"We have been cooperating with the Vienna Union Theater vbw in Austria for 10 years. In fact, 14 years have passed since we wrote the first letter. It has been 10 years since "Elizabeth" was actually launched in 2014. German and Austrian musicals have become more and more influential in China, especially in Shanghai, and their influence seems to have surpassed many Broadway and London West End productions. 10 years later, we may be able to understand culture from a deeper level. , market, and do more cultural and industrial exchanges between China and Austria. "
On November 3, Fei Yuanhong, general manager of Shanghai Cultural Plaza, was at the "China-Austria Musical Theater". "Cultural and Industry Salon" made such an opening statement, expressing the original intention of planning this exchange event.
"China-Austria Musical Culture and Industry Salon" poster
"China-Austria Musical Culture and Industry Salon" scene
Since 2014, Shanghai Culture Plaza planned to introduce the pinnacle German musical "Elizabeth" and performed it for 40 consecutive performances. In the past 10 years, Shanghai Culture Plaza has introduced the classic German musical "Mozart!" ” and a series of “German Musical Star Concerts” have established a solid and strong audience base for German musicals in Shanghai and even across the country. The domestic musical introduction market, once dominated by British and American musicals, has been completely "subverted" by this.
In September this year, "Elizabeth" returned to Shanghai after 10 years as a musical version of the concert, once again setting off a craze for performances. From November to December, the German musical classic "Butterfly Dream", also co-produced by Michel Kunze and Sylvester Reevi, two national treasure masters in the German and Austrian musical theater world, and the narration Ludwig II: The Return of the King, the legendary German musical of the "Fairytale King", will also make its debut on the Chinese stage in the form of a musical version of a concert. At the end of the year, the Shanghai stage will usher in a new wave of German musical performances.
"Butterfly Dream" stills
All these German musicals are produced and produced by the Union Theater vbw in Vienna, Austria. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary, vbw’s CEO, artistic director, musical chief producer, and international project director all came to Shanghai to review 10 years of cooperation and participate in in-depth exchanges. Many guest scholars from the Shanghai music industry, critics, academia and media also discussed and discussed at the salon why German and Austrian musicals are so popular and influential today? Why has the Chinese musical market changed?
The ten-year history of the introduction of German musicals to China
From the time when the audience was initially introduced to German musicals, the audience knew nothing about them, to 2016 when "Mozart!" "When "Elizabeth" came back to perform in Shanghai, 63% of the individual guests purchased tickets, and when "Elizabeth" returned 10 years later, 95% of the individual guests purchased tickets. German-Austrian musicals have now won more and more fans in the Shanghai market. Among the huge audience base, many viewers will participate in repurchase. In the past 10 years, the situation where the audience only knew British and American musicals was broken. Shanghai Cultural Plaza has since become a performance and introduction center for European musicals in China. French musicals and Spanish musicals have also begun to enter the Shanghai and Chinese markets.
《Mozart! "Stills
Looking back on the 10-year process, Fei Yuanhong, who initially promoted and planned the introduction of "Elizabeth", was very emotional. "In 2014, "Elizabeth" came to China for the first time. At that time, many people did not know that there was a German musical. The pressure of 40 performances was very high. We still have to thank our sponsors for their support at the time. We used the box office that year It is difficult to recover the cost, but we still developed such a project. However, after "Elizabeth", Shanghai gathered a relatively large core group of German-speaking English audiences, and it also expanded everyone's understanding of music. The language and aesthetics of the play are diversified.”
In Fei Yuanhong’s view, the audience for German and Austrian musicals is stronger than Broadway musicals, and the stars of German musicals have gradually developed a large fan base in Shanghai. The numerous celebrity concerts that followed also gave Cultural Plaza an "autumn harvest" in box office revenue after the previous "spring plowing".
With the return of "Elizabeth" in the form of a musical version of the concert in September this year, the 21 performances once again set a new high in box office sales after word-of-mouth fermentation. "Shanghai audiences have become more and more accustomed to watching the original versions of classic dramas. Although the German musical market is niche, the compound purchase rate is very high, and we have also seen the iteration of market audiences."
Fei Yuan, General Manager of Shanghai Cultural Plaza Hong
hopes for all his creations to "make the audience want to enter the theater."
has cooperated with Shanghai Culture Square for 10 years. Austria's Vienna Union Theater (referred to as vbw) has so far and will soon bring 4 musicals under the theater to Shanghai. Franz Partey, CEO of the theater, said that VBW is a joint theater organization composed of three theaters in Vienna, Austria, including Raimund Theater, Ronacher Theater and Vienna River Theater. theater an der wien). Unlike many national theaters, these theaters were funded by Austrian citizens and reflected the will and needs of the citizens.
