After six o'clock in the evening, young spectators began to gather on Jiujiang Road and Hankou Road where Shanghai Asia Tower is located. Most of them are girls, most of them have exquisite make-up, carry cameras on their backs, hold flowers and gifts in their hands, chatting and laughing in twos and threes in the front hall or on the steps of the building, waiting for the show to start.
When the time came to nine o'clock at night, after most of the performances ended, the entrance of the building was crowded with people, flashes, shutter sounds, and screams came one after another. When such a grand event first appeared, the owner of the shop opposite would poke his head and wonder, what celebrity came today? It’s no longer surprising now.
From Tuesday to Sunday, this scene happens on time every day.
In the spring of 2024, Li Ran began to hang out in various small theaters in Shanghai and became familiar with popular plays. Among them, the Asia Building is also known as the "Leek Building" - theater fans often buy tickets to watch the same play multiple times, so they laugh at themselves as "the chopped leek". Li Ran also went to the Big World, which is more than 800 meters away from the "Leek Building", to watch the musical "Time Agent" adapted from the anime; and the First Department Store, which can be reached within 10 minutes on foot, left her with her first time watching ancient genres. Musical Memories.
In Li Ran's view, the most interesting thing about Shanghai's performance market is the small theater. "They want to make this place a Broadway in China, so it is connected together."
From the big world on Yan'an East Road to the No. 1 theater on Nanjing East Road Within 1.2 kilometers of the department store, the largest and most dense theater complex in the country is gathered. More than a hundred years ago, after Shanghai opened as a port, theaters and famous actors gathered here, becoming the birthplace of modern Chinese drama and performing arts.
Today, if you walk in the area surrounding People's Square, you will pass by about 40 theaters, including large and medium-sized theaters such as the People's Grand Stage, Common Stage, and Jasmine Theater, as well as more than 30 "new performing arts spaces" small theater.
"New Performing Arts Space" is a new policy launched in Shanghai in 2019 to benchmark the performance industry in major cities such as New York, London, Tokyo, and Seoul. It meets the specific theater area, number of seats, or number of performances per year, etc. Indicators can transform non-standard theaters in office buildings, shopping malls, and parks into new performing arts spaces.
As early as 2017, Shanghai clearly proposed the development goal of building "Asia's Performing Arts Capital". Subsequently, a series of policies to promote the development of the performing arts industry were intensively introduced. One of the important measures was to support the development of new performing arts spaces. So far, Shanghai has approved the licensing of 100 new performing arts spaces, nearly half of which are concentrated in Huangpu District. Labels and production companies such as Happy Twist and Time Theater have built their own small theaters.
Statistics from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism show that in 2023, there will be 45,700 commercial performances in Shanghai, breaking a historical record; nearly 20 million audiences will be received, and box office revenue will be 3.339 billion yuan, both showing significant growth compared with 2019. It is worth noting that in the first half of 2023, the number of performances in the new performing arts space accounted for about 40% of all performances, with a box office of 63.572 million yuan.
new performing arts space provides opportunities for small theater dramas, ensuring high-density performance frequency and rich repertoire types.
In 2020, Asia Tower transformed from an office building into a small theater gathering place. With the ambient musical "Apolonia" opened in a bar, it fought its way through the epidemic. "Apolonia" has been performed in Shanghai for more than a thousand times, with an average attendance rate of 95% for each performance. Based on the number of seats and ticket prices, the box office is expected to reach tens of millions of yuan.
This small theater format allows each play to have its own exclusive theater. Theater fans named each small theater according to the scene in which the plot takes place: bistro, small casino, small lighthouse...
World-renowned performing arts districts such as New York's Broadway, London's West End, and Seoul's University Road not only form a concentrated theater space, but also host theaters. Performances are also the norm. The main form of dissemination of classics such as "Cats" and "Les Misérables" is resident performances.
