... The exorbitant value of actors makes it harder for production companies to recoup costs.
At the end of 2022, the largest IP in the musical industry, "Phantom of the Theater", officially announced the production of a Chinese version, which will premiere in Shanghai in May this year.
During the New Year, the Shanghai musical theater market was very prosperous, with many musicals in large and medium-sized theaters such as "Mandala of the Tang Dynasty", "The Brothers Karamazov", "Shakespeareland", "Singing in the Night" and "Cloudy Day", and nearly ten resident plays in small theaters.
In the past two years, musicals seem to have become a hot spot -
In 2018, "Sound into People's Hearts" is a phenomenal program that revitalized the local musical theater market;
Since the summer of 2020, the environmental small theater musical, as a new format, has become a new phenomenon;
After "Sound into People's Hearts" became a star, the resident small theater cultivated a large number of actors who were active in the theater every day, and some star artists also began to produce and participate in musicals, such as Jin Dong's "The Pretender", Huang Bo's "A Good Play", Lin Yanjun's "I'm Waiting for You at the End of Time" and so on.
A still from the musical "The Pretender" produced by Jin Dong
The musical market in 2023 is also worth looking forward to, and the Chinese versions of "Phantom of the Theater", "Rock Mozart", "Hamlet" and "Crime Hunting Guide" and other original musicals have been officially launched.
Behind the prosperity, this is also a year full of unknowns, with internal worries and external troubles coexisting.
In this article, we will first talk about "internal worries".
The cast base is small
If you go to Shanghai to see a few more musicals, it is easy to see the same faces in different plays. Actors in different plays may even play Easter egg terriers, such as the musical Hey! Arizona" because of the participation of Li Lei and Cao Muzhi, added the detail of "allergic to yellow roses" in another musical "Santa Lucia" starring these two actors.
After laughing at this dream linkage, fans are faced with the current situation: the seemingly prosperous market, with these actors going back and forth, the talent gap is too big.
In the past three years, the number of local musicals has exploded, and actors are in short supply, as long as the business level does not span, there will be opportunities to act, and even if the business level is not enough but the appearance is passed, there can be a chance to play the leading actor in a small theater.
Drama rolling, acting before graduation, has become the norm. For example, in early January, actor Zhong Jiacheng performed several plays such as "Cloudy Day", "Dangerous Game" and "Singing in the Night", and Cai Qi, Class of 2018, already had many works such as "Lighthouse", "Dangerous Game", "White Night Walking" and "Southern Tang Queen" during school. These two actors have accumulated a lot of fans because their business level is okay and they have high appearance.
Actor Cai Qi
On the other hand, the starring candidates of the big drama are also concentrated in a small group of head actors, and in terms of the female protagonist, actors such as Xu Lidong, Xu Yao, Zhu Fu, Jiang Qianru, Yu Yueyue, Zhang Huifang and others are active in many big projects; In terms of the role of the big male protagonist, the audience can basically think of senior actors such as Liu Yan and Zheng Qiyuan, Liu Lingfei and other mainstays active in the market, actors such as Ayunga and Zheng Yunlong who have a good reputation at the public level and strong ability to bring tickets, as well as popular actors such as Ye Qisheng and Zhang Ze who have risen in the Shanghai musical theater market in the past two years. In general, actors who have a comprehensive quality such as image temperament, stage charm, ticketing ability, and business level are rare.
Ayunga once lamented in an interview that musical theater actors "this pool is actually very small, the actors are counted, who can act what kind of we have in our hearts." ”
Zhao Qian, a producer who has produced many musicals, said that in the musical theater markets of Broadway, the West End, Japan and South Korea, the base of actors is very large, but there is basically no actor base in China, and the selection range is very small, which leads to the overall reduction of the standard when selecting actors. "So I think the most important thing to solve in China at present is the problem of actor base and professionalism, and there is already a system for training musical theater actors abroad, and the competition for actors is also very large."
Ayunga and Xu Yao collaborated on "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Count of Monte Cristo"
The musical is an imported product, and from the Chinese version of Mamma Mia in 2011, Chinese version of the musical has only developed for 10 years. Because of the late start, good actors have always been difficult to find.
