Just after the spring, The major drama and musical theater crews in Shanghai have started work one after another, and the spring is full of spring. Since yesterday, the Shanghai Grand Theatre, Shanghai Gong Stage, People's Grand Stage and the "Star Space" composed of Asia Tower, Big World and New Light and Shadow Art Garden in the "Performing Arts World" area have restarted resident performing arts and various long-term performances. The colorful literary and artistic life and the rhythm of urban work are opened simultaneously: the mystery musical "Novel", the original suspense musical "The Hidden Corner", the immersive musical "Apollonia", "Santa Lucia", "Dangerous Game", the drama "Hello, I Am Looking for Smith" and so on will be unveiled one by one.
In Shanghai, there is no off-season for performing arts. At the beginning of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, with the big world of performing arts as the core, the performance heat value radiates throughout the city, and in the next month, there will be nearly 40 dramas and musicals performed one after another, from the city center to the five new cities. These two varieties can be described as the "hottest" in the Shanghai performing arts market in 2021 - the drama performance market box office is far ahead, reaching 209 million yuan, followed by the musical box office of 106 million yuan, in the absence of the introduction of plays, local hits, masterpieces frequently, "the year of the tiger more drama" makes people more looking forward to the market performance in 2022.
Professional theaters and new spaces are just as popular as the different tracks
The reporter found that most of these dramas and musicals that "started the cannon" for this year's performance market still have considerable box office results after many rounds and long-term performances, and the audience's enthusiasm for the second and third brushes has not diminished, showing the strong market vitality of local productions. They have been revised, adjusted, and grown up in one performance after another, and they are moving towards the direction of longevity repertoire and high-quality repertoire.
Shanghai's first new space performance, represented by the Asia Tower "Star Space", has become a vibrant soil for the growth of environmental drama and a market source that attracts audiences in The Z era. In the past year, "Star Space" has continuously expanded its territory, and the performance space and mode have continued to change and upgrade. Following the introduction of the immersive suspense musical "Dangerous Game" in the performance venues related to the big world, the old New Light and Shadow Art Garden in Shanghai was also transformed into the first chinese theater of "Star Space" in January this year. The Chinese version of the off-Broadway musical "Countdown with You" created by Miao Shike became the first play to be settled, and yesterday the play was officially re-performed after the festival, attracting a large number of audiences.
A 15-minute walk from the New Light and Film Arts Institute to the common stage, the original suspense musical "The Hidden Corner", which has attracted much attention in 2021, has opened a new round of 23 performances on the 9th. Also lit up were the "twin versions" of the mystery musical Novel: one was the grand theater version performed on the People's Grand Stage; the other was the "immersive musical version" performed at the Asia Mansion. The suspenseful musical FLAMES also resumed performances the day before. In just two days, five large and small plays of the same period were launched, and the musical theater company named "Miao Shike" joined the competition of different tracks in the professional theater and new space of the "Big World of Performing Arts" with a strong attitude.
In the big world of performing arts, a number of small and beautiful musicals and dramas have ushered in continuous innovation in creation and business models. The mirror-mounted residency drama "Project Frankenstein" and the composite immersive drama "Janiskiki" that offer "dual perspective, double experience" will return in the near future. Ambient resident musical "Lighthouse", resident comedy "Sherlock Holmes: Baskerville Hound", variety show Live Show "Stupid Show: Kevin Act" are not staged every day.
The first immersive musicals "Santa Ruchia" and "Apollonia", which launched the "Star Space" residency brand in the country and attracted tourists to drag their suitcases to watch the show, will also open their doors again on "Valentine's Day". The unique experience of changing cards (actors) such as changing dramas makes each actor's interpretation become very memorable. After a year, the audience's enthusiasm for repurchase is still high, becoming a "source of happiness" in urban entertainment life.
As a professional theater, the Shanghai Grand Theatre also opened a colorful performance at the beginning of the year, and the famous Polish director Lu Pa adapted the drama "Alcoholic Mo Fei" adapted by Stetson's works and returned to Shanghai after five years, and will lead the audience into a fusion and collision of Chinese and Western cultures with a four-hour marathon theater experience. The Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center has a suspense drama "No One Survives", a musical "I LOVE YOU..." Red Stage Drama "Wave", and a suspense drama "Plaintiff Witness". In addition, the All-English version of the Erdo Children's Theatre Company's musical "Looking for the Ear of Sound", the cross-talk drama "Still Beautiful" starring Qian and Yan Xuejing, the Meng Jinghui drama "Opinions on the Life of Two Dogs", and the original musical "Amanda's 38th Birthday" by The Shangyi Drama Club will also be staged within a month.
Immersive experience products sink into new spaces, and everyone is a theater experiencer and participant
In recent years, Shanghai has actively explored "performing arts +", integrated different formats in a cross-border manner, and explored the diversity of the integrated development of culture, commerce and tourism, which has made the immersive experience products that originated from environmental drama emerge in an endless stream. They sink into the new spaces of various cities and become a new performing arts category in the consumer market.
Located in Ruihong Tiandi Moon Bay, the Happy Twist Hi Cut Blowing Immersive Theater "Crazy Barber Shop" quickly sold out after the new round of resident tickets. The newly renovated century-old building "Lane 8 of the Present Tide" ushered in an environmental musical theater residency, and "Little Jack" hidden in ARK LIVE HOUSE created a romantic world where bars, rain curtains and hand-painted scenes blended together, bringing the performance closer to the audience.2 LuJiazui's "Shipyard 1862", the full-sensory immersion suspense theater "Forensic Qin Ming - Corpse Whisperer" makes people adrenaline soar, with a strong sense of immersion and case-solving reasoning, which is highly sought after by young audiences. In the Sihang Warehouse of the patriotic education base, the immersive drama "Secret" has become a popular place for many companies to build teams, and the performance will usher in a comprehensive upgrade in March after more than 200 residencies.
The vitality of performing arts is radiating from the big world of performing arts, and "there are performances every day, all kinds of choices" have started the "opening red" of the Shanghai performance market in the Lunar New Year. Whether you are in the city, the suburbs or the five new cities, you can feel the heat of the performing arts market. Around the commercially surging Jiangning Road, the small theater musical series concert series created by Shanghai Wenguang Performing Arts Group "The One" will bring together a lineup of star musical singers to perform more than 30 moving songs in the musical "Interview" and "Smoke". At the Oriental Art Center, Meng Jinghui's drama "Song of the Sad Cafe" uses shocking stage installations and performances to interrogate the proposition of love and loneliness; the one-man poem "Love Chang'an" staged at the Poly Grand Theater in Jiading New Town will bring romantic emotional healing.
"There is a drama in the whole city" is also reflected in the fact that everyone can be a performer and participant in the drama. "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden", which has been performed for more than 30 years, is the most popular work of Lai Shengchuan and his performance workshop. Since 2017, the theater has opened the "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" conference performance, selecting folk theater lovers to perform their own "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden", and this year's conference performance will open on February 23. The theater provides top-notch stage equipment, professional stage staff, professional set props for formal performances, professional makeup guidance, etc., to help each participant realize their theatrical dreams in their hearts.
Located at 1155 Gongjiang Road, Yangpu District, the newly renovated YOUNG Theater is about to be completed. The 2022 edition of the opening drama "A Beautiful Day", directed by Li Jianjun, director of the New Youth Theatre Company, will kick off for the theater in March this year. 20 ordinary actors who live and work in Shanghai will take the stage to share the "beautiful day" in their eyes, hearts and memories, and tell the true and moving Shanghai complex.
Stills are provided by the performer
Author: Tong Weijing
Editor: Wang Xiaoli