|Xia Xia's statement|The title picture comes from the Internet.
An original article by Jingzhe Research Institute. If you need to reprint it, please leave a message to apply for permission.
Since the beginning of this year, French musicals have spread all over the country, from "Don Juan", which has achieved both box office and word-of-mouth success, to the popular "Mozart on Rock", which has attracted many young people and made them addicted to it.
As more and more young people enter theaters, various chaos has appeared in the musical theater market: ticket prices have skyrocketed and it is difficult to get a ticket. Theaters and production companies have launched various membership-based charging methods to "backstab" audiences... ...However, the young man who laughs at himself for his "big sex" chose to complain while setting a "continuous hitting record" in the theater.
Some drama fans took advantage of the long holiday to go to Shanghai to watch six shows in three days; there were also drama fans who binge-watched the popular cosmic drama "Fazza" (the French drama "Mozart Rock") and snapped up the unit price. Tickets cost more than 1,000 yuan; there are also theater fans who watch the same musical repeatedly, 55 times in a row...
What is the charm of musicals that can attract young people to enter the theater one after another? When enthusiastic young audiences meet "sluggish" theaters and theater troupes, will the "theater fever" be reborn from the ashes, or is it just a flash in the pan?
More and more outrageous musical ticket prices
In the eyes of many people, opera is an elegant art with highbrow music. In contrast, musicals appear to be much more "down-to-earth": From the subject matter point of view, musicals It prefers stories that the public likes to hear, and combines elements such as music, singing, dance and drama to be closer to the preferences of the public. In addition, in terms of singing methods, musicals are not limited to traditional opera singing and techniques. Many songs are very similar to pop and rock songs, and are more widely sung.
With a compact and tense dramatic story paired with moving melody and exciting music, exquisitely designed stage art and the actors' superb performance capabilities, the musical combines multiple artistic expressions to bring visual, auditory and emotional excitement to the audience. The variety of satisfactions also created outstanding box office results.
Take Beijing Tianqiao Art Center as an example. As of May 15, its total box office for 2024 performances has exceeded 100 million yuan. Among them, the musical box office is 65.3455 million yuan, which is the main force in the box office. Among its top ten box office plays, 6 are musicals. The top three are taken by original French musicals such as "Rock of Mozart", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Don Juan". The other three are the original English musicals "Mommy". "Yeah", the Russian musical "Anna Karenina" and the Chinese original musical "The Unworthy of the World".
Faced with the box office success, theaters and producers are naturally overjoyed, but in recent years, the outrageous increase in musical ticket prices has made it difficult for theater fans to accept. Some popular musicals continue to increase ticket prices, and the number of low-priced seats is so pitiful that many fans are discouraged and shout, "I can't afford to hurt my wallet, I can't watch the show anymore."
Drama fan "walden" told Jingzhe Research Institute that musical theater tickets are becoming more and more expensive nowadays. Recently, she bought a pre-sale ticket for the Shenzhen performance of the French musical "Mozart Rock". The ticket price was 680 yuan, but the location was already on the second floor.
It is understood that the French drama "Rock Mozart" will be performed at Shenzhen Pingshan Grand Theater and Shenzhen Poly Theater in August this year. Taking the ticket board of Shenzhen Poly Theater as an example, the highest ticket price in the front row on the first floor is 1,080 yuan, while the lowest price on the first floor and the front row on the second floor are 680 yuan. The lowest ticket price in the whole venue is 180 yuan, but only on the third floor. The last row and the wall-mounted positions on the third floor belong to this price range.
A few years ago, the ticket prices for musicals were much more affordable. Some theater fans looked through the ticket stubs from the 2019 tour of the French opera "Mozart on Rock" and found that at the Nanjing Poly Theater, rows 5 on the second floor only cost 304 yuan, which is less than half of the ticket price for the same location at Shenzhen Poly this year. In addition, as a repertoire subsidized by the Nanjing cultural consumption government, rows 5 on the first floor only cost 780 yuan. Even at the Tianqiao Art Center in Beijing, where there is no subsidy, you can buy seats in the third row on the first floor for 980 yuan during the 2019 tour.
In addition to the recently popular space drama "Faza", the ticket editions of the original English musicals "Mamma Mia" and "School of Rock" have also stunned drama fans. Opening the ticket purchase page of Beijing Tianqiao Art Center, you can see that the highest ticket price for "Mamma Mia" is 1,280 yuan. What is most unacceptable to drama fans is that the front row seats on the second floor were sold for a high price of 880 yuan; "Rock and Roll" On the ticket page of "School", the lowest price for the optional "mountain seat" on the second floor is 480 yuan. At this price, you can already buy the front row seat in some small and medium-sized theaters. "Miao Miao Da", the author of the
drama science account "Yunge's Row One", told the Jingzhe Research Institute that the ticket prices of many plays have increased. "Before 2020, the prices of 1,280 yuan for the front row and 480 yuan for the third floor only appeared in popular foreign imported dramas, but now similar ticket prices have appeared in some domestic musicals, dance dramas, and dramas. Even so "Some high-quality plays and performances involving well-known actors will still have many drama fans or fans paying for them."
