China musicals have been developed for 20 years since they created and performed "Yangko Romance" and "Legend of White Snake". In these 20 years, China musicals have experienced ups and downs, however, there is still a long way to go from the developed countries in Europe and America in the presentation of their works, and even there are many gaps with the development of Japanese and Korean musicals. Last weekend, on the occasion of the 2nd Beijing Tianqiao Musical Performance Season, the "2016 Asian Musical Development Trend Forum" was held at the same time. How to develop China musicals became the focus of the forum.
There are many grand theaters that are idle.
In recent years, the hardware facilities of cultural construction have developed rapidly, and the grand theater has been rising all over China, which is gratifying. However, after the completion of the new theater, how to develop musical as one of the software has become an urgent problem.
Li Dun, a producer of musicals, believes that "musicals have developed rapidly in China. In 2014, there were 1,518 musical performances, an increase of 12.4% over the same period in 2013. Among them, 930 original musicals were performed, accounting for 60% of the total musical performances for the first time, and its development activity is close to the data of South Korea, a developed Asian musical country. On the other hand, the investment in national theater construction is too fast, but the supply of theater performance content is insufficient. Nearly one-third of the performance venues are idle or used for other purposes. Most local group performances are difficult to support local theaters, and more excellent performance groups and original plays are urgently needed. "
Experts attending the meeting thought that the hardware of Tianqiao Art Center, Shanghai Cultural Square and theaters in many places is already very good. In contrast, the original software of China musicals is still difficult to match the hardware, and there is no representative classic of China original musicals. The basic talent pool of musicals is not enough, and the market of musicals is not strong enough to support the perennial performances of theaters everywhere. These are the problems that need to be solved in the development of China musicals.
There is self-promotion but no good story.
There is no classic musical in China. This judgment comes from the fact that the original musical did not get good feedback after it was put into the market, and it can only be performed in one place for two or three times. The judgment of its standard comes more from self-promotion. In addition to the market operation problem, poor storytelling is one reason.
Lv Yisheng, former president of Beijing Dance Academy and founder of musical teaching major, said: "In the past two years, I have participated in large-scale competitions of mainstream groups, including musicals, operas and dance dramas, all of which are non-verbal arts, but there is also a drama problem. The foundation of drama cannot be laid, and it is useless to sing musicals and dance well. " Lv Yisheng compares the stage art that needs to tell stories with Hollywood and Broadway musicals. "We all choose real materials, but we make the real ones fake, and Hollywood makes the fake ones real."
In Lu Yisheng’s view, the poor storytelling of the script is mainly due to the writer’s cultivation: "Not only the cultivation of the bank, but also the cultivation of cross-border. You must have all aspects of cultivation to tell the story of the musical well."
There is a musical major, but no outstanding talents can be cultivated.
In the developed countries of musicals, a city has more than ten musicals every day, but no city in China can do it. In addition to the problem of original musical writers, finding musical actors is also a big problem.
Yin Haozhen, director of Korean musical, said: "One of the problems encountered in the development of musical in China is the cultivation of talents. In Seoul, South Korea, many musicals are staged every day. When recruiting actors for musicals, there will be about 1,500 actors for each role, and the professional education of musicals has become very popular. With this foundation, there will be great development of musicals. "
In China, although many art colleges now have musical majors, the talents trained are flawed, the actors from drama colleges lack singing and dancing skills, the dance and acting skills from music colleges are insufficient, and the singing skills from dance colleges are flawed, so it is difficult to find comprehensive high-level musical actors.
In musical teaching, some teachers have misunderstandings about students’ material selection and teaching, thinking that they can sing musicals if they can sing pop songs. Therefore, it is really hard to find an actor with a real dramatic voice. The weakness of talents is also a reason for the slow development of China’s original musicals.
Many musicals have no box office.
In addition, the operation mode did not form an effective scale of development, which also limited the development of China musicals. In original musical dramas, some are created as brands of regional cultural construction, and many of them have not really entered the market operation mode; Some musicals are produced and run by musicians themselves, and there is not much financial support. However, in developed countries in Europe and America, as well as South Korea and Japan, the main reason why musicals can form a climate is to enter the real market operation.
In the past two years, there have been seven-act musical production companies in the market, which have produced One Step to Heaven, Avenue Q, I, Don Quixote and The Sound of Music. Sha Qing, director of the application of Seven Acts Life, said: "Seven Acts thinks that musicals are more important in terms of operation, and we use a stupid method to make them — — The more money you spend, the better the product. We still take this very seriously. There is no shortcut to this. "
In terms of operation, the "Seven Acts" also adopted a "stupid" approach. Sha Qing said: "We expect to support ourselves at the box office. Perhaps it is smarter to burn investors’ money or rely on subsidies. However, we believe that if we want to develop healthily for a long time, we must rely on the box office. "
In this regard, some predecessors in the musical industry think that the idea of "Seven Acts" is a bit "idealistic". Because in the current market environment, although the annual box office income is constantly improving, on the whole, the pressure to rely solely on the box office to support themselves is still great.
However, in Sha Qing’s view, a company with no college background like "Seven Acts" has to earn enough money at the box office if it wants to survive for a long time, and every drama has to make money. Only in this way can we survive.
Fan Chong, a screenwriter and producer of musicals, said: "The biggest problem in China musicals is learning. Why study? Learn what? How to learn? First of all, producers and producers need to learn how to control the volume and scale of a play, how to evaluate the cost of a play, how to radiate values, and whether there is any soil for this play to perform in China. Drama needs rationality and data, cost control, and attracting the most audience with the least money. Creators should be rigorous and responsible to the audience, investors and theaters. Only by focusing on one thing can we witness the arrival of a musical era in China. "
Text/reporter Lun Bing