In China, for a long time, most people’s impression of resident performances was still limited to large-scale shows and circus acrobatics in scenic spots. Even in Shanghai, which leads the performance market, only a few works such as the immersive drama "Sleepless Night", the dance drama "The Eternal Wave", and the Yue Opera "Dream of Red Mansions" are known.Yahua Lake Cinema, the venue of
Asia Building, has used the new performing arts space to build 53 small theaters, named "Star Space", which has become a signature of the "Huanrenguang" performance viewing area. Every night, twenty or thirty musicals and plays are performed simultaneously in the Star Space. On weekends, there will be more plays, and there are also midnight screenings during festivals.
Star Space breaks the sporadic situation of domestic performances. Each play uses stage beauty to restore the scenes in the play, creating a world of its own in the exclusive theater. The recently staged English version of the original musical "The Lighthouse" set up a beach scene in a 200-square-meter small theater, taking the audience to the coast of England in the last century. No matter where the audience sits, they are always surrounded by the gentle sound of waves and the salty smell of the sea breeze.
The ticket prices for performances in these small theaters range from one to two hundred yuan to three to four hundred yuan per performance. Ticket prices are much lower than those in large theaters, and they attract a large number of young white-collar workers and college students. Many viewers will watch the same play over and over again. Changing positions means they can watch the actors' performances from different angles and gain different experiences; the cast constantly changes combinations, creating new chemical reactions.
"They need to find a breakthrough to relieve the pressure on themselves." Actor Guo Ke, who has acted in four dramas in Asia Tower, told Southern Weekend reporters, "There were a lot of comments. After watching the drama, I really felt the pressure disappear. A lot of People would think that this is a lifestyle product, which is the same as the local tours, massages, massages, and bars on Dianping.”
Shen Yifeng started performing in the small theater at the end of 2019 and has watched more than 200 shows so far. field. Her company is located in the Huanrenguang area, and she often goes there to watch theater after work. She said that the biggest charm of the small theater is that "it makes you forget your surroundings and even yourself."
At 9 pm on June 14, 2024, the performance of "Alto Van Gogh" in the nfp small theater on the 2nd floor of Asia Building returned after the performance. (Photo by Southern Weekend reporter Zhu Yuan)
He couldn’t make it to the big theater, so he trained in a small theater.
Geng Zibo never expected that he would have his own dance theater before the age of 40. As the founder of Ziyue Dance Music and Dance Company, three of his dance dramas have been staged at Shan Mian Theater on the 7th floor of Asia Building. When
first saw this space of less than 200 square meters, he was a little overwhelmed. It was a training institution divided into seven or eight classrooms. It was about four steps wide and the lowest height was only 2.8 meters. If you jumped, you might hit the ceiling. Geng Zibo then thought about it, if no one did it, he could give it a try. A story that had been brewing in my heart for a long time gradually took shape. The source of inspiration for the dance drama "Yin Shi Shuo" is the Hongmen Banquet. The limited height of the floor just creates the sense of oppression required by the Hongmen Banquet. The play tailored for this special space slowly took shape.
Most of the performance spaces in Asia Tower have undergone corresponding renovations. This was originally a business office building, but due to the resident performances, it was transformed into a check-in place. To this day, there are still optical shops, nail salons, massage parlors, training institutions, and small theaters coexisting in the building. The Shanghai audience ridiculed that as a child they did not dare to speak to teacher Xueersi in the Asia Building, and when they grew up they did not dare to speak to the actors of the small theater in the Asia Building.
Star Space first started experimenting with Asia Tower. In 2021, it settled in the century-old Big World. In 2023, it successively settled in the First Department Store and Shimao Plaza, which are only separated by a pedestrian street. The Star Space Theater is very close to each other, making it convenient for audiences who are in a hurry to transfer between shows. Theater fans from out of town who come to Shanghai for a weekend can watch several performances.
