“In Shanghai, the ‘musical capital of Asia’, the musical market is full of flowers. You have seen French musicals and German musicals, but you have not seen Russian productions. After you have seen so many small Korean theater productions, I hope Everyone can come and feel the charm of the classics.” The person who said this was Jia Fan, the star of the Chinese version of “Anna Karenina” and one of Vronsky’s actors, recommended.
On the evening of the 15th, as the first Chinese version of the musical imported from the original Russian version, this Russian musical based on Tolstoy’s masterpiece “Anna Karenina” has undergone more than a year of localization preparations and The production finally unveiled the mystery of the national premiere of the Chinese version at the Shanghai Grand Theater.
On the afternoon of the 14th, the reporter took the lead in visiting the rehearsal scene of the class. The curtain opened and the station full of exotic flavors appeared in front of us, followed by the 19th-century opera house, the winter skating rink, the gorgeous court dance, and the Russian countryside in summer. It is presented one by one through the clever scheduling of the scenery. If you have not read the original book, you will be overwhelmed by the tight plot and scene switching. Feeling the excellent production by the Russian side and the careful polishing and localization of the Chinese creators, the Chinese director Lei Yue said with emotion: “We are one of the few works that dare to shout that the audience will come back after watching the original.” When an actor, “reading the original work” becomes the first test for an actor.
All the efforts of the main creators are all in the hope that after introducing the Russian musical, especially a literary classic adaptation into China for the first time, it can be presented to the audience in a more rigorous and sophisticated manner.
The play is starring Xu Lidong, Zhang Huifang, Hongzhiguang, Jia Fan and other first-line mainstream musical actors. It is produced by Beijing Zhongyan Cultural Service Co., Ltd. and Boya (Beijing) Culture Media Co., Ltd. under China International Culture Group Co., Ltd., Tianjin Song and Dance Theater, Co-produced by Chengdu Xingwen Investment Development Co., Ltd. It is understood that after the first round of performances in Shanghai, the play will start a tour in more than ten cities across the country.
Set off a storm of Russian aesthetics on the stage of musicals
Indeed, as far as Chinese audiences are concerned, Russian musicals are still in the minority. The Russian musical “Anna Karenina” is very famous in Russia. The play was created by the Moscow Light Opera House in Russia. Yuli Jin, one of the four major bards, condensed the magnificent original work into a 2-hour volume. When it was launched in 2016, it was firmly seated on the box office mythical throne of that year. In 2019, Zhang Nianxian, general manager of Boya (Beijing) Culture Media Co., Ltd., was able to see this Russian “popular” musical in Moscow. She sighed, “regardless of its staging, music, all aspects are particularly shocking!” And the Russian producer who invited her to watch the play had a bold proposal – why not make it into a Chinese version? Zhang Nianxian readily agreed: “I think all the audience, including myself, will like it very much.” In this way, she became the producer and producer of the Chinese version of the musical “Anna Karenina”.
However, the real implementation is faced with a series of problems. Especially at a time when the world‘s performing arts landscape is full of uncertainty, such a large-scale production of Sino-foreign cooperation is launched. Fortunately, during the epidemic, another producer and producer of the show, Wang Lu, general manager of China Cultural Tourism of China International Culture Group, participated and embarked on the arduous road of production together. “When Zhang Nian first recommended the Chinese version of “Anna Karenina” to me, my eyes lit up and I thought it was a very good cultural project.” Wang Lu said, “Anna Karenina This image has a brand-like presence in people’s hearts. It is precisely because of Anna’s charm and the power of IP that when we recruited the Chinese main creative team and actor team in the industry, we have attracted many excellent directors and actors to participate actively. In more than half a year During the time, this excellent team of choreographers and actors, in order to completely and accurately restore the quality of the Russian version of “Anna Karenina”, rehearsed hard, polished it repeatedly, made arduous efforts, and devoted a lot of effort. “
It is reported that in order to ensure the best degree of restoration, the Chinese version of the musical has launched several rounds of online and offline auditions across the country since February this year, gathering nearly 50 outstanding actors. Become an industry story. After four months of script polishing and two months of closed rehearsal in Beijing, the high-quality output of the musical was guaranteed.
“The Russian stage is not only a drama, a musical, an opera, as long as it is stage art, it pays great attention to details and group portraits,” Chinese director Lei Yue said when expounding his experience in creating and rehearsing, “Our actors have There are nearly 50 members, 18 members of our ballet company, 8 members of the chorus, including more than a dozen character actors, each of whom has his own story on the stage, and all of them build a vivid picture. For me, the first step is to capture the atmosphere of the group portrait. As long as we grasp the essence of the show, that is, the details of the group portrait, and we have captured this detail, then I can tell my audience with great certainty that you Don’t worry, come and buy tickets, I will definitely give you a stage that belongs to Russia with a rigorous, magnificent and huge audio-visual enjoyment. I also dare to assure my audience that this is what I see and what I think is the Russian stage The best part, and the essence of it, we’ve kept it intact and amplified it.”
Interviews, translations, team formation, rehearsals… If we saw Anna Karenina’s brave appearance in pursuit of the “true love” in her heart challenging the world and maintaining her true self, we saw a group of women behind the scenes. Under the leadership of the main creator, the tenacity to polish high-quality creations. From the online creation meeting to the more than one month closed rehearsal, the main creative team has overcome various practical difficulties and made the impossible possible.
