The belated "Original Chinese Musical Theater Season" is finally coming. Audiences who love musicals wait from spring to summer, waiting for the official announcement – this time it's true! From August 21, SAIC Shanghai Culture Square will bring three original Chinese-language musicals to the audience: "West Wing", "In Search of Sound Ears" and "Murder in the Hanging Garden".
The most unexpected thing is that the musical actor Liu Lingfei is going to play his father this time. As a hot musical theater actor in recent years, "Master Liu" is the passionate rock cat in "Cats", the gloomy vampire in "Dracula", the love-hate tom in "Murder Ballad", the 16-year-old teenager in "Spring Awakening", and the double embodiment of good and evil in "Becoming a Strange Doctor"... Over the years, his stage image has been either arrogant, elegant, or divided, but this time he suddenly changed his drama path and became a super warm dad.
"In Search of the Ear of Sound"
Liu Lingfei's concert "In Search of The Ear of Sound", adapted from the film of the same name that was shortlisted for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, tells the life impact of a young boy from the countryside after coming to the city, as well as the conflict and helplessness of the adult world. The original creator of the film, Ma Ma, adapted it into a musical and put it on the stage. The version to be staged at SAIC Shanghai Culture Square from October 7 to 8 is the 15th anniversary edition, and the choreography, plot structure, detail processing, and character lines have changed greatly.
Like child-oriented musicals such as "School of Rock" and "Matilda", "The Ear of Sound" focuses on the search for self. Liu Lingfei not only participated in the performance, but also served as the vocal director of this round, unlocking a new identity in addition to actor, director, lyricist, composer and producer. With the children, what kind of sparks will be sparked?
Tanabata is coming, and the musical "West Chamber" is very suitable. This work, which will be staged from August 21 to 22, is adapted from "Cui Yingying Waiting for the Moon west chamber" written by Wang Shifu, one of the four classical dramas in China and a master of Yuan Dynasty operas, which will lead the audience through time and space to witness the twisted love of Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying.
《West Wing》
As one of the most influential love legends in ancient China, the story of "The Tale of the West Chamber" originated in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and has been adapted into countless art forms in the past thousand years, with far-reaching influence. The musical "West Chamber" is starring musical theater actors Liu Yan and Xu Yao. Pianist Claudia Young commented: "This is a shocking work, and I am very excited to see it. To be able to integrate traditional music and modern music so perfectly is really 'ancient singing and contemporary interpretation'. ”
The finale of "Murder in the Hanging Garden" is a classic rock musical written by Shi Hang and directed by Meng Jinghui, which will be performed twice on the evening of October 10 and 11. The story begins at a crime scene where the victim's wife offers a set of hanging gardens as a bounty in order to find her husband's killer.
Murder in the Hanging Gardens
Since its premiere in 2009, "Murder in the Hanging Gardens" has been performed more than 800 times and watched by 300,000 people. It has spread to dozens of cities in China and has become one of the most performed and most intensely responded musicals in China. It inherits the experimental pioneer spirit of Meng Jinghui's drama, laughter and anger, romantic love, and black humor are all staged on the stage, and the audience can feel the hardships of life and the true meaning of love after laughing.
In the past eight years, a total of 36 plays have been staged in the "Original Chinese Musical Theater Exhibition Season" of SAIC Shanghai Culture Square, with a total of 95 performances. In 2019, the two performance works "Liang Zhu's Successor" and "Sai Sable Cicada" squeezed into the top ten of the box office of musical theater performances in the first half of the year. In the past 8 years, Cultural Square has gradually developed from an initial platform service provider to a cohesive force that runs through the entire industry chain of musical theater.
This year's three works show the vitality of original Chinese musicals. On the basis of doing a good job in epidemic prevention and control and strictly abiding by the opening conditions of the theater, SAIC Shanghai Culture Square hopes to attract musical theater audiences back to the theater and revitalize the confidence of China's musical theater industry.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Shi Chenlu
Source: Author: Wu Tong