpignol’s toy cart to Café Momus. Wanda’s debut came with big expectations： her predecessor in the role， Sir Gabriel， had pulled the same cart for 16 years （he also appeared at the Met in 12 consecutive seasons in a range of other shows， including The Barber of Seville， Cavalleria Rusticana and Suor Angelica）. It’s not exactly Salvatore Licitra taking over from Luciano Pavarotti， but by all accounts Sir Gabriel had become a beloved member of the Met family.

Opera stars of any species don’t grow in a vacuum， so it’s probably surprising to no one that both Wanda and Billy came from the same talent agency， All Tame Animals， which specializes in training animals for stage and screen and the occasional fashion show. Or that Billy shares the same owner-trainer as Lord， Wanda’s Bohème co-star who pulls Musetta’s hansom cab to the same café. （They no doubt share the same publicist as well.）

So you think your four-legged friend has what it takes to run with the stars？ Again， much like the twolegged variety， an animal actor has to be able to take the stage with confidence. You might think directors and producers would want quiet， docile animals， but those are precisely the personality types that scare easily and could potentially run off with the show， says All Tame Animals founder Nancy Novograd.（Plenty of examples of this can be found on the internet， I’m sure.）

Most trained animals， on the other hand， even know their music after a couple of times through.“They doze in the dark behind the scenes，” Novograd told Playbill magazine， “and when they hear their music， they pick up their heads and get ready.” Just like many of their human colleagues， in other words.

For those who love animals but find the prospect of sharing the stage with them a bit daunting， con-temporary stagecraft does offer a few possibilities. Deborah Colker’s production of Ainadamar （now at the Met） summons the tensions of Franco-era Spain through Tal Rosner’s projections of an enraged bull about to charge into the audience. A rather representative sample of the animal kingdom is also currently featured on Broadway as puppets， not only in the perennial Lion King but also Water for Elephants， which extends the craft of puppetry into a new generation.

Vegan alternatives like these do have their place， particularly for audiences at Ainadamar facing a ton of angry animal protein heading in their direction. So too do puppet elephants have their charms—and not only for the stagehands after the show.

But maybe the best thing these animal substitutes could offer to pet owners and animal lovers is the assurance that， no matter what happens， the worst possible announcement from the stage or the program book would be， “Only human actors were harmed in the making of this production.”