Mu Yu
The picture shows the exterior of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Photo by Du Kai (Image China) Drafting: Cai Huawei
Core Reading
At present, the creation of musicals should give full play to the narrative advantages of traditional songs and dances, and also integrate new creative ideas, theme content, and expression techniques, so as to enhance the sense of reality and the times of the work, and create high-quality masterpieces with profound thoughts, exquisite art, love by the audience, and welcomed by the market
The diverse genres of original, adapted and imported musicals have fueled the performance market and promoted a virtuous cycle in the musical theatre industry. Some musical theatre production institutions tailor their repertoire according to diverse reception scenarios, and some resident performances are also exploring the road of cultural and tourism integration of "sharing between the host and guest, and enjoying the near and far" to meet the cultural needs of local residents and foreign tourists
Drawing on the advanced creation and operation model, in recent years, the mainland musical industry chain has gradually matured, and the theater operation, repertoire production, and brokerage business have continuously optimized the allocation of resources, striving to achieve greater output benefits and promote the steady development of the industry
"You don't see, the water of the Yellow River comes up from the sky, rushes to the sea and never returns!" The musical "Will Enter the Wine", which shows Li Bai's poetic life, has just completed a tour of 11 cities and has been well received by the audience. Not long ago, the first Shanghai "Performing Arts World Musical Billboard" and the first "Beijing Tianqiao Musical Annual Ceremony" were held, and musical theater practitioners from all over the world gathered together to witness the new atmosphere of musical development. In recent years, the musical performance market has shown a vigorous trend, gradually crossing the stage of mainly importing, focusing on original repertoire, enhancing the awareness of high-quality products, and market-oriented exploration has also been quite effective, becoming a bright spot in the field of stage arts.
Rich themes and innovative expressions
Once upon a time, most of the most sought after in the musical theater market were imported plays. In recent years, local original musicals have seized the development opportunities and radiated strong creativity.
With the popularity of national style and national trend among young people, musical creators have made more efforts to draw nutrients from the treasure house of excellent traditional Chinese culture, combine rich historical connotation with innovative expression, and realize the integration of cultural heritage and modern aesthetics. The musical "Nankong" created and rehearsed by Zhejiang Song and Dance Theater runs through the whole process with "etiquette", moisturizing things and silently conveying the thoughts of the family and the country and the way of etiquette. The elegant guqin rhyme and majestic folk dance, supplemented by the modern and simple light and shadow on the stage and the blank space of traditional aesthetics, create a unique dramatic situation. The work not only deeply considers the aesthetic characteristics of the story era, but also breaks the distance of time and space with modern aesthetics, allowing the audience to enter the moving historical story.
The musical "Will Enter the Wine", which is also based on the excellent traditional Chinese culture, shows the beauty of Chinese poetry and literature full of emotion and wisdom. In the face of the well-known character of the poet Li Bai, how to tell new ideas? "Will Enter the Wine" focuses on the story of the young Li Bai, focusing on the poet's growth environment and life experience, so that the audience can travel through the long river of history and see the high-spirited and energetic young man. The application of multimedia technology presents the customs of Shu on the stage and improves the ornamentation of the works. Some viewers said, "I saw the atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty in this well-known figure." Rooted in the fertile soil of Chinese culture, the works give the tradition a new connotation of the times, so that they can infect, move and inspire people.
Finding the connection point between tradition and contemporary, allowing the audience to empathize with the ancients, a number of ancient musicals with a youthful texture are welcomed by young audiences. "The Orphan of Zhao" sets the theme as "the light of love, the light of courage, and the light of kindness", and examines the life choices of the characters from a contemporary perspective, which is more in line with the current aesthetic interests from form to content. "Piercing Qin" explores the new form of "opera musical", incorporating opera elements such as Peking Opera chanting and singing and Yue Opera girls into the non-linear narrative to strengthen the plot tension of the work. "Yang Jian" reintegrates the stories of Erlang God and Agarwood, and the characters are three-dimensional and multi-faceted, allowing the audience to look at themselves in the legendary stories and explore life themes such as growth, family affection, and youth.
At the same time, a number of realistic works that express contemporary life not only expand the field of musical performance, but also give it a new aesthetic character. In recent years, the Beijing Opera and Dance Theater has launched realistic works such as "In the Distance", "Ideal City", "Dream and Truth" and "Struggle Trilogy", all of which show the fiery life that the audience empathizes with. "In the Distance" revolves around the indomitable entrepreneurial story of a group of express delivery practitioners, reflecting the rapid development and changes of society, and explaining that "the distance is not a place where the feet reach, but a place where the heart transcends". "Dream and Truth" tells the story of China's information technology enterprises that make unremitting efforts to innovate and tackle tough problems, break through the dilemma of "stuck necks" in key technologies, and promote high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance. The "Beijing Flavor" musical "South Wall Project" focuses on the intergenerational inheritance of traditional opera, and "Beijing Rhyme + Blues" is not only a blend of music styles, but also a symbol of spiritual dialogue between generations. These works have the connotation and practical significance of the times, better observe the social and cultural psychology, expand the audience coverage with new themes and new expressions, and carry out useful explorations.
