Use the power of drama to make the city "rock" up

Hangzhou Daily News Every time the Hangzhou International Theatre Festival, we can see the creativity that subverts the convention and witnesses the new wave of theater senses. On September 24 and 25, this year's well-deserved phenomenon musical "Rock Faust" in the Chinese performing arts market will open an innovative experiment at the 2021 Hangzhou International Theatre Festival with a cutting-edge and pioneering posture.

In recent years, it is not uncommon to create musicals with rock music in the form of rock music, such as "Rock Mozart" and "Rock Red and Black" have used rock music elements. But unlike the style of French rock musicals, Rock 'n' Roll Faust can't simply be summed up in terms of "rock musicals." The musical "Rock Faust" is based on the 2014 South Korean high-profile musical "The Devil", and the story is inspired by Goethe's classic Faust. This Chinese adaptation, which shifts the background to the modern financial market. However, man with the original sin of greed, resisting temptation under the temptation of the devil, is still the theme of the deep exploration of "Rock and Roll Faust".

"Faust" is called "iron lung musical", which can be said to have done the singing thing to the extreme. The series has married Liu Lingfei, Ye Qisheng, Xu Lidong, Jia Fan, Mao Haifei and other young actors of the current domestic powerful musical theater, who can play in appearance and carry "noise" in their voices. It is worth mentioning that this time "Rock Faust" has prepared a heavy double starring lineup for the Audience in Hangzhou - Liu Lingfei and Ye Qisheng will serve as the main actors respectively.

Wang Tingting, the director of the play, introduced that from the perspective of the narrative method of the story and the presentation of the stage, the Chinese version has made a very bold attempt, especially the use of a large number of concert techniques and rich multimedia expressions, creating a domestic precedent. "In order to create a unique rock concert-like musical effect, we set up a live band." Wei Shiquan, the musical director of the play, said that the Chinese version has expanded from the original small and medium-sized theater in South Korea to the scale that can adapt to the large theater, and a large number of electronic music instruments have been added to the compilation, making the musical sense of presence stronger and thicker.

More than a dozen pieces of music are connected into a play, the classical elements are distinct and the rock style is strong, the connection between music and performance is perfect, the actors delicately present the temptation and struggle of the character's soul through music, body and language between singing and performing, and the attraction and resistance in the face of light/darkness make the tension of the drama reach its peak. Such a "blockbuster" musical with the temperament of a rock concert can be said to be a perfect crossover between the music scene and theatrical art.

The style temperament of abnormal subversion and arbitrary "tossing" is not only reflected in the various sections of the Hangzhou International Drama Festival, but also scattered in every corner of the city, activating more diversified and more interesting possibilities. In particular, this year's opening ceremony will be opened for the first time in Hangzhou, east, west, south and north, namely East - Hangzhou Grand Theater Variable Theater, West - Xixi Paradise Art Center, South - Hangzhou Yiyuan Theater, and North - "Big Roof". Such a pioneering "way of playing" is also the first in the theater circle.

At the opening ceremony of the festival last year, Meng Jinghui opened a romantic adventure full of magic on the "Big Roof" with his new work "Kafka's Dream". This year, he will return to the "Big Roof" with his first self-written and self-directed theatrical work, "The Latest Idea of the Fate of Love". A post-industrial, philosophical urban fable, after 18 years of precipitation and rearrangement, the discussion of the fate of love in the play is still deafening.

At the Hangzhou Grand Theatre Variable Theater, Li Jianjun, a leading figure in young Chinese directors, will bring the all-vegetarian drama "Mass Mechanics". Ma Yili sent a circle of friends after watching "Popular Mechanics" in Wuzhen, "After watching the whole scene in the increasing rain, it was unbelievable, the scene was full, and no one left early." "It is hard to imagine that such a work, which is completely performed by ordinary people, has seen countless audiences cry. In addition, Yang Ting's work "Misunderstanding", which was born out of an absurd story in Camus's "The Outsider", will be staged at Xixi Paradise Art Center, and "Happy Birthday", which stands out from this year's Aranya Theatre, will land at the Hangzhou Yiyuan Theatre.