Jingzhe Research Institute also noticed that the French drama "Notre Dame de Paris" will be performed at the Tianqiao Art Center in Beijing in late August. , although there are still two months until the official opening, the tickets for the first three performances have been sold out, which shows the enthusiasm of the audience.
The sense of presence and on-site experience of musicals are crucial, so many fans will snap up a seat in the front row and closer to the central axis within their personal budget in order to have a better viewing experience. If theater fans want to grab a good seat such as "1 row, 1 seat", they not only need to keep an eye on the ticket opening time, but also need to upgrade the theater or theater's membership level to obtain "priority grab" membership privileges.
At present, many theaters and production companies have launched their own membership systems. Some can be upgraded directly by paying the card opening fee, while others can obtain different levels of "priority purchase" rights and discount benefits through the accumulated consumption amount, and some require Spend a certain amount of money in a year and maintain your level through valid points.
For example, the "Exclusive Member" of Shanghai Cultural Plaza needs to pay more than 3,500 yuan during the membership period to effectively extend the membership for one year. To upgrade to the "Exclusive Plus Member", the accumulated consumption amount within one year must reach 10,000 yuan. At the same time, in order to retain the "Exclusive Plus Membership" qualification, members also need to have a cumulative consumption amount of 10,000 yuan within the validity period of the membership. In this regard, some drama fans complained, "In order to get front row tickets, I have to waste time and effort to stay in the relegation. It feels like you have to watch ten bad dramas before you can watch a good drama."
In addition to sky-high ticket prices and sorting out tickets before grabbing them, what has recently puzzled theater fans is that the ticket prices for the Shenzhen show of "Phantom of the Opera" have also increased over time.
Generally speaking, the ticket prices for musicals on weekdays are slightly lower than those on weekends. However, it is rare that the later the show starts, the more expensive the ticket price becomes. According to the official ticket price information, the A and B ticket prices for the Shenzhen show of "Phantom of the Opera" from July 16 to August 4 are higher than those from July 2 to July 7. 400 yuan. In response to this, many drama fans felt that "selling tickets like this is really abstract" and "I can't understand it. This is not how you cut leeks."
As for the fact that the later the performance of "Phantom of the Opera" is, the higher the ticket price is. "Fat Head Fish", a practitioner in the performance industry, revealed to Jingzhe Research Institute that "Phantom of the Opera" is the most expensive project to be introduced from international to domestic, and its performance fee is one week. More than 4 million yuan, not including copyright sharing and other expenses, while the weekly performance fees of musicals in other international projects are generally around 3 million yuan. "Given the high overall cost, the ticket price of Phantom cannot be too low; early performance tickets The lower price may be because the theater company wants to attract more audiences to the theater first with cost-effectiveness and increase exposure; in addition, early July is when the summer vacation of college students is approaching, and the cheaper ticket prices can also attract young people to buy tickets.”
Both inside and outside the theater, conflicts and conflicts between the audience and the theater crew continue.
On social platforms, drama fans usually call themselves "theater leeks" and "theater leeks". Depending on the region, they are also divided into "Beijing leeks", "Shanghai leeks" and "Guang leeks". "wait.The reason is that in addition to the high ticket price, fans of the drama also face various "backstabs" from the drama studio. For example, the seats have "tears behind bars" railings that block the view, and the cast (also called "cast") suddenly changes before the show starts (commonly known as "stuck"). In addition, there are various situations that reduce the performance experience, such as poor performance quality by actors, poor acoustics in venues, and chaotic viewing order in the theater.
Not long ago, Jiuwei Culture, the company that introduced the French drama "Mozart on Rock", encountered complaints from fans of the drama about "fraudulent promotions", "blind box promotion cards being opened every day", and "the ticket prices are rising year by year but the stage performance is being degraded year by year."
As a live art musical, its performance quality relies heavily on the subjective performance of the actors. And when the level of actors is uneven, it is easy for the phenomenon of "changing cards to be like changing dramas" to occur. Theater audiences and theater fans obviously do not want to pay for "substandard performances" at the same price, so they also pay special attention to the cast lineup during the performance.
