On the evening of December 31, the Shanghai Grand Theatre welcomed Tan Dun's new work "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy" in the Chinese music version.
Walking 600 meters to the east, on the same road, the Tiantou Yifu Stage, Shanghai Peking Opera House and Shanghai Kun opera troupe famous artists jointly performed the "Welcome To the New Great Anti-String". Shi Yihong, who played Lin Chong in "Wild Boar Forest", said, "The last time I reversed the string was 20 years ago. ”
More than 200 meters north from the Tian toad Yifu Stage, the People's Grand Stage and the new space for performing arts in the Asia Building, more than ten musicals, dramas and dance dramas such as "Novel" accompany the audience on New Year's Eve.
Under the premise of strictly observing the requirements of epidemic prevention and control, the rich literary and artistic life scenes are not unique to the New Year, but the norm within 1.5 square kilometers of the Shanghai Performing Arts World in 2021.
The last day of 2021 should have the most perfect performance
At 10:00 a.m. on the 31st, Tan Dun conducted the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra to make the final rehearsal for the premiere of the Chinese music version of "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy", and he directed the singer, "The rhythm is slower, you are expressing the emotions of the ancients, don't be so fast and fierce." "Sometimes the music is interrupted," let's start with the 155 bars and do it again. At 12:30 p.m., he had just finished the first half of the rehearsal. Six chapters, including "Bodhi Tree", "Nine Colored Deer", "Thousand Hands and Thousand Eyes", "Zen Garden", "Xuanzang Donggui", and "The Other Side", show the contemporary cultural vitality of the ancient Silk Road with the beautiful resonance of national music and Dunhuang murals.
The Tian toad Yifu Stage "Jingkun Famous Artists Welcome New Anti-String" lasted for 3 and a half hours, and the fans laughed and said, "After watching the play, go to catch the last subway in 2021." In the past few months, Shi Yihong has been touring in other places, whether acting in "Shilang Visiting Mother", "Cuckoo Mountain" or "New Dragon Gate Inn", before putting on makeup, she insisted on taking 40 minutes to prepare for "Wild Boar Lin Fengxue mountain temple", "Lin Chong's body shape, standing posture, footsteps and even eyebrows, corner of the mouth are different from the Wudan roles I have played, I asked Wang Xilong to help me control Guan Wusheng's body, and also design some martial arts actions suitable for me." ”
For laymen, the biggest attraction of "anti-string" is witty and funny, but the actors are as serious as the main drama, Fu Xiru coughed for more than a month, still pulled the organist to practice "Suolin Nang Spring and Autumn Pavilion", the blue sky added Hebei Zizi elements to "Phoenix Nest Ugly Cave Room", Yan Qinggu's "Empty City Plan" "Zhuge Liang" was first zhuang and then harmonious, interspersed with Yangzhou dialect, Li Jun cooperated with the figure of Lu Zhishen in "Wild Boar Forest" with a false belly. Li An, Shen Yunli, Yu Bin, Luo Chenxue, etc. have carefully prepared the "new" roles of the old drama, "anti-string is not a joke, to show professional skills" "The skills and content we give must be more than the audience can think of."
The new starting point in 2022 forms a virtuous circle of repertoire
The more festive the holidays, the busier the world of performing arts becomes. The music of the three rehearsal halls of the Peking Opera House rose and fell. After Fu Xiru sang "Spring and Autumn Pavilion", he took off Xue Xiangling's red robe and immediately went to another rehearsal hall to co-arrange "Sitting Palace" with Luo Chenxue - the Special Performance of the Jingkun Folding Zi Drama Series on the New Year's Day Stage of Heavenly Toad Yifu Stage, and they will cooperate in "Sitting Palace".
The day before the "Welcome Toad Great Anti-String", the Tian toad Yifu Stage launched the pre-sale of the 2022 Spring Festival stall "Jingkun Qunying". At the same time as "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy", the Shanghai Grand Theatre's Chinese Theater and Small Theater staged different types of New Year's concerts, and from 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm and 11 o'clock on the 31st, the tickets for each performance were sold out.
