Last night, the ARK live music bar, which once gave Shanghai a large number of original pop music talents a stage, but once faded out of Xintiandi, was re-lit up with the musical "Little Jack" in Lane 8 of the tide after 20 years. The night before, SAIC Shanghai Culture Square's excellent Chinese original music season", such as "Nan Tang Hou Lord" and "Fan Letter", gathered into a group of musical theater light and shadow shows called "December 19, 2021", with the walls of the Shiku Gate as the light and shadow sky curtain, and the trees and small bridges in the alley itself as the performance scenes, which were dazzling... Lane 8 of this tide issued an invitation to Shanghai musical theater fans: "Huangpu to Hongkou, cross the river to see the play." ”
Pictured: The musical "Southern Tang Dynasty Lord" Chen Tiantian photographed
ARK returns a vote is hard to come by
Once very popular in Xintiandi, ARK is the first live music bar in China, and it is also the vane of Shanghai and even China's live music bar, and famous overseas singers and bands always come here to audition when testing the waters of Shanghai and even the Chinese market. The Rolling Stones' press conference and Naka's first arrival in Shanghai are all loud voices here. As a result, it has become a gathering place for Shanghai pop talents. Over time, being able to appear on the stage of ARK has also become the pride of Original Chinese musicians. But because the rent rises by double digit percentages every year, and the unit is still in us dollars, ARK eventually fades out of the new world. Shanghai original musicians who have grown up here have switched to musical theater performances and productions, as well as singers. This time, ARK returned with a small musical "Little Jack" in Lane 8 of the present tide, and "upgraded" the original small concert to a bar musical that is closer to the off-Broadway model in the way of the love story of the hero and heroine and the live four-person band, which is still difficult to find. The average price of two or three hundred yuan includes a drink, around the "worker" shaped performance area, loose layout of fixed seats, so that the audience and actors can almost zero distance contact, the atmosphere is bursting.
Caption: ARK musical "Little Jack" official picture
The fusion of original works is unique
Unlike the current very popular indoor small musicals, "December 19, 2021", which was staged here the night before the Cultural Square, brought together four outdoor versions of musical clips that can be staged in the Grand Theatre, which means that the performance stage is wide. Fei Yuanhong, the director of this performance, said: "Where people pass, they can become theaters. ”
This outdoor musical theater light and shadow show named after the date, which includes four musical fragments of "Apollonia", "Southern Tang Dynasty Lord", "Fan Letter" and "Romeo and Juliet", highlights the historical context of Hongkou and also highlights the power of Shanghai's original musical. The main backdrop to the show is the old building, flanked by a few lawns and a few ginkgo trees – sometimes fluttering in the wind. The old building that has been weathered by wind and frost and the ginkgo biloba that flutters from time to time have a metaphor for history and personal destiny, which has become a corresponding footnote to the "Southern Tang Dynasty Lord". The letters that can be projected onto the entire wall make the visual impact of "Fan Letters" even greater. This is not only an "environmental drama" that meets the professional category - a "immersive drama" that designs choreography according to the surrounding environment and is in line with the audience's experience, which can "wrap" the audience and form a profound experience.
Pictured: The musical "Fan Letter" Chen Tiantian photographed
Technical means such as mapping, lighting, and image vision also achieve the best results under the premise of ensuring that they do not affect the surrounding residential areas. At the same time, we have also done a good job in the necessary epidemic prevention measures and means.
Historical and cultural buildings Old trees and new flowers
Located in Hongkou District, the birthplace of Haipai culture, the source of advanced culture, and the gathering place of cultural celebrities, Lane 8 of Jinchao is located at the intersection of Wujin Road, North Sichuan Road, and has completely preserved and repaired 66 old buildings distributed in 8 lanes. Tracing back a hundred years, history, literature, film, publishing, aesthetic education, and commerce have all flourished on this soil— Lu Xun, Qu Qiubai, Guo Moruo and other literary celebrities living in the annals of history. China's first official cinema and the first film screening were held here, and The Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, China's first art school integrating the Western art education system, was born here, which contains countless anonymous folk life memories.
Pictured: This tide 8 Lane Chen natural photo
Today, it is a gathering place for art exhibitions, cultural and creative sales, and theater performances. A mother once came here to buy a gift with traces of her early life for her birthday daughter, and this gift unexpectedly won the love of her granddaughter, so the mother came to Lane 8 of the present tide again to prepare a gift for the whole family to pass on from generation to generation. No matter what era, there is an inseparable emotional connection between man and land. "People" and "feelings" are the core of urban renewal and neighborhood revitalization. Bringing together the original musical power of Shanghai and staging various stage performance forms, musicals highlight the Cultural Characteristics of the Shanghai School that the musical itself has, and link the appeal brought by live music and dance - thus generating people's emotions about the environment. In the future, Lane 8 will become a big stage for artists to experiment and innovate. (Xinmin Evening News reporter Zhu Guang)