However, in order to avoid the loss of ticket refunds caused by temporary "crash", when the actor's physical condition is unstable, the production team tends to adopt the approach of "announcement of the cast list before the show starts". In addition, in view of the different popularity of actors, announcing the cast in advance will also lead to some shows doing well at the box office and some showings failing at the box office, which is not conducive to profitability.
Drama fan "Knowing Sleeping in the Big Sleep" told Jingzhe Research Institute, "Due to the particularity of the performance industry, performance tickets are non-refundable. And because of the particularity of the performance industry, the cost for many viewers to watch the drama is not only the ticket price, but also Travel expenses and accommodation expenses. As consumers, they naturally hope that their consumption and travel can be exchanged for a comparable viewing experience. However, theaters and producers often ignore the quality of the drama for the sake of profit, especially actors, who are a major influence on the quality of the drama. Factors, but consumers often cannot clearly know the cast, which is one of the main reasons for audience dissatisfaction. "
Therefore, some drama fans believe that "blind cards are just hooligans, and the theater troupe just wants to steal the hot spots. The bonus of the cast, and the unwillingness to bear the risks caused by the card bombing."
In May of this year, the Beijing Xicheng District Cultural Market Comprehensive Law Enforcement Brigade issued a "letter directed at musical organizers and ticketing operators." The letter mainly mentioned two issues. During the performance, due to actor rotation and other reasons, the main actors were inconsistent with the advertised content, which led to ticketing disputes and refund requests; another is that some musicals did not fully disclose the main actor information during the ticket sales stage, and this information was opaque. , harming consumers’ right to know and choose.
In response to these two issues, the letter proposed an initiative, hoping that musical theater performance operators can operate in accordance with laws and regulations to fully protect consumers' right to know and choose. At the same time, they also hope to improve service levels and adhere to the principle of "audience first, service first" " concept.
Regarding the issue of "blind cards", some theater staff once "vomited bitterly" on social platforms, "Cast schedules are provided by the group. If the group decides not to announce the card, then no matter how hard the theater forces it, It’s useless. If the tour company said that the cast will be scheduled only one week before the performance, it is impossible for the theater to wait until one week before the performance to start selling tickets.”
As for the doubts raised by fans that “the quality of the tour in China is not as good as overseas”, A lot of it has to do with cost control on tours.
It is understood that the costs of theater performances mainly include performance fees paid to the performance groups, transportation and loading and unloading fees for stage props, transportation fees, accommodation fees, meal supplements for the cast and crew, etc., as well as the cost and placement of promotional materials for the plays Advertising expenses, commissions from ticket sales by third-party ticketing agents, etc.
The more complex the stage, the longer the number of loading and unloading trucks and the time required for assembly and disassembly. The larger the stage, the greater the number of loading vehicles required. Appropriate reduction of the stage has become one of the effective means of cost control. The same goes for reducing the number of backup dancers in performances. Therefore, it is not difficult to see why when overseas imported dramas tour in China, not only the quality of the stage design declines, but even the number of backup dancers on the stage cannot match the overseas original version.
In addition to performances, as more and more young people flock to the theater circle, there are such things as stealing photos, rushing to the stage in advance (referring to the audience can rush to the front of the stage to have a simple interaction with the actors when the actors take their curtain call), and disorderly blockades. Some individual uncivilized behaviors such as stage door (stage door, which refers to the theater tradition of actors briefly communicating with the audience about the day's play performance at the entrance and exit of the cast and crew) have also caused some controversy.
The emergence of domestic musicals is due to a music variety show called "Sound into the Heart". While the traffic has brought in a new generation of audiences, it has also accelerated the "fandomization" of musicals to a certain extent. "the trend of. "Miaomiaoda" said, "Maybe it is some uncivilized behaviors that make everyone feel bad, but it cannot directly deny the majority of the audience who are willing to abide by the rules in the SD process." "Fat Head Fish", a practitioner in the performance industry of
"Thinking that "it's okay to hit the stage," it's easier to arouse the audience's emotions. A drama that hits the stage also proves that it is a good drama, or a successful encore; but stealing is copyright infringement. Behavior. The conflicts and contradictions between the audience and the show can actually be resolved and coordinated. We need to popularize more knowledge about performances to the audience. Many behaviors may be due to their ignorance of the rules and content of theater and theater operations."
In the theater craze, who can catch the wealth and wealth?
Ticket prices are high , The movie-watching experience is poor, but even this cannot extinguish the enthusiasm of young people to enter the theater. Similar to music festivals and concerts, theater performances are also a kind of experiential consumption based on "emotion" and "pleasant self". In a world full of anxiety and involution, more and more people are choosing to seek spiritual comfort through emotional consumption, and young Generation Z consumers are the best among them.