"In 2021, the Shanghai Grand Theatre completed 577 performance season activities. Affected by the epidemic, theaters often have to regulate attendance, from time to time from 100% to 75%. Despite this, the average attendance rate of the Grand Theatre reached 77% throughout the year, and the number of visitors was 310,000. Zhang Xiaoding, general manager of the Shanghai Grand Theatre, revealed that in 2021, there were 237 performances in the middle theater, which has returned to the level of 2019," such as Meng Jinghui's "Rhinoceros in Love" and "Opinions on the Life of Two Dogs" and so on, which have a specific time in the Chinese theater every year, and will be staged in January 2022. ”
Thanks to the vigorous breaking of the circle of new dramas in the big world of performing arts, zhang Xiaoding has seen more and more raw faces in the theater for more than a year, including national style lovers and online drama audiences, "They are willing to watch live performances and represent the expansion of the audience." ”
After the equipment upgrade, the small theater of the grand theater quickly became a new chase place for musical theater lovers, and the small theater concert on the evening of the 31st focused on musical theater excerpts. On the same day, 18 performances were staged in the 14 star spaces of the Asia Tower. Shanghai Big World, which is one stop away from the subway, launched the musicals "Dangerous Game", "The Most Beautiful Day", "Novel" and "Laughing Big World" at the same time on the evening of the 31st. On the common stage adjacent to Shanghai World, the musical "The Hidden Corner" ushered in more than 100 performances.
"Content competition means that the audience chooses more, the competition will automatically win the survival of the fittest, and the good works will laugh to the end, forming a virtuous circle in the big world of performing arts, and each theater will find a suitable positioning and living space." Zhang Xiaoding said.
Boost more Shanghai premiere shows to the whole country
At 7 p.m., the audience took their mobile phones and swiped the health code and temperature measurement in front of the automatic gate to enter in turn. A year ago, a bunch of people "blocked" the door of the theater to temporarily find "yards", and the hustle and bustle of staff shouting and maintaining order disappeared, and instead, everything was orderly and smooth as if it were back in 2019. Slightly differently, five minutes before the opening, the staff held the "do not take pictures" sign around the venue, and in the blink of an eye, there was a new notice board "Please wear a mask when watching the show".
Precise epidemic prevention and control measures have allowed more and more new works to choose Shanghai for their premiere and debut. The drama "Frightening Dream", the musical "Rock Andro faust", "Dreaming of the Lion", "Human Disqualification" and many small and medium-scale plays started from the big world of acting and began a national tour.
The Shanghai premiere of the dance drama "Only This Green" ended, and the original three performances were immediately added to four, and the 2022 schedule was discussed. "Frightening Dreams" had a small number of remaining votes before the premiere, and after the premiere, the word of mouth exploded, and the tickets immediately ran out. Zhang Xiaoding said with a smile, "Over the past year, the big world of performing arts has become the most frequent place in the country, and the stable audience group also means that they have the right to speak in drama criticism." Producers said that the Shanghai premiere was done well, and they were not afraid to go all over the country. With the theme of "China is having a play", the Shanghai Grand Theatre plans to jointly produce the dance drama "White Snake" with dancer Tan Yuanyuan, and strive to achieve a new high in the number of premiere and debut plays.
Indeed, China is having a play. The Dunhuang rebound pipa, fengshou zhenzheng and Dunhuang Xiqin that appeared in the performance of "Dunhuang Ode to Mercy" were bold breakthroughs for the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra players.
"Art is closely linked to the times. When the country is strong, it must reflect the confidence in its own culture, which is based on high-quality creations and high-quality performances. Luo Xiaoci, director of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, sighed, "Shanghai's spirit of tolerance, diversity and innovation gives art endless vitality. We should create more first-class works that can truly go to the world, so that the big world of performing arts can become a window to better display the red culture, Shanghai culture and Jiangnan culture, so that more people can understand China's mind, China's aesthetics, and China's ambitions through this window. ”
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Shi Chenlu
Source: Author: Zhuge Yi