Looking for an audience
Print Edition
SHANGHAI residents asked to name some of the headline musicals they’ve seen in Shanghai would no doubt mention “Cats,” “Mamma Mia!” and “Phantom of the Opera.”
Few would even think of original Chinese musicals, which still don’t rate much public notice but struggle to survive on the fringes of the spotlight.
Six original Chinese musicals are being staged this year as part of the annual Original Chinese Musical Season, sponsored by the Shanghai Culture Square.
The most popular of the sextet, “Turn Left, Turn Right,” based on Jimmy’s picture books, has sold 45 percent of available tickets. That’s still far less than the box office for Western musicals despite cheaper prices.
Local producers, composers, directors, stagehands and stars remain dogged in their quest for audience.
Musical stage productions have been popular in Shanghai since “Les Miserables” landed here in 2002. That was the trigger for development of original Chinese musicals.
Several well-known Chinese composers, including San Bao, Zhao Guang and Jin Fuzai, have shifted to writing musical original musical scores, and academies like the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai Theater Academy have started programs to train potential musical performers.
United Asia Live Entertainment and other entertainment companies including smaller theaters are helping promote domestic offerings. Shanghai Culture Square, opened in 2011, was designed as a venue for both foreign and domestic musicals.
Culture Square initiated the Original Chinese Musical Season in 2012 to provide a platform for local productions. In the first year, it mounted only one Chinese musical because of the small number of qualified productions on the market. But exposure has increased interest and participation in the genre.
The six productions to be staged this year were selected from 12 candidates, according to the event’s organizer. To encourage audiences, average tickets have been kept at about 180 yuan (US$27), barely covering expenses.
Despite some encouraging progress, Shanghai Culture Square Vice General Manager Fei Yuanhong said audiences still prefer the big productions from overseas.
Tickets for those events, though at higher prices, sell out quickly. Only one locally produced musical, “Jane Eyre,” staged at Culture Square in 2014, was sold out before the curtain went up.
“That fact proved the growing acceptance for original musicals,” Fei said. “Of course, it was a one-time show and only a limited number of tickets were available and at a very low price.”
The development of original musicals is still a work in progress.
In the first six months of 2015, according to the latest data from the Daolue Research Center on the Performance Industry, box office receipts for musicals reached about 93 million yuan, with 40 percent generated by overseas musicals. Only two of 40 original musicals lasted through 50 performances, while 55 percent folded within 10 performances.
One exception was “Shanghai-Band,” which ran for more than 200 performances at the Shanghai JDF Yunfeng Theater.
One problem is the relatively low quality of local musical productions, which lack the sophistication and glamour of foreign productions.
Many domestic productions have been subsidized by governmental bodies, composer Sao Bao said in a previous interview with Shanghai Daily.
In effect, they were propped up by official vanity instead of market appeal, he added.
“The production companies got the money, created a high-cost work, staged it two or three times, won official praise and prizes, and then it disappeared from the stage forever,” he said. “Why? Because the audiences didn’t like it. Bang! It’s dead.”
Zhao Guang, director of the musical major program at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, said too many local productions have been based on empty political concepts rather than on themes of personal emotions.
The introduction of musical productions in China was based on a three-step plan. First, overseas productions were staged to create an audience. Then Chinese versions of overseas musicals were encouraged to develop a talent base. And finally, original productions were encouraged.
But box office reality has not always gone to plan.
The Chinese versions of “Mamma Mia!” in 2011 and “Cats” in 2012, produced by United Asia Live Entertainment with the help of British teams, did well in first-round performances in Shanghai and Beijing, but their popularity waned quickly after that, according to Fei.
Culture Square’s later productions of Chinese-versions of “Looking for Kim Jong Wook” and “Feast of the Princess” performed even more poorly at the box office in 2013. That was the last of the Chinese versions in step two.
It’s hard to win over audiences smitten with the quality of top foreign musicals, Fei said. And not only that. Why buy a theater ticket if you can be entertained by movies at home at half the cost?
“Many people argue that theater musicals must be operated in a commercial basis,” Fei said. “But the market for original Chinese musicals is much poorer than that of classic music concerts. How can we expect a baby to survive in that environment?”
For now, the strategy is to keep ticket prices low and align production costs to box office reality.
“Cultivating the market and creating high-quality productions are closely linked,” Fei said. “As the market grows, so will creative output and audience acceptance. We are working toward that goal.”
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