In their consumption decisions, Generation Z often pays more attention to whether products can bring benefits. to get the emotional value they need. According to data from the China Performance Industry Association, the box office of musicals in 2023 will reach 1.322 billion yuan, with per capita consumption of 333 yuan. Among the ticket-buying audiences of musicals, female audiences account for as high as 79%, with more than 6%. The majority of the audience is under the age of 30.
In addition, the emotional resonance caused by musicals often makes the audience "go to the top". data shows that the proportion of audiences who watch 4 or more shows in a year will increase from 5% in 2019. It will increase to 7% in 2023. "Meow Meow Da" told Jingzhe Research Institute, "Everyone gains something different from the theater. It may be happiness, it may be thinking, or it may be a period of freedom. Interrupting the leisure time of dreaming; I think everyone will feel healed when they walk into the theater. Anyway, they have got some wonderful experiences, so everyone will make fun of themselves as leeks, but on the other hand they will continue to laugh over and over again. Enter the theater.
Under the growing trend of "experience economy", the popularity of the performance market has also promoted the development of cultural tourism economy and other aspects. Data from a questionnaire on "Cross-city performance viewing" initiated by Poly Ticketing shows that, More than 67% of the audience has experience of traveling across cities to attend performances, and among those who attend performances across cities, 50% attend an average of 1-3 performances a year, and 20% attend 4-5 performances across cities a year. Actors, celebrities, and word-of-mouth plays are the main factors that encourage audiences to travel across cities to watch performances, and audiences do not necessarily choose to travel across cities to watch performances on statutory holidays. More than 70% of the audience will do so on the Xiaohongshu platform. Many theater fans shared their experiences of watching performances across cities: A theater fan went to Shanghai for a series of shows (referring to watching multiple musicals or other dramas in a row) and watched 9 performances in 8 days, spending a total of about 4,000 yuan on tickets; There are also theater fans who travel across the city to watch three shows a day, from the matinee to the evening show and then to the midnight show.
"Meow Meow Da" said, "Because Shanghai has so many performances, it is very common to go to Shanghai for consecutive performances. There are many dramas." Fans will take advantage of the weekends to come to Shanghai and have a full schedule for watching the show. Unfortunately, there is no musical in the morning. If the show starts in the morning, everyone will probably schedule it in the morning as well.Author of
|Xia Xia's statement|The title picture comes from the Internet.
An original article by Jingzhe Research Institute. If you need to reprint it, please leave a message to apply for permission.
Since the beginning of this year, French musicals have spread all over the country, from "Don Juan", which has achieved both box office and word-of-mouth success, to the popular "Mozart on Rock", which has attracted many young people and made them addicted to it.
As more and more young people enter theaters, various chaos has appeared in the musical theater market: ticket prices have skyrocketed and it is difficult to get a ticket. Theaters and production companies have launched various membership-based charging methods to "backstab" audiences... ...However, the young man who laughs at himself for his "big sex" chose to complain while setting a "continuous hitting record" in the theater.
Some drama fans took advantage of the long holiday to go to Shanghai to watch six shows in three days; there were also drama fans who binge-watched the popular cosmic drama "Fazza" (the French drama "Mozart Rock") and snapped up the unit price. Tickets cost more than 1,000 yuan; there are also theater fans who watch the same musical repeatedly, 55 times in a row...
What is the charm of musicals that can attract young people to enter the theater one after another? When enthusiastic young audiences meet "sluggish" theaters and theater troupes, will the "theater fever" be reborn from the ashes, or is it just a flash in the pan?
More and more outrageous musical ticket prices
In the eyes of many people, opera is an elegant art with highbrow music. In contrast, musicals appear to be much more "down-to-earth": From the subject matter point of view, musicals It prefers stories that the public likes to hear, and combines elements such as music, singing, dance and drama to be closer to the preferences of the public. In addition, in terms of singing methods, musicals are not limited to traditional opera singing and techniques. Many songs are very similar to pop and rock songs, and are more widely sung.
With a compact and tense dramatic story paired with moving melody and exciting music, exquisitely designed stage art and the actors' superb performance capabilities, the musical combines multiple artistic expressions to bring visual, auditory and emotional excitement to the audience. The variety of satisfactions also created outstanding box office results.
Take Beijing Tianqiao Art Center as an example. As of May 15, its total box office for 2024 performances has exceeded 100 million yuan. Among them, the musical box office is 65.3455 million yuan, which is the main force in the box office. Among its top ten box office plays, 6 are musicals. The top three are taken by original French musicals such as "Rock of Mozart", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Don Juan". The other three are the original English musicals "Mommy". "Yeah", the Russian musical "Anna Karenina" and the Chinese original musical "The Unworthy of the World".
