Take the high-speed train, play "fly", drag the suitcase to chase the drama ——
Shanghai, a city with "drama all year round"
Stills from the dance drama "Crested Ibis" photo by Wu Yizhang/Guangming Pictures
Shanghai Yue Theater Yue Opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" stills Gao Siyuan photo /Guangming pictures
A few days ago, Shanghai unveiled a 2022 "performance calendar". According to the standards of famous troupes, premiere launches and market word-of-mouth, 394 key projects were selected to form a "performance calendar" for the whole year and release the schedule to the public in advance. Among them, the performances in the performing arts world region account for about 70%, and nearly 40 original plays are premiered.
Holding the "performance calendar", not only the "drama fans" in Shanghai clapped their hands and applauded, but the audiences in the Yangtze River Delta and all over the country took the high-speed rail, played "flying", and dragged suitcases to chase the drama, which was more convenient.
Behind a "performance calendar", there is full of strength and responsibility - there is a booming performing arts market and audience groups as support, scientific, fine and intelligent urban governance as a reliance, and Shanghai has continued to enhance cultural originality in recent years and strengthened the "big pier of performing arts". Shanghai, which has accelerated the construction of Asia's performing arts capital, is becoming a city with "all the drama in the city".
Resident performances, let the "good drama connect the stage"
Take a stroll around Nanjing West Road, lift your feet to the Majestic Theater to watch a resident dance drama "The Eternal Electric Wave"; walk around the People's Square, and stop by the Shanghai Concert Hall to see a National Style Music Scene "Folk Music on the Sea"... The residency performance, which opened in July 2021, made many people's trip to Shanghai more fresh expectations.
The resident performance is a cultural tourism project launched by Shanghai in line with the standards of several famous international performing arts capitals. At the beginning of the launch, some people in the industry worried about whether Shanghai had such a market volume. The final report card proves that good shows have never lacked audiences and markets.
On January 23, two "Shanghai-produced" blockbuster dance dramas,"Crested Ibis" and "The Eternal Wave", will celebrate the 100th performance at the Majestic Theatre. On this day, it is also the 400th performance of the dance drama "The Eternal Airwaves", creating a miracle of Chinese dance drama. Chen Feihua, head of the Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe, told reporters: "After the shanghai residency, the topic of 'radio waves' has been heating up, and the brand influence has continued to radiate, driving the domestic tour market and forming a 'win-win' situation. ”
The residency performance of "Sea Folk Music" in the Shanghai Concert Hall Guofeng Music Scene created another way to open the concert hall. Fang Liang, general manager of the Shanghai Concert Hall, found that many audiences chose the "one-stop" experience, first watching the exhibition, then booking the wall show, and then entering the concert hall hall to watch the performance. "Different cultural tourism projects have formed a strong linkage between each other, draining each other, and the cultural and creative products produced for this purpose are also quite popular, and many viewers will buy some to take home before leaving." Fang Liang said that through the residency performance, the integration of new products and new models of cultural tourism has been promoted, and a consensus has been formed in the industry to stimulate new momentum of cultural tourism. In March this year, "Sea Folk Music" will once again meet the audience in the form of "resident performance + immersive art special exhibition".
The reporter noted that in the 2022 Shanghai "Performance Calendar", the resident performance is still a highlight. Scheduled are the dance drama "The Eternal Electric Wave", "Crested Ibis", the Guofeng Music Scene "Folk Music on the Sea", the classic Yue opera works "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Liang Zhu", "The Tale of the West Chamber", the Haipai acrobatic "Time and Space Journey 2", "Happy Circus", the immersive drama "Sleepless Night", the Happy Twist "Crazy Barbershop" and other series of resident plays. In January this year alone, 41 key performances landed on the Shencheng Stage. What the audience is more looking forward to is that 53 good plays will be staged during the Spring Festival, so that the audience can enjoy the "Year of Culture".
The big world of performing arts, driving "the whole city has drama"
If you are not on the scene, it is difficult for you to imagine that in the center of Shanghai, a building that looks like an office building, under the fourth floor, has "hidden" 9 small theaters of large and small sizes, which has become a must-go "punch card" for many theater fans, and at least three crews perform here every night.
You wouldn't even think it was an idle office building. As one of the most sought after performance venues for young people in the big world of performing arts, the turnaround of the Asia Tower is the confirmation that the big world of performing arts supports new talents and encourages more excellent local original plays to enter.
On January 15th, Asia Tower "Star Space", together with Shanghai Grand Theatre, Shanghai Concert Hall, Shanghai Culture Square, Shanghai Tiantou Yifu Stage, Shanghai Lyceum Theatre, Shanghai Children's Art Theatre, Shanghai China Grand Theatre, Shanghai Great World, Lincoln Jazz Shanghai Center and other units, won the first batch of "Performing Arts World" nameplates.