Ma Chencheng, the producer of Chinese versions of musicals such as "Mamma Mia" and "Cat", recalled that when he did "Cat", he found a lot of Chinese actors from the Japanese Four Seasons Theater Company, and when he did "Mamma Mia", he found Chinese Taiwanese actors, and the role of Rosie is a fat image all over the world, but in China because he really can't find the right actor, he can only let Yang Zhuqing present a thin version of Luo Qian.
In the era before "Sound into People's Hearts", because of the small repertoire and low income, many musical theater students left the industry, and after "Sound into People's Hearts" created an inflection point for the industry in 2018, musical theater majors began to become popular, and students also got more practical opportunities.
When overseas head musical IPs such as "Phantom of the Theater" and "Rock Mozart" have to be Chinese versions, and more and more original boutique musicals have appeared, there is more and more demand for good actors, and the talents cultivated today are obviously not enough.
Inflated pay?
In the environment of short supply of actors, actors with a certain market appeal have mastered the bargaining power.
Xiao X, a musical theater company practitioner, said that he believes that to some extent, many musical theater companies on the market today are actually tied up by actors' salaries.
Recently, actor Zhong Jiacheng was exposed to a single performance fee of 4,000 yuan, and Xiao X revealed that for Zhong Jiacheng, an actor in this coffee position, this value is actually not high. When small theaters first emerged in 2020, the initial price of an actor was 800 yuan a game, and then it slowly rose to 1,500 yuan a game, and now the price of a single performance has exceeded 10,000. Now there are first-line actors active in the Shanghai musical theater circle, and there are also those worth 30,000 or 50,000 per performance. Some actors will also cooperate with the film party in the mode of box office sharing if the single performance is paid low.
Xiao X analysis, this actually makes the production company very passive, because the production cost other than the salary has been rising, the number of theater seats is limited, the box office of a single show is limited, and the excessive value of actors makes it more difficult for production companies to recover costs.
Actor Zhong Jiacheng
L, the producer who has participated in several dramas that gather first-line actors in the Shanghai musical theater circle, also agrees with this view, "We are very 'kidnapped', and very passive, and now it is not a very benign market, because some actors have high prices and can bring corresponding box office, which we recognize, but some actors have high prices and can't bring anything." ”
The two major problems of inflated salaries and insufficient actors also form a vicious circle, producer L said, "If there is no box office support, and you can't devote all your time to the crew to rehearse a play, this actor is not very embarrassing for us to use, but there is no need and no actors, so it will really be 'kidnapped' by the actors." In fact, for us producers, we hope that the actors will put their energy into the rehearsal period, rather than saying that I will go up and perform after a few days of rehearsal. But some actors treat the play as an assembly line work, just act, some plays are flowing actors, who comes and who rows, after the row leaves, I don't know when the next time will come, how terrifying, how can such a rehearsal discharge good works? ”
H, a Chinese theater musical producer, also said that the overall feeling is that the market is inflationary, because there are more plays, more choices of actors, and the demand for performance fees will rise, but the producer cannot suddenly increase the ticket price, otherwise the audience will not accept it, "So the box office revenue of the production company and the production cost we pay are not matched, I think everyone may be facing this problem." ”
Producer L is a little helpless about the current situation, "In fact, if you think about it, if none of these people who do the production want to do the drama anymore, what will the actors do?" In fact, this is the same as the relationship between water and boats, if who does the drama and who loses money, will anyone cast the drama later? Not anymore. Will there be a production company doing the drama later? Not anymore. Because the money is earned by the actors and the main creator. ”
Asia Building, where Star Space Small Theater is located
L introduced that the rise in actor salaries is a phenomenon after the rise of Star Space Small Theater in 2020. After the explosion of "Sound into People's Hearts" in 2018, it may be that only the members of the show have higher prices, but after the rise of small theaters, the entire industry is rising. Not only actors, but also the value of the creators behind the scenes is rising.
The epidemic has accelerated the development of the local musical theater market in the past three years, amplified the problem of actor shortages, and provided an opportunity for actors to increase their value.
On the other hand, it should be pointed out that the gap between the rich and the poor of actors is also very large, and first- and second-tier actors may have inflated salaries, but there are also some middle-waist actors whose prices are not high.
In addition, the degree of dedication of actors to different works also depends on whether the work itself is worth the actor's time and effort. In the current musical theater market, both the project and the actor are a two-way choice, and when the producer suffers from the high value of the actor, there are also actors who suffer from the poor quality of the project.