Faced with the box office success, theaters and producers are naturally overjoyed, but in recent years, the outrageous increase in musical ticket prices has made it difficult for theater fans to accept. Some popular musicals continue to increase ticket prices, and the number of low-priced seats is so pitiful that many fans are discouraged and shout, "I can't afford to hurt my wallet, I can't watch the show anymore."
Drama fan "walden" told Jingzhe Research Institute that musical theater tickets are becoming more and more expensive nowadays. Recently, she bought a pre-sale ticket for the Shenzhen performance of the French musical "Mozart Rock". The ticket price was 680 yuan, but the location was already on the second floor.
It is understood that the French drama "Rock Mozart" will be performed at Shenzhen Pingshan Grand Theater and Shenzhen Poly Theater in August this year. Taking the ticket board of Shenzhen Poly Theater as an example, the highest ticket price in the front row on the first floor is 1,080 yuan, while the lowest price on the first floor and the front row on the second floor are 680 yuan. The lowest ticket price in the whole venue is 180 yuan, but only on the third floor. The last row and the wall-mounted positions on the third floor belong to this price range.
A few years ago, the ticket prices for musicals were much more affordable. Some theater fans looked through the ticket stubs from the 2019 tour of the French opera "Mozart on Rock" and found that at the Nanjing Poly Theater, rows 5 on the second floor only cost 304 yuan, which is less than half of the ticket price for the same location at Shenzhen Poly this year. In addition, as a repertoire subsidized by the Nanjing cultural consumption government, rows 5 on the first floor only cost 780 yuan. Even at the Tianqiao Art Center in Beijing, where there is no subsidy, you can buy seats in the third row on the first floor for 980 yuan during the 2019 tour.
In addition to the recently popular space drama "Faza", the ticket editions of the original English musicals "Mamma Mia" and "School of Rock" have also stunned drama fans. Opening the ticket purchase page of Beijing Tianqiao Art Center, you can see that the highest ticket price for "Mamma Mia" is 1,280 yuan. What is most unacceptable to drama fans is that the front row seats on the second floor were sold for a high price of 880 yuan; "Rock and Roll" On the ticket page of "School", the lowest price for the optional "mountain seat" on the second floor is 480 yuan. At this price, you can already buy the front row seat in some small and medium-sized theaters. "Miao Miao Da", the author of the
drama science account "Yunge's Row One", told the Jingzhe Research Institute that the ticket prices of many plays have increased. "Before 2020, the prices of 1,280 yuan for the front row and 480 yuan for the third floor only appeared in popular foreign imported dramas, but now similar ticket prices have appeared in some domestic musicals, dance dramas, and dramas. Even so "Some high-quality plays and performances involving well-known actors will still have many drama fans or fans paying for them."
Jingzhe Research Institute also noticed that the French drama "Notre Dame de Paris" will be performed at the Tianqiao Art Center in Beijing in late August. , although there are still two months until the official opening, the tickets for the first three performances have been sold out, which shows the enthusiasm of the audience.
The sense of presence and on-site experience of musicals are crucial, so many fans will snap up a seat in the front row and closer to the central axis within their personal budget in order to have a better viewing experience. If theater fans want to grab a good seat such as "1 row, 1 seat", they not only need to keep an eye on the ticket opening time, but also need to upgrade the theater or theater's membership level to obtain "priority grab" membership privileges.
At present, many theaters and production companies have launched their own membership systems. Some can be upgraded directly by paying the card opening fee, while others can obtain different levels of "priority purchase" rights and discount benefits through the accumulated consumption amount, and some require Spend a certain amount of money in a year and maintain your level through valid points.
For example, the "Exclusive Member" of Shanghai Cultural Plaza needs to pay more than 3,500 yuan during the membership period to effectively extend the membership for one year. To upgrade to the "Exclusive Plus Member", the accumulated consumption amount within one year must reach 10,000 yuan. At the same time, in order to retain the "Exclusive Plus Membership" qualification, members also need to have a cumulative consumption amount of 10,000 yuan within the validity period of the membership. In this regard, some drama fans complained, "In order to get front row tickets, I have to waste time and effort to stay in the relegation. It feels like you have to watch ten bad dramas before you can watch a good drama."
In addition to sky-high ticket prices and sorting out tickets before grabbing them, what has recently puzzled theater fans is that the ticket prices for the Shenzhen show of "Phantom of the Opera" have also increased over time.
Generally speaking, the ticket prices for musicals on weekdays are slightly lower than those on weekends. However, it is rare that the later the show starts, the more expensive the ticket price becomes. According to the official ticket price information, the A and B ticket prices for the Shenzhen show of "Phantom of the Opera" from July 16 to August 4 are higher than those from July 2 to July 7. 400 yuan. In response to this, many drama fans felt that "selling tickets like this is really abstract" and "I can't understand it. This is not how you cut leeks."