Among them, the oldest Vienna River Theater was built in 1801 and has a history of 223 years. Vienna is not only the capital of Austria, but also historically the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the center of European culture, leaving behind a very magnificent and splendid culture and art. It has a long tradition of music and drama in the German-speaking region, including a rich accumulation of opera. It is also the center of early operettas. Famous musicians such as Beethoven have performed works here and sought fame.
Since the 1960s, the Vienna River Theater has introduced a large number of American musicals and performed German versions. The Vienna River Theater also laid the foundation for musical theater culture in the German-speaking area. In the 1980s, vbw, a joint venture between three theaters, was established and began to produce original German-language large-scale musicals to compete with British and American musicals. Since the release of the first German musical "Elizabeth" in 1992, vbw has created 10 original German musicals.
"Elizabeth" stills
"Elizabeth" is a story about the Austrians themselves, telling the life of the Empress of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Princess Sissi, who is familiar to all Chinese audiences. This musical became an instant hit in German-speaking countries, ran in Austria for 5 years, and became popular around the world. It first landed in Japan in 1996, and soon had a Hungarian translation. To date, the play has been translated into more than seven languages and is still performed around the world.
As for the reason why vbw's plays are so popular around the world, the theater's artistic director Christian Stupeck said that vbw is very careful when choosing original play themes. The 10 works so far are all looking for a wider range of , a theme that can give audiences around the world a sense of connection. "But this is actually a difficult thing, because you have to constantly explore a wider range of issues, and these issues have been discussed and chosen a lot, and there is not much space anymore."
vbw Art Director Christian Stupeck
Franz Patai said that because VBW's theaters are relatively old and have limited seats, the fewer seats determines a lower box office ceiling. But even so, vbw is not willing to compromise the quality of the stage performance. For this reason, in addition to their performance income, they will also apply for government financial subsidies. In return, they will provide Austrian citizens with a cheaper opportunity to attend theaters and provide high-quality performances without too many boundary barriers.
"All the plays and performances we do hope to make the audience want to enter the theater." Franz Patai said.
vbw CEO Franz Partey
The profound German and Austrian cultural traditions behind the Vienna musical
The popularity of the German and Austrian musicals in Shanghai has also attracted the attention of academia, critics and the media.
Tao Xin, a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, believes that vbw’s German-Austrian musicals are in the same vein as Vienna’s art, and have the same seriousness as those classical music. At the same time, Vienna’s art also has a very important feature, which is its civic character.Although it is also a "high culture", it is not only a culture created with money by princes and nobles since the Renaissance, but also has its own considerable citizen character. But this kind of citizen characteristic is different from mass entertainment.
Tao Xin said that if you compare the German-Austrian version of "Mozart" with the French version of "Mozart," you will find that the theater effect of "Fazza" is more lively and enthusiastic, but the German version is still more profound in terms of character portrayal and ideological depth. something.
"We often say that musicals are a mass entertainment thing. For example, American Broadway musicals are a very popular thing. But the Vienna musical is different in its popularity, citizen nature and mass entertainment. It has That kind of exploration of philosophy impressed me deeply. "
" Vienna's music also has a broader musical background, whether it is German, Hungarian or Czech. , and even Italian music, a large amount of music is gathered and integrated in Vienna." Tao Xin, who studies the history of Western music, said that from a musical perspective, this also provides a good foundation and foundation for German and Austrian musicals. At the same time, many of vbw's 10 original musicals are historical themes and related to the city and country. There are many places that can be discussed in depth.
, like Tao Xin, likes German cultural works. Sun Mengjin, a literary critic who watches German movies and German dramas all year round, also believes that the profound and literary nature of German dramas is also reflected in Vienna musicals.
"When I watched "Elizabeth", I felt that it was very literary. The lyrics were much better than those in American dramas, and they were very profound." Sun Mengjin said that the German musical also gave him a great experience: it does not shy away from giving the audience a tragedy "strike". "Many people know that watching a musical is a joyful and joyful thing, but this is not the case with German musicals. Princess Sissi is completely different from the fairy tale characters we used to know, and is a more realistic historical figure. I think this is a very wonderful place.”
In Sun Mengjin’s view, studying musicals in Vienna should be placed in the historical and cultural context of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Historically, in addition to Austria and Hungary, the Czech Republic also belonged to this empire. , they have had writers like Kafka, and Austrian history has also had two Nobel Prize winners in literature, Jelinek and Peter Handke. "So in German and Austrian musicals, what I can see is a depth of life and the world, which I have always liked very much."
Tao Xin said with emotion, "I think Vienna musicals are particularly popular in China. It is a very gratifying thing to be welcomed by our young audience in Shanghai, and we can feel what young people like.”
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