Fanfare for the new theater season
Print Edition
WITH a new season full of international hits ahead, Shanghai Culture Square hopes to ignite a relationship between the city’s residence and the stage that will last a lifetime.
On average, every resident goes to the theater once every three years, leaving much room to grow, and experts are determined to tap into the market and introduce new audiences to the wonders of the stage.
Mathew Bourne’s ballet “Sleeping Beauty,” the Shanghai-produced Musical “Spring Awakening” based on German playwright Frank Wedekind’s work, the critically acclaimed Blue Man Group World Tour, and the Austrian Musical “Mozart!” are among the biggest highlights this coming season.
“The four works are greatly different in style, yet each stands out in their own category. I am confident that most audiences will fall in love with at least one of the four programs, or probably, all of them,” optimistic Fei Yuanhong, the program director of Shanghai Culture Square, said.
In addition, ice skaters will bring “Swan Lake” on the rink, and Chinese drama will also be staged, including “Empress Wu,” as well as dramas based on popular online novels like “Legend of Sword 3” and “The Three-Body Problem,” with which Fei and his team hope to hook a younger generation to the theater.
“We want the season to be as versatile as possible, to provide as many choices as possible for audiences with different tastes,” Fei said.
Cultivating the theater market is still a big challenge for Shanghai’s 130 theaters, according to Zhang Zhe, president of Shanghai Grand Theater.
Though most theaters in Shanghai staged more than 200 performances last year, it’s the interest of the general population that’s worrying.
“In Europe, each person averagely goes to the theater three times a year; while in Shanghai, the number is only 0.3, which means that averagely each Shanghai resident goes to the theater once every three years,” Zhang said.
Apart from lowering the general prices or providing certain amount of low-price tickets, theaters like Shanghai Grand Theater, Shanghai Culture Square and Shanghai Concert Hall have set up programs that they hope will help people who have so far been unfamiliar with the theater to start appreciating stage performances.
“Musicals — either overseas or locally produced — still occupy most of our annual schedule, while we are also open to other types of performances that are fashionable and up to date,” Fei said. “I hope that the creators of the performances we selected...can lecture or communicate with the audiences at our educational program afterwards.”
After 20 years’ absence, Shanghai Culture Square was re-opened with a focus on musical stage performances in 2012. The Square has gradually expands its annual performances to about 280 shows today, including musical, dance, drama, and experimental plays and welcomed about 300,000 people last year.
“Going to the theater is not about learning a technique or absorbing some knowledge, but to feel and experience art, and thus release your soul,” Fei said.
• Ballet ‘Sleeping Beauty’
‘Sleeping Beauty’ to be staged at Shanghai Culture Square from August 16 to 28 is the latest production of Mathew Bourn based on Tchaikovsky’s work.
The ballet tells the classic story of a princess who is cursed by a witch and falls into a deep sleep, from which only the kiss of a brave prince can awaken her 100 years later. Yet instead of an ordinary prince, Bourn sends the princess’s lover, who turned into a vampire just to live until the day he can awaken her.
While the show stays true to Tchaikovsky’s music, contemporary expression and Gothic elements are used to create a dark and thrilling atmosphere on stage.
“It is often said that dance is good at expressing emotion yet poor in telling stories, but Bourn is an exception. He is very good at telling stories in his own way.” Chinese dancer Huang Doudou said.
• Musical ‘Spring Awakening’
Based on Frank Wedekind’s original drama, “Spring Awakening” is a reproduction of Broadway rock musical that will be shown at Shanghai Culture Square from September 23-25. The musical gained eight Tony Awards and four Olive Awards including that for Best Musical and Best Original Music.
The songs are kept in English, while the dialogues will be performed in Chinese.
“I was really impressed by the musical when I first saw it in New York 2007. It is about dreams, and it’s about the struggle, love and braveness in teenage times that many of us know,” Liu Lingfei, a leading actor in “Spring Awakening,” said.
• Blue Man Group World Tour
Three enigmatic bald and blue characters will take local audiences through a multi-sensory experience that combines theater, percussive music, art, science and vaudeville into a form of entertainment, when they stop in Shanghai from November 16 to December 4. “Though most theater show requires behaved audiences holding their emotions inside, the performance of Blue Man Group always encourages passionate participation of the audiences,” says Li Chen, a local TV host who has seen the show. “Audiences can shout, dance and get as high as possible in the theater.”
• Musical ‘Mozart!’
As a Christmas gift, Shanghai Culture Square is bringing the Austrian musical “Mozart!” to the city.
Produced by Vereinigte Buehnen Wien (VBW), “Mozart!” features the struggles of the famous composer Mozart at odds with the world that surrounds him, as well as the timeless drama of growing up and growing older.
“The profound philosophical message common in German-Austrian musicals can communicate with the Chinese who also enjoyed quite rich cultural legacies of the type,” Fei of Shanghai Culture Square said.
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