As for the fact that the later the performance of "Phantom of the Opera" is, the higher the ticket price is. "Fat Head Fish", a practitioner in the performance industry, revealed to Jingzhe Research Institute that "Phantom of the Opera" is the most expensive project to be introduced from international to domestic, and its performance fee is one week. More than 4 million yuan, not including copyright sharing and other expenses, while the weekly performance fees of musicals in other international projects are generally around 3 million yuan. "Given the high overall cost, the ticket price of Phantom cannot be too low; early performance tickets The lower price may be because the theater company wants to attract more audiences to the theater first with cost-effectiveness and increase exposure; in addition, early July is when the summer vacation of college students is approaching, and the cheaper ticket prices can also attract young people to buy tickets.”
Both inside and outside the theater, conflicts and conflicts between the audience and the theater crew continue.
On social platforms, drama fans usually call themselves "theater leeks" and "theater leeks". Depending on the region, they are also divided into "Beijing leeks", "Shanghai leeks" and "Guang leeks". "wait.The reason is that in addition to the high ticket price, fans of the drama also face various "backstabs" from the drama studio. For example, the seats have "tears behind bars" railings that block the view, and the cast (also called "cast") suddenly changes before the show starts (commonly known as "stuck"). In addition, there are various situations that reduce the performance experience, such as poor performance quality by actors, poor acoustics in venues, and chaotic viewing order in the theater.
Not long ago, Jiuwei Culture, the company that introduced the French drama "Mozart on Rock", encountered complaints from fans of the drama about "fraudulent promotions", "blind box promotion cards being opened every day", and "the ticket prices are rising year by year but the stage performance is being degraded year by year."
As a live art musical, its performance quality relies heavily on the subjective performance of the actors. And when the level of actors is uneven, it is easy for the phenomenon of "changing cards to be like changing dramas" to occur. Theater audiences and theater fans obviously do not want to pay for "substandard performances" at the same price, so they also pay special attention to the cast lineup during the performance.
However, in order to avoid the loss of ticket refunds caused by temporary "crash", when the actor's physical condition is unstable, the production team tends to adopt the approach of "announcement of the cast list before the show starts". In addition, in view of the different popularity of actors, announcing the cast in advance will also lead to some shows doing well at the box office and some showings failing at the box office, which is not conducive to profitability.
Drama fan "Knowing Sleeping in the Big Sleep" told Jingzhe Research Institute, "Due to the particularity of the performance industry, performance tickets are non-refundable. And because of the particularity of the performance industry, the cost for many viewers to watch the drama is not only the ticket price, but also Travel expenses and accommodation expenses. As consumers, they naturally hope that their consumption and travel can be exchanged for a comparable viewing experience. However, theaters and producers often ignore the quality of the drama for the sake of profit, especially actors, who are a major influence on the quality of the drama. Factors, but consumers often cannot clearly know the cast, which is one of the main reasons for audience dissatisfaction. "
Therefore, some drama fans believe that "blind cards are just hooligans, and the theater troupe just wants to steal the hot spots. The bonus of the cast, and the unwillingness to bear the risks caused by the card bombing."
In May of this year, the Beijing Xicheng District Cultural Market Comprehensive Law Enforcement Brigade issued a "letter directed at musical organizers and ticketing operators." The letter mainly mentioned two issues. During the performance, due to actor rotation and other reasons, the main actors were inconsistent with the advertised content, which led to ticketing disputes and refund requests; another is that some musicals did not fully disclose the main actor information during the ticket sales stage, and this information was opaque. , harming consumers’ right to know and choose.
In response to these two issues, the letter proposed an initiative, hoping that musical theater performance operators can operate in accordance with laws and regulations to fully protect consumers' right to know and choose. At the same time, they also hope to improve service levels and adhere to the principle of "audience first, service first" " concept.
Regarding the issue of "blind cards", some theater staff once "vomited bitterly" on social platforms, "Cast schedules are provided by the group. If the group decides not to announce the card, then no matter how hard the theater forces it, It’s useless. If the tour company said that the cast will be scheduled only one week before the performance, it is impossible for the theater to wait until one week before the performance to start selling tickets.”
As for the doubts raised by fans that “the quality of the tour in China is not as good as overseas”, A lot of it has to do with cost control on tours.
It is understood that the costs of theater performances mainly include performance fees paid to the performance groups, transportation and loading and unloading fees for stage props, transportation fees, accommodation fees, meal supplements for the cast and crew, etc., as well as the cost and placement of promotional materials for the plays Advertising expenses, commissions from ticket sales by third-party ticketing agents, etc.