Since ancient times, the mainland has had a tradition of singing and dancing stories. At present, the creation of musicals should give full play to the narrative advantages of traditional songs and dances, and also integrate new creative ideas, theme content, and expression techniques, so as to enhance the sense of reality and the times of the work, and create high-quality masterpieces with profound thoughts, exquisite art, love by the audience, and welcomed by the market.
Explore the mode to create an ecosystem
The diverse genres of original, adapted and imported musicals have fueled the performance market and promoted a virtuous cycle in the musical theatre industry. Some musical theatre production institutions tailor their repertoire according to diverse reception scenarios, and some resident performances are also exploring the road of cultural and tourism integration of "sharing between the host and guest, and enjoying the near and far" to meet the cultural needs of local residents and foreign tourists.
When the night falls and the lights are bright, Shanghai, the "City of Philharmonic", will play a movement, and more than 20 musicals of different styles such as national style, pop and urban will be intertwined. People can visit the "Performing Arts World" theater group around People's Square, and come to the Asia Building, which is a collection of immersive small theaters, to watch musicals such as "Apollonia", which has been in residence for more than three years and is still hard to get a ticket. Elsewhere in the city, there are also professional theatres that stage musicals. At the 31 Performing Arts Center in New Bund City, the musical "Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812", adapted from the classic "War and Peace", has just concluded a "limited-time residency" of 51 performances here.
Generally speaking, the long-term residency model of professional theater is a litmus test of the degree of development of a city's performance market. Only when the audience is large enough can it support the "long-term residency" model with the performance cycle in "years" as the unit. Research shows that in countries and regions with developed performing arts industries, audiences, who account for 5% of the total population, watch an average of more than 15 performances per year, contributing more than 30% of the local box office. At the same time, it is also necessary for 5%-35% of the total population to watch more than 5 works per year to support the sustainable development of the performing arts market. With huge potential for cultural consumption and unlimited space in the cultural market, the musical theatre industry has the conditions to have the opportunity to embark on a path of diversified development and multi-faceted flowering.
At present, the most common performance mode of musicals in mainland China is the "regular rotation" of professional theaters, the "tour of various places" of theater theaters, and the "long-term residency" form similar to Asia Building. The multi-format performance model increases the diversified supply of musical content, allowing the audience to have more high-quality works to choose from. In terms of the promotion and distribution of musicals, theatergoers who are "not watching dramas, but on the way to watching dramas" play a key role in the promotion of musicals on social media. Win the favor of 5% of senior musical audiences with excellent repertoire, and then attract more audiences, which has become a musical promotion model with remarkable results.
From the perspective of convention, musicals are quite different from traditional stage arts in terms of operation. The musical theatre industry often adopts a producer-centered system, which helps to improve the quality of works, enhance the matching degree between repertoire and audience, create a good theater environment, and serve the development of cultural industries. Professional producers innovate and explore the path of marketization, open up the channel from "workshop to market", and optimize the musical ecology of the entire industry chain from creation, production to operation. Drawing on the advanced creation and operation model, in recent years, the mainland musical industry chain has gradually matured, and the theater operation, repertoire production, and brokerage business have continuously optimized the allocation of resources, striving to achieve greater output benefits and promote the steady development of the industry.
The prosperity and development of musicals cannot rely on a single model, and differentiated development brings a broader space. For example, many small and medium-sized private theater studios have found a new way, clarified the positioning of the genre, and tried to create a "small and beautiful" new space for musicals, which invisibly changed the relationship between spectators and performances and theatrical aesthetics, and gave the audience a unique immersive aesthetic experience. More and more practitioners are realizing that theater is not only a place to watch dramas, but also a life aesthetic scene built around performing arts, which also means that there are more possibilities for the integrated development of culture and tourism with musicals as a link.
In recent years, mainland musicals have achieved remarkable results in incubating original works, cultivating creative talents, enriching performance forms, and cultivating audience groups. We look forward to the continuous improvement of Chinese musicals in telling Chinese stories well and better meeting people's diverse needs for cultural boutiques.
(The author is a professor at Beijing Dance Academy)
People's Daily (2024-04-16 Edition 20)