Before it ends in 2023, a local drama has sold out all tickets for performances since February 2024. Online actors are out of the industry, related video views have exceeded 1 billion, offline venues are full, and the Yue opera "New Dragon Inn" continues to attract attention. "New Dragon Inn" is adapted from the movie of the same name released in 1992. The creative team is composed of "post-85s" directors, "post-90s" screenwriters, stage designers, and new-generation opera actors. It is worth noting that theater statistics show that 80% of the audience of "New Dragon Inn" have never been exposed to Yue opera before. As performance tickets become more and more popular, gray industries have quietly sprung up, and repeated bans on infringing products have troubled the creative team, including screenwriter Sun Yuxi. Amid the popularity, Sun Yuxi also mentioned that when a large number of new audiences and hundreds of millions of traffic flow, While entering the traditional opera market has brought new opportunities to the development of opera, it has also raised new questions on how to convert traffic into retention.
80% of the audience are "new fans"
Hunting Wind, Desert Yellow Sand, after the curtain of the small theater was lifted, the unique singing of Yue Opera sounded, and all the characters in the play appeared. The lights and shadows turned on and the wind sounded. The hundreds of spectators in the audience felt as if they were in the Longmen Inn in the desert. Together with the actors on the stage, they spent two hours of joy in the "Butterfly Theater". This is the "top-tier" Yue opera "New Dragon Gate Inn" in 2023.
In terms of word-of-mouth reputation, "New Longmen Inn" has a Douban score of 8.4. A reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that as of December 28, all performances of "New Dragon Inn" since February 2024 have been sold out.
The real breakout of "New Dragon Inn" came from a Douyin live broadcast in August. Data shows that the live broadcast of this performance attracted 9.25 million views and received more than 14,000 platform rounds. Jia Ting, the "Jade Faced Man" played by actor Chen Lijun, picked up actor Li Yunxiao, who played Jin Xiangyu, with one hand and looked at each other in circles. The footage was intercepted and made into a short video, which immediately went viral on social platforms and appeared on the hot search lists on multiple platforms. It also led to the continued rise in the popularity of "New Dragon Inn". Up to now, the number of views of the related video has exceeded 1 billion.
In the nearly 150 performances so far, 80% of the audience have never experienced Yue opera before. "This work of ours is positioned as an entry-level one." Sun Yuxi further said, from the characteristics of the genre to the characteristics of singing, to the handles of swords and guns, and the costumes and scenery, it is like a large-scale tasting scene of Yue opera. The creators have combined the characteristics of Yue opera Hua Huo condenses as much as possible and "appears" in front of the audience one by one, so that audiences who have never been exposed to Shaoxing opera and have less contact with traditional opera can form a concept of this art form through a work, and then trigger attention to the entire industry.
Cross-border mash-up is both a difficulty and an opportunity
When the Yue opera, which focuses on the style of "talented men and beauties", meets the martial arts movie of happy revenge, and then appears on the performance stage of the environmental drama that is now popular, the cross-border collision creates the " "Chemical reaction" is one of the reasons why many viewers still call it "good to play" after watching it for the second or third time.
"New Dragon Inn" is adapted from the 1992 classic martial arts film of the same name. The so-called environmental drama means that the boundaries between actors and audiences are blurred. The drama takes place in the actual scene where the audience is, emphasizing the connection between the audience and the theater space. The audience is placed in a specific building or venue and interacts with the actors. Be part of the overall performance.
The performance that crosses art forms is the highlight of "New Dragon Inn" and also the difficulty of creation. Sun Yuxi said that there are great differences between Yue opera and movies in terms of expression techniques, language forms, rhythms, etc. To maintain the essence of the original work and at the same time be able to express it in the specific performance form of Yue opera, it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the two different artistic languages. environment and find the organic combination of the two.
balances the essence of the original film and the traditional elements of Yue opera. This requires maintaining the charm of traditional opera while incorporating elements that are more acceptable to the audience. Sun Yuxi pointed out that this will ensure that it can attract both the original Yue opera audience and a wider audience. audience group. In the on-site rehearsal, the script needs to be further sorted out based on the rhythm and smoothness of the dialogue.
"Cross-border is just a means. The ultimate goal is to let the audience see the charm of Yue Opera, push Yue Opera out of the traditional audience circle, expand the audience base, and cultivate new fans." Sun Yuxi said.
Not satisfied with "shallow exit"
However, when "New Dragon Inn" is in full swing and tickets are hard to come by, gray industries are quietly growing. As the show became popular, a large number of unlicensed peripheral products appeared on e-commerce platforms, including the same performance costumes, calendars, keychains, mobile phone cases, etc., causing drama producers including Sun Yuxi to express "a headache." A few days ago, the show's producers issued a statement saying that they used the show's creative elements, makeup designs, characters and other original works in commercial channels without permission and profited from them, which seriously infringed on legitimate rights and interests and hoped that the infringement would be stopped immediately.
In addition to the order of the performance industry, Sun Yuxi also talked about the future: "As long as one drama becomes popular, it will reduce costs for the entire local drama market."
But after the injection of living water, how to preserve and continue the vitality of the industry is a matter of course. New questions for practitioners. Sun Yuxi further pointed out that the traditional drama industry often emphasizes the importance of inheritance, but the inheritance of any culture relies on the creativity of people in the industry. The performance industry needs good content and loyal audiences, and satisfying the audience's taste requires getting closer to the audience and keeping pace with the times.
Traditional opera is looking for a new living space in contemporary culture. "For the creation of Yue opera, the debut of "New Dragon Inn" can be used as a reference, and we can get infinitely close. We cannot say that we can 100% recreate the hit, but at least the audience will be very happy." But Sun Yuxi also mentioned his worries. , the reference must not be a "formula", but should be based on the characteristics of your own drama, you can try more themes besides martial arts, and integrate more artistic styles across borders.
"However, no matter how innovative and cross-border it is, the tone and background of the drama itself must be maintained." Sun Yuxi emphasized.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Lu Yang Han Xinyuan