The more complex the stage, the longer the number of loading and unloading trucks and the time required for assembly and disassembly. The larger the stage, the greater the number of loading vehicles required. Appropriate reduction of the stage has become one of the effective means of cost control. The same goes for reducing the number of backup dancers in performances. Therefore, it is not difficult to see why when overseas imported dramas tour in China, not only the quality of the stage design declines, but even the number of backup dancers on the stage cannot match the overseas original version.
In addition to performances, as more and more young people flock to the theater circle, there are such things as stealing photos, rushing to the stage in advance (referring to the audience can rush to the front of the stage to have a simple interaction with the actors when the actors take their curtain call), and disorderly blockades. Some individual uncivilized behaviors such as stage door (stage door, which refers to the theater tradition of actors briefly communicating with the audience about the day's play performance at the entrance and exit of the cast and crew) have also caused some controversy.
The emergence of domestic musicals is due to a music variety show called "Sound into the Heart". While the traffic has brought in a new generation of audiences, it has also accelerated the "fandomization" of musicals to a certain extent. "the trend of. "Miaomiaoda" said, "Maybe it is some uncivilized behaviors that make everyone feel bad, but it cannot directly deny the majority of the audience who are willing to abide by the rules in the SD process." "Fat Head Fish", a practitioner in the performance industry of
"Thinking that "it's okay to hit the stage," it's easier to arouse the audience's emotions. A drama that hits the stage also proves that it is a good drama, or a successful encore; but stealing is copyright infringement. Behavior. The conflicts and contradictions between the audience and the show can actually be resolved and coordinated. We need to popularize more knowledge about performances to the audience. Many behaviors may be due to their ignorance of the rules and content of theater and theater operations."
In the theater craze, who can catch the wealth and wealth?
Ticket prices are high , The movie-watching experience is poor, but even this cannot extinguish the enthusiasm of young people to enter the theater. Similar to music festivals and concerts, theater performances are also a kind of experiential consumption based on "emotion" and "pleasant self". In a world full of anxiety and involution, more and more people are choosing to seek spiritual comfort through emotional consumption, and young Generation Z consumers are the best among them.
In their consumption decisions, Generation Z often pays more attention to whether products can bring benefits. to get the emotional value they need. According to data from the China Performance Industry Association, the box office of musicals in 2023 will reach 1.322 billion yuan, with per capita consumption of 333 yuan. Among the ticket-buying audiences of musicals, female audiences account for as high as 79%, with more than 6%. The majority of the audience is under the age of 30.
In addition, the emotional resonance caused by musicals often makes the audience "go to the top". data shows that the proportion of audiences who watch 4 or more shows in a year will increase from 5% in 2019. It will increase to 7% in 2023. "Meow Meow Da" told Jingzhe Research Institute, "Everyone gains something different from the theater. It may be happiness, it may be thinking, or it may be a period of freedom. Interrupting the leisure time of dreaming; I think everyone will feel healed when they walk into the theater. Anyway, they have got some wonderful experiences, so everyone will make fun of themselves as leeks, but on the other hand they will continue to laugh over and over again. Enter the theater.
Under the growing trend of "experience economy", the popularity of the performance market has also promoted the development of cultural tourism economy and other aspects. Data from a questionnaire on "Cross-city performance viewing" initiated by Poly Ticketing shows that, More than 67% of the audience has experience of traveling across cities to attend performances, and among those who attend performances across cities, 50% attend an average of 1-3 performances a year, and 20% attend 4-5 performances across cities a year. Actors, celebrities, and word-of-mouth plays are the main factors that encourage audiences to travel across cities to watch performances, and audiences do not necessarily choose to travel across cities to watch performances on statutory holidays. More than 70% of the audience will do so on the Xiaohongshu platform. Many theater fans shared their experiences of watching performances across cities: A theater fan went to Shanghai for a series of shows (referring to watching multiple musicals or other dramas in a row) and watched 9 performances in 8 days, spending a total of about 4,000 yuan on tickets; There are also theater fans who travel across the city to watch three shows a day, from the matinee to the evening show and then to the midnight show.
"Meow Meow Da" said, "Because Shanghai has so many performances, it is very common to go to Shanghai for consecutive performances. There are many dramas." Fans will take advantage of the weekends to come to Shanghai and have a full schedule for watching the show. Unfortunately, there is no musical in the morning. If the show starts in the morning, everyone will probably schedule it in the morning as well."