Shanghai World has a number of resident musicals
Idol economy?
For the problem of the actor's high price, Miao Shike's boss Zhang Zhilin believes that if the actor's salary is really high enough to "kidnap" the production company, it also shows that the actor is worth it, "All production companies still look at the market, especially the musical theater industry, all our money is given by the audience and the box office." The audience gives the box office to the play, and the play should give all the main creators a good salary. If the audience doesn't give it, then we can't give it either. ”
It is undeniable that nowadays there are many theatergoers who go to musicals for certain actors.
Due to the pandemic, it is common for musicals to change actors temporarily. This is known as "blowing up cards" and viewers can refund tickets. Zhao Qian, the producer of "The Brothers Karamazov", said that the proportion of refunds after "blowing up cards" is not low, and those who buy tickets for actors to watch dramas will definitely refund tickets.
Stills from "The Brothers Karamazov"
Before "Sound into People's Hearts", local musicals basically did not announce the cast schedule, and after "Sound into People's Hearts", because of the emergence of star actors and popular actors, announcing the cast list of each show became a necessary operation. Zhao Qian, who has studied the Korean musical market, said that the Korean musical market will also announce the cast schedule, and the Chinese market has learned a lot from South Korea, which has a developed idol economy.
How should we think about the audience buying tickets for star actors or idols?
Some practitioners prefer not to publish the "blind opening" form of cast scheduling, and the recent Chinese edition of Phantom of the Theater does adopt this format.
Zhang Zhilin, the owner of Miao Shike, believes that the key to "blind opening" depends on the confidence of the work, the theater seats are limited, but the market is huge, whether it is "blind opening" or announcing the cast schedule, good works are the most important.
"Phantom of the Theatre" ticket sales performance map
Ma Chencheng, the chief producer of the Chinese version of "Phantom of the Theater", said that the word "blind opening" itself is a fresh definition, and in the past, when making Chinese versions of dramas such as "Mamma Mia", it has always been ticketed this way, and the international practice is that the cast lineup of each show will not be announced when the ticket is issued.
"Because the list of actors for each performance also has to wait until the formation of the group, according to the rehearsal situation and the combination of actors, the British director will confirm who will play first and who will play later, which is a rigorous and scientific arrangement. It may only be a part of the audience that we want to announce the card, such as fans of actors, who may be more concerned about when their idols will perform, which is also normal. But this is the behavior of idol fans, not the behavior of the musical audience, we are issuing tickets according to international musical theater practice. ”
"Mamma Mia" starring Chen Songling version of the stills
Ma Chencheng believes that many audiences now watch musicals, may still go to the cast, which shows that these original works and Chinese versions of the works in China are actually not as attractive as cast actors to the audience in terms of production, plot and content. This also reminds producers to do content well, especially to improve their ability to tell stories with music.
"If our entire industry is centered on the idol economy, what does this actor play, the audience will go to watch, why do you act in musicals? So if you want everyone to love musicals and love the musical industry, you still have to work hard outside the actors, so that we star actors and our audience's enthusiasm to buy tickets for star actors. ”
Ayunga, the star of "Phantom of the Theater", also believes that it takes time to solve this problem, and the number of audiences who watch star actors is not large, "it is that group of people, watch it again and again, this is a fact, it is possible to find a top actor to act in a play, and it is impossible to let him perform eight or nine times a week, if he has been acting for a year, I don't know if there is anyone watching this play", so the key is to popularize musicals and let more passers-by know what musicals are.
Group photo of three "Phantoms" in the Chinese version of "Phantom of the Theater"
Ma Chencheng revealed that during the ticket sales process, he also received many consultation calls from the audience, in addition to asking about the cast schedule, more questions were asked about whether the full Chinese would be sung, the difference between the Chinese version and the original version and other regular questions, in general, there are many audiences who like IP and repertoire, and even some people who have not seen the musical, but have heard of "Phantom of the Theater" will also come to buy tickets.
The audience who rushes to buy tickets for the star cast may be the most loyal and sticky group of fans in the market, but the prosperity of the musical theater market cannot rely on this part of the audience alone. In the case of "blind opening", the first round of ticket sales of super big IPs such as "Phantom of the Theater" is good, which also shows that there are also many musical audiences who do not like to express their opinions on the Internet. If the musical market wants to develop in the long run, what needs to be found and expanded is a larger passerby.