Materials provided to Southern Weekend reporters by the Propaganda Department of the Huangpu District Party Committee indicate that “Star Space is positioned as a sustainable performing arts district. The entire performing arts district is a three-dimensional and diverse theater life organism, and it is a place that continuously attracts outstanding theater practitioners. Platform. "
Star Space's initial numbers were arranged according to numbers. Later, strange numbers emerged one after another, such as No. 66, No. 999... Most of them were specially customized for each play by the producer or producer. "It's Hard to Be Satisfied" studio divided the "concave"-shaped space on the 7th floor of Asia Tower into two. The first resident performance "Frankenstein" is a mirror drama, and the two spaces perform stories from different perspectives at the same time.The host Manding combined his birthday date with the mirrored number, and Star Space No. 2332 was born.
For private theater production companies, the advantage of residing in small theaters is to reduce venue costs and initial investment. The venue rental of the Grand Theater alone is two months, which many productions cannot afford, and not all plays can support the theater's capacity of thousands of seats.
small theater's on-site performances pay more attention to the steady flow. Compared with touring around, it also saves the disassembly, transportation, food, accommodation and transportation expenses incurred by moving between different venues.
Han Kun is the founder of "A Good Show", the producer of the Chinese version of "Apolonia". He once mentioned in an interview that when touring different theaters in the past, the above labor costs accounted for 20% of the total cost. to 30%. After the crew has its own theater, it is equivalent to spending only one disassembly and installation cost. A play can usually be performed for one or two years, and the marginal cost of each performance is greatly diluted. As long as a certain number of audiences are ensured, the resident theater can develop sustainably. Residency performances in
small theaters also provide new opportunities for theater practitioners such as directors, screenwriters, and actors. Jia Xuening, deputy general manager of Star Space, told Southern Weekend reporters that the Asia Building also plays the role of an incubation base. Some major creative companies work there, and the creation, rehearsal and performance of plays are completed here. Some graduates also come here for interviews. find a job. "When actors don't have enough stage experience and qualifications, they can't stand on the stage of a large theater, so they basically hone themselves in small theaters. Including the creative team, it doesn't have to be all senior, young or fresh students. We all "It's accepted."
Xu Chen acted in plays in medium and large theaters for six or seven years before residing in small theaters. He majored in musical theater. When he graduated in 2010, musical theater was not as popular as it is now. The vocal program "Sound into the Heart" broadcast in 2018 made musical actors popular. "It wasn't until 2021 that we gradually learned about the musicals in which the small resident performers. I think this is also something to learn in this major, then Come back and try."
After graduation, most of Xu Chen's classmates either entered the theater troupe or, like him, went through continuous interviews and took on sporadic performances. The significance of the small theater to him is to bring stable income, popularity and exercise.
"If an actor performs in small theaters a lot, accumulates a certain number of fans, and his acting or singing skills improve more and more, maybe one day the producer or owner of a big theater show will hear about it and start Will come to the scene," Xu Chen told Southern Weekend reporters.
Leading actors in musicals such as Ye Qisheng and Zhang Ze all rose to prominence in "Apolonia," the originator of domestic small theaters. After becoming popular, they turned to larger stages.
"Apolonia" has been performed in Shanghai for more than 1,000 times and is currently the longest-running play in the Star Space Theater. (Photo by Southern Weekend reporter Zhu Yuan)
The original work of "Apolonia" comes from South Korea. In recent years, Korean musicals have taken the Asian and global musical market by storm. As the center of Korean stage drama performances, Seoul's Hak University Road has given birth to many original Korean musicals. Along this 1.55-kilometer road, there are more than 120 large and small theaters in total, and performances continue throughout the year.
Guo Ke believes that compared to Broadway, Shanghai’s small theater musicals are closer to the model of Seoul’s Daxuelu. "'Apolonia' was introduced by Liu Hankun, who studied art management in South Korea. The taste is Korean from the very beginning."
"Apolonia" has been the king of dramas in Daejeon Road, Seoul, South Korea for many years, and is currently also a star space The longest-lived play in the small theater. Four years later, it not only continues to perform in Shanghai, but also opens "bistro branches" in Changsha, Chengdu, and Guangzhou.