In the past three years, with People's Square as the core area, Shanghai has made the "drama" of a block and even the entire urban area more and more intense, and the brand of "Performing Arts World" has become louder and louder. Within 1.5 square kilometers of People's Square, there are 25 professional theaters and 46 licensed "new spaces for performing arts", bringing together various types of art performance forms, becoming the largest and highest density theater group in the country. Today, the "Big World of Performing Arts" radiates throughout Huangpu District and even downtown Shanghai.
"Post-00s" audience Xiaozhuang watched 50 performances in the "Big World of Performing Arts" in 2021, including the musical "Santa Lucia" in the "Six Brushes" in the Asia Building. Each time, she will gather different casts and choose different audience perspectives, "which should be one of the characteristics of ambient musicals, where you can see different plots up close in different locations, and even become part of the plot." "The exchange after each performance is also the most enthusiastic link of Xiaozhuang.
"Watch local dramas, go to Wanping." In June 2021, Wanping Theater returned with a new look, and Shanghai Yue Theater opened a residency performance with "Dream of the Red Chamber". "I met my 93-year-old grandmother at the theater who was trembling and watching 'Dream of the Red Chamber', and she didn't get up and leave her seat for 3 hours; there were also children who watched the whole scene quietly." The general manager of Wanping Theater sighed in the summer that this is the return of traditional opera, the inheritance of classic repertoire, and the opportunity for traditional culture to embrace new audiences and rejuvenate new vitality.
Shanghai's pioneering "New Space for Performing Arts" model is also being promoted, and 100 new performing arts spaces have been awarded, mainly promoting immersive performances, small special concerts, Live shows and other projects for young audiences. Open-air performances in the old lanes, operas on the balconies of the old buildings, varied little theaters in the building... New spaces blossomed everywhere, and premieres poured in to keep the audience entertained.
"One group and one policy", let the "dock" and "source" go hand in hand
The area around Shanghai People's Square was once a nationally famous "drama pier". Nowadays, the big world of acting provides opportunities for newcomers to make appearances, and also brings a stage for a large number of outstanding young talents to "break through".
On January 17, the 2021 Shanghai Municipal State-owned Literary and Art Academy "One Group, One Policy" assessment was held at the China Art Palace. The assessment adopts the mode of "self-talk, peer evaluation, expert points, and judges' discussion", which is problem-oriented, goal-oriented, performance-based, and hard indicator assessment, and conducts annual work inventory of the hospital and group.
In the past year, 18 municipal state-owned literary and art academies and troupes have overcome the impact of the epidemic, performing 6,865 performances in the whole year, an increase of 81.4% year-on-year; performance revenue of 328 million yuan, an increase of 75.4% year-on-year, an increase of 8.25% over 2019 before the epidemic. In the exhibitions and competitions at home and abroad, "Shanghai Production" is even more frequently reported.
The set of data that echoes this is equally gratifying. In 2021, the total number of performances in Shanghai was 24,537, with an average of 67 performances per day. Among them, the number of theater performances was 8,750, an increase of 76% year-on-year; the audience was 4.138 million, an increase of 61%; and the performance income was 878.4358 million yuan, an increase of 125%.
The prosperity of "drama every day" and "drama in the whole city" comes from the enthusiastic creation of various performance subjects and professional institutions, and from the help of Shanghai's adherence to "performance as the central link" and deepening the reform of "one group, one policy".
"Excellent literary and artistic works need to gain vitality in performances." Gu Haohao, secretary of the party committee and president of Shanghai Xiqu Art Center, said, "Such a platform as the Big World of Performing Arts is to help the literary and art academies and troupes seize more opportunities to get close to the audience, so that the two major centers of the literary and art academies and troupes - artistic creation and talent training, together with the audience cultivation, enter a virtuous circle together with the audience cultivation, and further consolidate the brand foundation of the literary and art academies, the significance of which is not only reflected in the present, but also will appear for a long time in the future." ”
The reporter noted that Shanghai's 2022 annual "performance calendar" focuses on creating a performance matrix, launching a theme performance season and a performing arts "new show field", launching festival events, and building a systematic, large-scale and branded performance market system to enhance the originality and identity of Shanghai culture. This year, 9 opera and art categories, 8 parent-child categories and 18 comprehensive theme performance seasons will be launched throughout the year, as well as 13 large-scale festivals and competitions.
Benchmarking the construction of Asia's performing arts capital, in the new year, Shanghai theaters and troupes have comprehensively revised the annual creation and performance task indicators. Under the premise of respecting the law of art and the law of the market, each theater group reasonably improves the performance indicators, faces the market and is close to the audience, and creates more original stage art works in Shanghai that can stand, spread and stay.
The city is moving from the "wharf" of the sea to the "source" and even the "tide" of the cultural highland. (Reporter Yan Weiqi)
Source: Guangming Daily