Poly ticket sales data shows that the top ten musicals in the first quarter of 2024 include foreign language imported musicals such as "Fazza" and "Phantom" sequels, as well as "Fan Letters" and "The Brothers Karamazov" The Chinese version of the drama, as well as local original musicals such as "Unworthy of the World" and "Next to the Wine". Judging from the box office results, both foreign imported projects and local original works are booming.
However, when we look at it. Back on the supply side, musical production companies and theaters are still facing huge profit pressure.
From the perspective of practitioners, "Fat Head Fish" believes that the current price of musical theater tickets has been rising mainly because of the rising costs. Production costs and actor costs are rising, and the proportion of copyright royalties is also high. In addition, venue costs, production costs, reception costs, publicity and distribution material costs, etc. need to be considered.
In his opinion, the current survival situation of musical theater companies is relatively good. Difficulties: high investment, low success rate, and lack of marketization of tours. "The production cost of international projects is higher, and international travel expenses are not low. Some source producers will also require binding projects 1+1, and the introducing party will not only Profit margins need to be considered, and funds for force majeure factors need to be reserved."
Take "Mamma Mia" and "School of Rock" as examples. The former was introduced by Jucheng and the latter by SMG, and both are bundled dramas. , one is bound to "Cats", and the other is bound to "The Phantom of the Opera". In addition, the ticket prices of "Mamma Mia" and "School of Rock" are very high, but judging from the current ticket sales, the sales are not considered. Well, the attendance rate is not ideal.
Regarding this, "Fat Head Fish" said, "Although the drama is excellent, the theme of the family drama does not meet the aesthetics of domestic audiences. Both the theater and the performance company will inevitably lose money. It's hard to make money on either project. "
The current challenges faced by the domestic musical industry are mainly due to problems such as insufficient original works, lack of professional talents, and low marketization. The cause of these problems is the imbalance between rapidly growing market demand and supply. The industry is lacking and development is out of sync.
From Broadway in the United States to London's West End to Daxuelu in Seoul, South Korea, the development of musicals in different countries and cultural backgrounds is through continuous establishment of content creation, copyright transactions, and IP development. It is realized through the entire industry chain from ticket marketing to media promotion.
For example, the Korean musical market, which also started with the introduction of dramas, continues to introduce Western classic musicals to make musicals popular. With long-term support, a large number of small and medium-sized theaters have been hatched on Seoul's Daehangno Road, providing sufficient stages for art students' play creation and performances. Driven by the regional scale effect of the cultural industry,
is known as the "Little Broadway of the East." Not only did small theater productions such as "Laundry" and "Looking for Kim Jong-wook" appear in Seoul Daehang-ro, it led to a new direction for creative dramas, and also provided a group of high-quality acting talents to the art market. At the same time, it also created a large number of jobs. Opportunities provide fertile soil for the cultivation of talents in music, stage design, screenwriting and other related professions.
The domestic musical theater market is currently dominated by imported plays and large-scale theaters, and original plays still have great development in terms of quantity and market popularity. Space, to a certain extent, limits the rapid growth of the theater audience on the supply side. therefore relies on the market appeal of popular imported plays to create more original plays that meet the preferences of local audiences, and at the same time promotes it with reference to the "small theater" model. The cultivation of professional talents is a feasible direction for the domestic musical theater market to become bigger and stronger.
Theater producers and theaters also lack enough patience and long-term plans in market cultivation, and pay too much attention to economic benefits in terms of ticket marketing and media promotion. , ignoring the theater viewing experience and ignoring the proliferation of fandom culture, laying hidden dangers for the future development of domestic musicals
In fact, theaters are not only a "role" in the musical industry chain that provides a performance stage, but also discovers excellent plays. , actors, an important starting point for cultivating loyal audiences. controls the on-site experience from ticket pricing to on-site interaction. The theater's maintenance of the viewing experience is not only responsible for the theater fans, but also a necessary contribution to market education.
In the face of young audiences whose enthusiasm has not diminished, it is clear that the domestic musical industry still has a long way to go if it wants to catch the "flooding wealth" brought by the theater boom. Fortunately, the participation of young audiences has brought new markets to the offline performance industry and the driving force for continuous development and growth.
* In the article, walden, meow meow, fat-headed fish, and know how to sleep are all pseudonyms.
controls the on-site experience from ticket pricing to on-site interaction. The theater's maintenance of the viewing experience is not only responsible for the theater fans, but also a necessary contribution to market education.In the face of young audiences whose enthusiasm has not diminished, it is clear that the domestic musical industry still has a long way to go if it wants to catch the "flooding wealth" brought by the theater boom. Fortunately, the participation of young audiences has brought new markets to the offline performance industry and the driving force for continuous development and growth.
* In the article, walden, meow meow, fat-headed fish, and know how to sleep are all pseudonyms.
