"The wind in Shanghai cannot blow the parasol trees on Yuyuan Road, and the whistle of Wusong River is drowned in the joyful singing and dancing all night long." A year ago, the original musical "Butterfly" awakened the style of old Shanghai with Chinese jazz and cheongsam with a strong oriental charm. A year later, this "Shanghai wind" spread to South Korea: "Butterfly Change" co-producer and well-known drama label "Taixi" will establish its first overseas branch in South Korea, and will cooperate with the well-known Korean drama label never Ending Play co-produced the Korean version of the musical "Butterfly", which will be officially staged in Daehangno, South Korea this summer.
The Chinese story of "Sailing to the Sea" has opened up the recent memories of many people. Just last year, the original musical "The King's Chess" went to South Korea, becoming China's first original musical to export its copyright overseas. From "King of Kings" to "Butterfly", in less than a year, the world of entertainment once again made history and realized the overseas copyright export of original musicals. What are the "upgrades" in this "going overseas"? A few days ago, reporters conducted an exclusive interview with Han Kun, the founder and producer of "One Good Show", and talked about this new step taken by Chinese and Korean musicals in mutual exchanges and joint exploration.
"Butterfly Change", which brings together popular elements, has sparked heated discussions
Yuyuan Road in Shanghai, and has now almost become a check-in landmark for a new generation of Internet celebrities. However, many people may not know: "One Yuyuan Road is half of modern history." During World War II, Yuyuan Road became one of the important landmarks of Shanghai with its unique geographical location and mixed population structure. This is not only the residence of intelligence informants from Japan, Germany and other countries, but also the secret work site of the underground party of the Chinese Communist Party.
In 1939, an inexplicable fire occurred on Yuyuan Road, which attracted the attention of screenwriter Hua An. She and the creative team traced back the time of the fire, captured more details from the real history, connected them into beads, sorted out the timeline, and then weaved a fictional but tightly integrated story: two brave women joined the underground work, Struggle hard in the darkness and make silent sacrifices for your ideals... "Butterfly Transformation" thus glows with fresh vitality.
This original musical, which brings together popular elements such as dual heroines, spy wars, and old Shanghai, sold out the first round of performances and impressed many audiences. Han Kun is also one of them, but compared with ordinary audiences, he has an additional producer perspective. "I watched "Butterfly" when it premiered, and I felt that both the unique and delicate female perspective and narrative method, and the The exquisite choreography and the intertwined jazz and minor music are all very complete, and they are in line with my aesthetics from both an artistic and commercial perspective."
Han Kun quickly contacted "Tong Theater", the creative team of "Butterfly", and the two parties finalized the decision. With the cooperation, "Butterfly Change" has started a long-term residency at the Shanghai Fangcun Theater created by "One Good Show", presenting the audience with a production version exclusive to "Fangcun". Soon, this "little butterfly" flew to the "Fangcun Theater" in Beijing, Changsha, and Chengdu, and opened up this secret past of Shanghai in the Republic of China with more audiences.
Just like the current "hot" TV series "Flowers", the Shanghai story not only triggered a nostalgic craze among old Shanghainese, but also became a topic of discussion on the entire Internet across the country. The same goes for "Butterfly Change". "For Shanghai audiences, what they are watching is a Shanghai story, but for foreign audiences, what they are watching is a Chinese story in a specific context."
The enthusiastic response and reputation from all over the world led Han Kun to try to plan " "Going to the sea" of "Butterfly Transformation". He graduated from Korean Performance Production and has witnessed the rapid development period of Korean musicals. Therefore, the "navigation chart" in Han Kun's mind points directly to Daehanglu. "The first impression that "The Butterfly" gave me was that it had the temperament of a musical at Daehanglu Little Theater. I thought maybe I could go to Daehanglu and talk about it. A story that belongs to China."
Go to South Korea to tell authentic Chinese stories
In July last year, Korean actor Lim Canmin posted two tweets on social media to express his love for "Butterfly" and described how he felt when watching the show. feelings. Sitting in the audience with her at that time was Oh Se Hyuk, the producer of Korean company Never Ending Play.
The elegant cheongsam and the unique old Shanghai style made Oh Se Hyuk, who has created many musicals that have received strong response from the market, shine. He told Han Kun that today's Korean audiences want to see works with an international perspective like "Butterfly". "Korean creators are also working hard in this direction. Nowadays, there are many biographies on the stage on Daxuelu. "The musical's protagonists are all non-Korean, but are world-famous physicists, dancers, musicians, etc. They want to present different characters and stories in different regions and cultures."
The cooperation seemed to hit it off and came naturally. But at this time, Han Kun made another request, "Since I want to bring this original story that truly belongs to China, I must first eliminate the most basic copyright export model." Just selling the script and music to Koreans would make The Korean side produced it according to its own needs. Han Kun was worried that the turbulent historical background would "deteriorate", so he proposed to jointly produce the Korean version of "Butterfly Change" with the Korean side. "Chinese culture needs the control and participation of the Chinese people." , so that it can be brought into full play."
Han Fang not only accepted it completely, but a small episode also allowed Han Kun to see Han Fang's sincerity. "The title of "Butterfly" is very interesting. 'Butterfly' can be a butterfly and a spy, which echoes the plot. We have proposed whether the Korean word 'Butterfly' has a double meaning, and whether the name should be changed. It became "Green Butterfly". Han Fang insisted that the original name was particularly good, as it could continue the concept of the play and attract curious audiences into the theater."
Then, when selecting the creators and actors of the Korean version of "Butterfly", " "A Good Show" also hopes to choose those who have a better understanding of Chinese culture. "Whether it is a director, music director or choreographer, we all hope that they can better understand Chinese culture and aesthetics, rather than from Korean aesthetics or foreigners' perspectives." Present this drama." Han Kun revealed that the Korean version of "Butterfly" is very popular in Daxuelu, South Korea, and everyone has actively expressed their wish to participate.
In order to deeply participate in the production and operation of the Korean version of "Butterfly", "One Good Show" will establish its first overseas branch in South Korea. "In the early years, I accumulated a lot of resources while studying and working in South Korea, including the production unit, Xuanfa, actors, etc., and more and more domestic colleagues are also deeply involved in Daxuelu, Korea. Now may be a good opportunity for everyone to serve Chinese companies in Korea, tell Chinese stories in the Korean market, and work together It shows a high level of Korean version production."
The "Sail" of "Butterfly Change" has made the world of entertainment take a bigger step on the road from "bringing in" to "going out". Han Kun repeatedly emphasized, "It is not just a work that goes overseas, but Huangpu's enterprises have also gone international and have more say in the works."
in the official announcement of "One Good Show" Under the tweet about "Butterfly" "going overseas", there was a comment that asked the voices of many viewers who love this drama, and also made Han Kun's expression solemn - how can the history of Yuyuan Road in Shanghai be changed to South Korea? What about the story? Han Kun solemnly answered: "We will not make any changes to the plot. Our purpose is to go to South Korea to tell an authentic Chinese story."
html From July to September, the Korean version of "Butterfly Change" will be on Daxuelu. Approximately 80 performances. In Han Kun's mind, he also wanted to add the final "finishing touch" to it - during his residency, he would invite Chinese actors to perform on stage, adding another highlight to this Korean version of the Chinese story.Author:
Editor: Zhou Chen Editor: Su Zhan
Source: Shanghai Huangpu