In 2021, a total of 16 plays were staged in the performing arts district of Asia Tower, with a total of 2,561 performances. Nearly 270,000 consumers came to watch, and the attendance rate reached 80%. In this year, the total box office of Asia Tower's performances was nearly 50 million yuan.
Domestic original resident musicals have also shown signs of reverse output.The musicals "Butterfly" and "The King's Chess", which were born in Shanghai, have successively gone overseas to South Korea. The former has started its residency in Daehangro, Seoul on July 20, 2024, and the latter is expected to be performed in South Korea in September.
"Shanghai's theaters are a little tired"
Asia Tower is the first. Starting from 2021, Big World will also cooperate with Star Space to open ten consecutive small environmental theaters within 300 square meters on the fourth floor for residency. show.
The century-old Shanghai World has been adjusting its positioning since it reopened in 2017. As a pure intangible cultural heritage tourist attraction, it is difficult to attract young people, and the bustling stage in the past can hardly conceal its loneliness.
In the 1920s and 1930s, every room on each floor of the big world was a small performance space, where various operas were performed 12 hours a day. Many celebrities came out of here. On December 1, 1919, Meng Xiaodong made her stage appearance at the "Qiankun Grand Theater" in the big world and became a generation of famous actors. At that time, the trend of female actresses in Peking Opera had not yet begun, and the world was one of the few places where women were allowed to appear on stage.
Big World has a wide range of performance categories, and audiences can come and go freely. It has been a training ground for drama talents for a long time. Famous comedians Liu Chunshan and Smiley started their acting careers here. Actor Wang Zhiwen once acted in the Big World drama team when he was a teenager.
Shanghai World was founded in 1917. Traditional performances such as acrobatics and shadow puppets are performed at the same time as small theater plays every day. (Photo by Southern Weekend reporter Zhu Yuan) There is a wall of resident theater posters in the corridor of
World. Both currently performing and sealed plays are posted, witnessing the change of old and new plays: Off-Broadway suspense musical "Dangerous Game" The Chinese version will arrive in September 2021 and say goodbye in March 2023; the original musical "Vampire Arthur" will open in July 2022 and be sealed in April 2023... The length of the stay can, to a certain extent, reflect the show The quality and profitability of the work.
The lifespan of an acting actor is mainly determined by the box office. "Especially the musicals that are hosted in small theaters are very commercial. For example, if this show sells well here, but there is a downward trend after a year, I will think of a way to figure out what this show should do. Adjust it, or turn it off completely and switch to other dramas," Xu Chen told a reporter from Southern Weekend. In addition to direct boxing,
also has some plays. When the audience reaches a certain stage and the actors are tired, the producers will choose to turn off the lights for a period of time but retain the venue. Some crews will recruit a new group of actors and restart the show after a month or two, hoping to bring freshness to the old show.
After observing it, Shen Yifeng found that there was not much difference in the level of the plays between Big World and Asia Tower, while the play that was later performed in the First Department Store was obviously less complete.
There are many longevity dramas in the big world. Among the four plays currently being performed, "The King's Chess" has been performed for nearly two years, and "Lizzie" adapted from the Broadway rock musical has also been performed for one year.
Guo Ke watched plays in different venues and had a subtle feeling. “The plays in the big world tend to buy foreign copyrights. They are relatively mature works in terms of texts, and their themes include some classics, etc. For example, "The Moon and Sixpence." The plays in Big World seem to be more literary, more structurally sound, and more in line with the rules of dramatic works. "
When Star Space opened in Asia Tower and Big World, there was no clear plan to enter. After arriving at the First Department Store and Shimao Plaza, we began to make conscious distinctions. "The performance content of First Department Store Star Space is more original, and the characteristic of Shimao Plaza Star Space is the suspense drama carnival." Jia Xuening told Southern Weekend reporters.
