Original musicals seek support
Three original Chinese musicals were staged over the weekend in Shanghai in an attempt to drum up attention from theater investors and promoters.
The shows emerged from a project organized by Shanghai Culture Square Theater Management Co and H.X. Communications. The project is part of the Shanghai International Musical Festival, and aims to identify high-quality unpublished original musicals and help bring them to market.
A total of 77 musicals applied for the project, which kicked off about a year ago. The three standout works were: “Draw Lots,” “Sorry I Forgot” and “Southern Tang Emperor." They received financial support and input from musical professionals during a revision process.
“Draw Lots” is a suspense story about seven high-school students; “Sorry I Forgot” has a surreal romantic plot; while “Southern Tang Emperor” focuses on the history of Southern Tang (AD 937-975) Emperor Li Yu.
The joint performance was staged at downtown Huangpu Theater, during which each show presented a 40-minute act. Creators of the musicals then communicated with industry insiders and audience members.
“Draw Lots” is a suspense story about seven high-school students.
“Sorry I Forgot” is a surreal love story.
“Southern Tang Emperor” focuses on the history of Emperor Li Yu.
“We were constantly changing the music, and there were lots of collisions and arguments inside the creative team,” said Yan Yi, composer of “Sorry I Forgot.”
“But it was a learning process on how to connect music, drama and performing skills.”
According to musical producer Wang Haixiao, who was invited to help revise “Sorry I Forgot,” the musical features a lot of genres including rock and rap.
“We spent quite some time organizing the music for the work,” said Wang. “It’s a love story involving the topic of life and death, so the challenging part lied in how to balance the fun and depth of the plot.”
The three musicals are currently looking for investors and producers.
Shanghai Culture Square Theater Management Co also announced that the cultivation project of the 2020 Shanghai International Musical Festival kicked off this week.
