The musical "Apolonia" "produced in Shanghai" recently celebrated its thousandth anniversary concert. This immersive small theater musical, nicknamed "The Bistro" by fans, quickly became popular after it opened at the Asia Tower "Star Space No. 1" in the World of Performing Arts four years ago, and has gradually grown into a domestic environmental resident musical. The benchmark play has now ranked among the "must-see small theater musicals in Shanghai" on multiple social platforms.
Since then, popular new small theater plays such as "Little Beach" and "Little Flame" have sprung up. "Shanghai must-see" and "hot drama check-in" have attracted more and more young audiences, and there are even "musical girls" in tow. Bringing your luggage to watch a show has turned Shanghai's many new performing arts spaces into new popular cultural and tourism landmarks, driving a "spillover effect" on surrounding cultural, business and tourism consumption. According to data from the Shanghai Performance Industry Association, in the first half of this year, Shanghai's 100 new performing arts spaces completed 9,927 performances, attracting 1.683 million audiences and generating a total performance revenue of 147 million yuan.
Compared with the large productions and luxurious teams of large theater works, small theater performances pursue individuality and characteristics, and the performance format is more flexible. "Bar seats, card seats, wine box seats...at different viewing positions, you can see different worlds." "Coming to the ticket gate is like entering the entrance to a new time and space, with lighting, sound effects, and stage design. They complement each other and give people an immersive feeling." Bai Cha, a senior theater fan, said that the performance environment of the small theater brings a completely different theater viewing experience from traditional theaters. At the same time, immersive drama creation, which has been accelerated with the development of Shanghai's new performing arts space, "leads" the country in both quantity and quality, becoming a "Shanghai sample" for reform and innovation in the performing arts industry.
The "two-way rush" of theater and creation is behind the strong support and assistance of relevant policies. In 2019, when "Apolonia" was being prepared, Shanghai launched the "Shanghai New Performing Arts Space Operation Standards" for the first time: if it meets the indicators of no less than 50 performances per year, non-standard spaces in office buildings, shopping malls, and parks can be The theater is transformed into a new performing arts space. Driven by policies, Ruan Hao, general manager of Shanghai Yahua Lake Theater Management and Development Co., Ltd., launched "Star Space" and planned to open 100 small environmental theaters. A few years later, "Star Space" has developed into a new performing arts venue in Shanghai. The leading brand in the space is getting closer and closer to achieving its goal.
In 2020, including "Apolonia", "Star Space" only has 2 venues in the Asia Building. With the guidance and support of the government, "Star Space" has now opened from the Asia Tower to the Great World around the People's Square, the First Department Store Commercial Center and the World Trade Plaza. It currently has more than 50 small theater venues licensed at the municipal level and registered at the district level. indivual. "Star Space" is different from the grand theater in terms of scale and location. It currently accommodates various performances such as musicals, dramas, and dance dramas, creating a new consumption scene that integrates business, travel, culture, and sports. "The rise of new performing arts spaces, especially a large number of distinctive environmental-style on-site performances, attracts audiences to watch them repeatedly. The strong activity has greatly increased the brand stickiness of the performing arts world, boosted performance box office, and promoted surrounding business, tourism and cultural consumption. The growth also provides more jobs," Xu Yanqing, director of the Huangpu District Culture and Tourism Bureau, told reporters.
The small theater has become popular, and with it comes a large number of performances and rapid updates of repertoire. How to ensure the healthy and orderly development of performance supply? In this regard, the Performing Arts World is taking the lead in further promoting the reform of the literary and art system and striving to provide guarantee for the supply of high-quality culture. The country's first on-site review service for new repertoire performances, integrating high-quality government services throughout the entire process of on-site performances - for new on-site musicals, dramas and modern dance performances, on-site review of new repertoire performances, and officially Before the performance, the body language, costumes, props, scenes, and lighting should be properly controlled, problems existing in the creation and arrangement of the play should be discovered immediately, and the organizers should be urged to complete modifications before the official performance; and enterprises should be actively guided to complete the application for changes in performance content.
has many popular dramas such as the musical "Help", the musical "Night on the Galaxy Railway", the drama "Elephant Song", the drama "Before Drunk - Dopamine" and the suspense drama "Suffocation", etc., which are arranged by It was launched after review and became active on various stages in Shanghai."The cycle of performance creation has certain characteristics, especially the original plays that will be constantly adjusted and modified before their premiere. This kind of review service is very considerate, and it is achieved without limiting or affecting the performance sales cycle as much as possible. "Dynamic balance has been achieved." Man Ding, the producer of the small theater drama and the director of the Hard to Satisfy Drama Studio, expressed satisfaction with this policy service.
The reporter learned during the interview that in addition to the on-site new play performance review service, the Performing Arts World's first "script library" review model is also well received by the performance creation team; the credit evaluation system will be further improved and continuously optimized. The credit service model aims at "reducing materials and optimizing processes" for cultural tourism enterprises with good credit to achieve "increasing speed and efficient operation"... As the reform continues to deepen and service efficiency continues to improve, the Shencheng stage will open more cultural New scenes for travel and new space for art.
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Text: Jiang Fangtu: Pictures provided by the World of Performing Arts Editor: Fan Jing Editor: Xing Xiaofang