The First Department Store and Shimao Plaza are both large-scale commercial complexes. “Convert their idle spaces into performance spaces, create audience flow to the malls, and revitalize their economies.” Jia Xuening added.
The producers of the first batch of 11 dramas that No. 1 Department Store has settled in are experienced drama production companies, except Taiyixi, Magic Whale Culture, and Hanjin Culture. The other companies have all started producing dramas after 2020. More than half of the dramas such as "Extraordinary Days", "Siam Hotel" and "Dionysus" are the first works of the producers.
Shen Yifeng observed, “The First Department Store is operated by some newcomers. There is a gap between the musicals they understand and the musicals the audience wants to see. Many people have withdrawn due to losses. After the venue is vacated, there will be new ones. Come in. The change of Asia Tower is more like its theater is given to a production company. The production company is usually relatively old, such as the Phantom Whale. Maybe after the venue is taken over, the show will be changed continuously.”
大世界. The poster walls in the corridors display current and sealed plays, and the lifespan of a resident play is mainly determined by the box office. (Photo by Southern Weekend reporter Zhu Yuan)
However, Great World, First Department Store and Shimao Plaza have not been able to recreate the grandeur of Asia Tower. According to theater fans, these venues are very close to each other and they are not particularly distinguished when watching a theater. This is more due to the overall lack of popularity. Asia Tower has attracted a group of regular viewers due to its pre-stage drama, which is more conducive to maintaining its popularity.
Guo Ke also found that the popularity of resident performances in Shanghai's small theaters has declined. "Today, Shanghai's theaters are also a little tired, judging from the average attendance. Except for a few so-called hit plays, other The box office is mediocre."
Southern Weekend reporters checked the sales of the popular dramas "The King's Chess" and "The Novel" on a certain day in June. The two plays were performed three times on Saturday, with nearly 50% of the seats sold for each performance. Xiaoyan, a theater fan, bluntly said that the current attendance rate is "half considered good" and "polarized. Tickets for popular shows with popular actors were all sold out within one minute of opening, and later there were no circulation at all in the market." She has seen some performances. At the worst time, there were only 9 audiences in one performance, including free tickets.
discount tickets can also reflect the market downturn. Xiaoyan remembers that at the beginning of 2023, there were only two discount channels for subsidized tickets and student tickets. Now "everyone is discounting in different ways, including tail tickets, and then all kinds of messy discount tickets are available."
"There is a very shortage of talents. This is a real problem."
Li Ran went to see the musical "Meng Wei Zhi", which tells the story of Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi, out of curiosity, but came back disappointed. She doesn't like half-written lines, and she can guess the next sentence when she hears the previous sentence; the tone of the story continues the consistent routine of Tang Dynasty themes. After watching the whole scene, what made her very uncomfortable was the "malicious prostitution" and "if the actors have natural chemistry, I'll accept it."
Audience Apple Pie has reduced the frequency of attending small theaters this year. In the past two years, she could attend four or five shows a week, but now she has not set foot in the Asia Tower for several months. "When small theaters first started, they might have performed better in terms of quality, but now there has been some decline." She told a reporter from Southern Weekend.
In 2023, Apple Pie watched the musical "When Your Heart Beats" at the First Department Store. It was originally a sweet love drama, but she was a little angry after watching it. "The male and female protagonists have no cp spark, and the male protagonists are all in student works." It’s a subpar performance.” She felt that the quality of the newly performed small theater plays at the First Department Store and the World Trade Center was poor, and the acting skills were not professional enough. She speculated that these actors were rehearsing several plays at the same time, and it would be difficult for them to devote a relatively long rehearsal period to a certain play.
