On February 21, the original version of "Phantom of the Opera" announced at the Shanghai Grand Theater that it will restart its international tour in July this year. It will first stop in China and will successively land in seven cities including Shenzhen, Xi'an, Shanghai, Suzhou, Chengdu, and Beijing.
Since its premiere in London in 1986, "The Phantom of the Opera" has visited 193 cities in 46 countries, attracted more than 160 million viewers, and won more than 70 drama awards. The moving melody, gorgeous stage scenery, and difficult singing and acting skills have made this musical a classic.
In 2004, "The Phantom of the Opera" visited China for the first time and performed 100 times at the Shanghai Grand Theater, creating a landmark cultural event. Zhang Xiaoding, general manager of the Shanghai Grand Theater, believes that for many audiences, "The Phantom of the Opera" can be said to be the enlightenment of musicals: "As one of the four internationally famous musicals, it has reached such a number of performances that it has attracted more audiences for the first time. Walking into the theater to watch a musical, the charm of its music, choreography and story itself allows the audience to appreciate the best part of the musical. It is also the most acceptable work among the classic musicals and is suitable for all ages. level of audiences."
From 2013 to 2015, "The Phantom of the Opera" came to China again, landing in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing, and the venues were sold out. In 2020, the international tour was originally planned to visit mainland China, but was suspended due to the epidemic. Restarting after four years, starting from China, is exciting.
In addition to its artistic achievements, "The Phantom of the Opera" also has a profound impact on the development of the global musical industry. Twenty years after "The Phantom of the Opera" entered China, the musical has gone from being a niche culture to a mainstream product on the market today, with introduced plays and original plays complementing each other on the stage.
During this tour of "Phantom of the Opera" in China, except for Shanghai and Beijing, all other cities will perform the original version of "Phantom of the Opera" for the first time. Ma Chencheng, President of Shanghai Media and Entertainment Group, said: "Every performance of "The Phantom of the Opera" will promote musicals and even the cultural industry in the cities it visits. This time the tour has been expanded to cities such as Xi'an and Suzhou, and we hope that more Audiences can fall in love with musicals and know how to appreciate and understand musicals."
The original version of "Phantom of the Theater" coming to China will be produced by Shanghai Media Group and operated nationwide by Shanghai Musical Theater Art Center, in partnership with Ke Shilu North America Group and Jointly presented by the British Really Good Group, it reproduces the classic version produced by Cameron Mackintosh and the British Really Good Group in 1986 and continues to this day.
It is worth mentioning that the original "Phantom of the Opera" refers to the director and choreography of Harold Prince, the scheduling and choreography of Gillian Lynne, and the costume production and scenery of Maria Bjornson Classic version of the design. Globally, the original Phantom will only be available to watch in the West End of London and China.
The cast lineup for the China tour was announced at the press conference. The role of "Phantom" will be played by Jonathan Losmov. He is the youngest actor in the history of the English version of "Phantom of the Opera" to play the Phantom. He participated in the international tour of "Phantom of the Opera" in 2012 and 2019, and has visited the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Israel, United Arab Emirates and Taiwan. "Viscount Raoul Shani" will be played by Matt Lisi, who has starred in famous musicals such as "Sweeney Todd", "Whims" and "The Sound of Music". Both actors have participated in the international tour of "The Phantom of the Opera".
In the past ten years, in the Chinese musical industry, the topic surrounding "Phantom" has never stopped. In 2018, Shanghai Media Group and the British Real Good Group launched the "Phantom China Plan", aiming to promote the upgrading of China's musical industry in terms of talent, production and market. The emergence of more and more mature actors and the improvement of the industrial system have made it possible to produce local productions of difficult works such as "The Phantom of the Opera". Last year, the Chinese version of "The Phantom of the Opera" was launched, which verified the ability of the Chinese musical theater industry to produce international standard plays.
In May 2023, the Chinese version of "The Phantom of the Opera" jointly produced by China and the UK kicked off in Shanghai as the 18th language version of Phantom, and started a six-and-a-half-month national tour, visiting 9 cities and performing 159 performances , with a box office of over 150 million.Among them, the Shanghai station performed for 34 consecutive days and 40 performances, attracting nearly 65,000 viewers, with an average attendance rate of over 95%, and a box office of over 48.5 million yuan, creating the best performance in the history of a Chinese version of a musical. Not long after the Chinese version of
was released, the original version came to China again. Ma Chencheng, president of Shanghai Media and Entertainment Group, is confident whether it can achieve another stellar box office performance. Ma Chencheng told China Business News that when the Chinese version of "Phantom of the Opera" was performed, many viewers focused on the cast and came to the theater because of the cast: "This is also a popularization of "Phantom of the Opera". Many viewers are After watching the Chinese version, I fell in love with this well-produced musical with a profound story. I believe they will come to watch the original English version again."
Currently, the performances in Shenzhen Station (July 2-July 7) Already on sale. The first round of ticket issuance at the Shanghai Station (August 27-October 13) has been opened for users of the China Merchants Culture and Tourism All-in-one Card "Watch As You Want", and the entire network will officially open tickets at 2 p.m. on March 2.