Pay close attention to the Chinese lyrics, so as not to damage the original music’s brilliance
The show opens with the famous train scene, with punk-inspired steel frames and locomotives throughout. A group of performers appeared like ghosts, and under the leadership of the conductor, sang “Go forward, go forward”. According to Lei Yue, the original pronunciation of this lyric is “du da”, which means “go there”. During the translation process, everyone discussed this word repeatedly, hoping that it would not only be close to the original semantics and Chinese expression habits, but also complement the music. In the end, Liu Wenfei, the literary consultant and interpreter of the play, came up with the word “forward”, the meaning of which is clear to the Chinese audience, and it also highlights the profound proposition that this work discusses love and death, ideal and destiny.
On the one hand, the reason why it is so hard to compare is that the creators respect the literary masterpieces. Liu Wenfei is a translator of Russian literature, president of the Chinese Russian Literature Research Association, and recipient of the Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation. He has translated many Russian classics such as Pushkin’s Poems. He said that among all Russian literary works, “Anna Karenina” is the work that has been translated into the most languages, and it is also the work that has been adapted into the most other art forms, such as plays, films, musicals, etc. Only film and television There are seven or eight versions of the play. The musical version of “Anna Karenina” is very faithful to the original work, and retains the poetry of the original work to the greatest extent possible. What he wants to do is to convey this poetic feeling to the Chinese audience to the greatest extent possible.
On the other hand, because of the language differences in the process of localization of overseas musicals, the matching degree of music and lyrics cannot be completely consistent with the original version. This undoubtedly detracts from the brilliance of the original music. You know, the music is the biggest highlight of the show. Sing well and listen well. Lei Yue introduced that the main creator not only scrutinized the script and lines in the previous online meeting, but also invited people in the industry to “blind listening”. If you can understand 70% of the semantics without reading the subtitles, you can pass the test.
In terms of character settings, Liu Wenfei believes that the conductor of the train in the musical is the finishing touch. “The image of the conductor, similar to the captain of an ancient Greek chorus, not only plays the role of conductor in the plot, but is not always the conductor, and has other multiple identities. In terms of dramatic expression, he also has a dark image. Represents the fate of the main characters like Death. This theatrical treatment has been widely used in dramas since the image of Mephistopheles, the devil, the temptation, was created in Faust.”
In addition, he believes that the musical version of “Anna Karenina” is very clever in excavating and amplifying the elements of Russian music. Especially the scene where Patty was in the theater. “Patti didn’t even have a detailed character in the original work, it was Sjivati who said we were going to the theatre and how hot the singer from Italy was. But in the musical, Patti’s image was It was magnified. And the songs sung by Patty are the finishing touches of the whole play, and the oppression caused by all kinds of people in the upper class in the theater pushed Anna’s feelings to the climax.”
Focusing on women, trying to break through the current consumption aesthetic stereotype of the musical theater market
As a treasure of world literature and art, “Anna Karenina” has been adapted through countless films and stages, leaving various classic images: Greta Garbo, Vivien Leigh, Sophie Marceau, Keira Knightley Many women have fallen in love with this role.
And when such a grand novel hits the forefront of the current stage art, it is also a challenge to the existing consumer market structure. As one of Anna’s actors, Zhang Huifang, who has participated in musicals competing in variety shows, said, “I have heard that there is no market for female lead plays in the past two years, so consider changing careers, because more than 90% of musical audiences are women. “I didn’t respond, I just waited until Anna Karenina was officially announced. I, and my girls, will make up my own mind,” she was firm.
If the actors on stage tried to hand over the wonderful answers of the “big heroine”, the staff behind the scenes hoped to restart the big IP to activate the musical market under the influence of the world epidemic. Industry insiders believe that although the Chinese musical market has developed rapidly in recent years, most of them are small musicals with small and medium costs, and there is a lack of appealing big IPs. Previously, the resident performance project at the Grand Theater mainly relied on overseas original productions. Under the influence of the overseas epidemic, the plays imported from the original version cannot be performed in China. Rather than seeking stability, it is better to seek changes and seek breakthroughs in the creation and arrangement of the Chinese version of large-scale copyrighted musicals.
And this requires the main creator to check the production layer by layer and hand over a sophisticated production that can satisfy the audience. For this reason, the crew of “Anna Karenina” invited the original Russian crew to do the work in person, and the director Alina Chevik did it personally. For nearly three months, he worked together with the Chinese cast and crew online. Although it was full of hardships and challenges such as the epidemic and the jet lag at work, with the persistence and joint efforts of all parties, the Chinese version of “Anna Karenina” was completed as scheduled. In this regard, Alina Chewick is also deeply gratified, she believes that Chinese audiences will definitely like this musical. In addition, the Chinese main creative team has gathered a group of big names who are active in the domestic musical theater market, including young theater director Lei Yue, cross-border musician Zhao Jiyun, senior choreographer Yu Chenxi, senior vocal music director Li Ruoyi, etc. The powerful team and the original Russian lighting, stage, and costumes ensure that the Chinese version of “Anna Karenina” reproduces the exquisite grandeur and epic temperament of the original.
It is reported that after the Chinese version of the musical “Anna Karenina” premiered at the Shanghai Grand Theater on October 15, it will be performed at Hangzhou Grand Theater, Shenzhen Binhai Art Center, Guangzhou Grand Theater, Beijing Tianqiao Art Center, Xiamen Minnan 10 city theaters, including the Grand Theater and Chengdu City Music Hall, started their first round of national tours that lasted for three months.
Author: Huang Qizhe
Edit: Wei Zhong
Responsible editor: Xing Xiaofang
Photo: Photo courtesy of the performer
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