Rehearsing several plays at the same time with short rehearsal time is the norm for actors in small theaters. Xu Chen told Southern Weekend reporters, "If there are a large number of actors, the time allocated to each actor will be relatively small, and the focus will be on meeting the schedule. Today's role will be assigned, and other actors in the same cast will have to watch from the bottom. Maybe everyone doesn’t really have that much time to schedule. "
There are so many dramas and there is a shortage of actors. Xu Chen felt from the changes in the standards for recruiting actors that "the threshold for musicals in small theaters is getting lower and lower." Many dramas recruit actors, especially male actors. As long as their appearance is good, they are qualified, and their acting and singing skills can be moved to the back. What has a greater impact on the entire musical ecology is that as long as an actor can bring in enough box office and have enough fans, even if he is not strong enough, he can play the leading role in a big theater and charge a high price.
Before the performance started, the crew sold peripheral products at the counter. (Photo by Southern Weekend reporter Zhu Yuan)
In addition to actors, field control will also directly affect the presentation of the play.When viewer Jocelyn recently watched "The Painting Material Shop on Xinji Road", she found that the lighting and sound control were not very proficient. "Some areas that should be lit were not lit, or were lit too early, and the music was not well adjusted."
Guo Ke’s most personal feeling is that there may be only one dance supervisor in a performance, who is responsible for lighting, sound, sound effects, and microphones. “So his skills must be perfect, and one person must be able to breathe like a marquee.” After executing everything." He revealed to Southern Weekend reporters, "There are people in technical positions who are not familiar with theaters to earn this money, so the quality of the performance is indeed compromised."
The studio has been difficult to satisfy many times recently. When recruiting dance supervisors for the project, Manding, the manager, told Southern Weekend reporters that there were not many candidates who were technically qualified and cost-effective. “If we can merge, we will merge, but this is a balance (problem). How can we make the project relatively complete?” Presentation can also save personnel costs. "
Compared with touring, private theater performances also face special difficulties. Even if a play is well-written, its quality may still wear off over the course of its performance. For plays staged in Star Space, after the first commercial performance is completed, the founding team will basically leave, leaving only the executive staff. Few directors will go back to rehearse or follow up with rehearsals. In this way, the show keeps morphing.
"No one has the conditions to continue to support the director when he comes back to rehearse, and the lighting engineer to come back to make adjustments. State-owned units supported by the government can do this. Their plays will be closed after more than a month, and they will be rehearsed next year when they are staged again. . But this play is a long-term one, which is really a very different thing." Guo Ke told the Southern Weekend reporter.
According to Manding, there are many repertoires that are difficult to satisfy. There is a production team including full-time directors who can follow up during reruns, but most production companies cooperate on a project basis. In his opinion, whether a play needs to be rehearsed or not is related to the structure of the director's creation. If the technical level is relatively stable and the "play guarantor" and the actors perform well, the play will generally be watchable.
"The lack of creative power is the core difficulty. Not to mention resident actors, this is also true for non-resident actors." When talking about the industrialization of Huanren Guang Small Theater, Manding admitted that it takes time, "This industry is very early stage. There is a very lack of talent, which is a real problem. I don’t think the drama I do is very good, but this is not a problem for my family. It is a problem that everyone will face. "
As of July 31, 2024, No. 1. Among the first batch of department store dramas, 5 have Douban ratings below 6.5, and 3 have scores between 6.5-7.0. There are currently 11 dramas being performed in Shimao Plaza, and the overall ratings are higher. However, judging from the number of ratings, the audience popularity is not the same as that of the previous hit dramas.
Although he has now moved to large theaters, Apple Pie is still full of affection for the small theaters in the Huanrenguang area. She hopes that producers and actors can take this matter more seriously, "Many musicals are more commercial, but in fact they still have cultural attributes. From everyone's perspective, they may pursue more spiritual happiness. I paid "Fei, I was originally here to resolve the unpleasantness in life and immerse myself in the plot, but when I encounter something unpleasant, I may feel even worse."
(Li Ran, Guo Ke, and Xu Chen are pseudonyms)
Southern Weekend reporter. Zhu Yuan Southern Weekend Intern Dong Jiadi
Editor-in-Chief Li Muyan
