After more than three months of intensive discussion and refinement, from August 6th to August 8th, four shortlisted works of the 2022 Chinese Original Musical Incubation Program “Octagon Pavilion Mist”, “The Man Who “Steals” the Story” and “Dinosaur Fierce Baba· Different Friends” and “Life” held a script reading session and song first singing sharing, which was also a mid-term assessment of the results of the first stage. The works entering the final stage will meet with industry insiders and audiences in the form of a workshop (showcase) at the end of the year.
Yesterday, the main creators, mentors and incubation plan reviewers of the four works were all present to introduce the highlights and progress of this incubation plan. Two specially invited incubation works were also announced on the same day: “The Sewing Machine Band” and “Lady Macbeth”. Creators with rich creative experience at home and abroad are invited to join these two works, and have the opportunity to enter the commercial stage in the near future.
The 2022 “Chinese Original Musical Incubation Program” is based on the incubation section of freely submitted works, and upholds the concept of enriching incubation types, optimizing creative talents and resources, tapping creative potential, and improving the survival rate, and upgrades a new mechanism for the incubation program. In addition to the free incubation in the past, a new track for directional incubation (jukebox incubation and film and television IP incubation) and specially invited incubation has also been established.
In 2022, there are 3 incubation tracks in the incubation plan, and a total of 74 works have been received. Among them, the free incubation section received 57 submissions, among which “Dinosaur Fierce Baba • A Different Friend” and “Life” were shortlisted for this year’s free incubation.
The shortlisted work “Dinosaur Fierce Baba” is the only parent-child family musical selected in the past four years. It has excellent creativity, IP accumulation, good music, skilled bands, and healing stories. It is a theme and style that is rarely encountered in the incubation plan. Songwriters and arrangers He Sinuo and Zhong Shu have been working on their works for many years, showing great enthusiasm and talent.
“Life” is adapted from French writer Maupassant’s novel of the same name. On the basis of respecting the original work, it creatively realizes the transformation as a musical form. The text closely revolves around the tragic fate of the protagonist Yana. The narrative is complete, the theme is clear, the idea is far-reaching, the contradictions and conflicts are intense, and the lyrics are beautiful and expressive. Screenwriter Wen Zhaoyi provided a very mature text for “Life”, giving the second creation the possibility of success. The incubation platform also matched composer Jiang Xiaoran into the team for the work, becoming a successful shortlisted musical in the C-type works of free incubation. The incubation judge director Xu Jun strongly promoted this work and was invited to serve as the incubation tutor of the work in person.
The directional incubation track is divided into the Jukebox musical incubation section in cooperation with Universal Music Copyright China and the film and television IP incubation section in cooperation with iQiyi Stardust Studio. Universal Music Copyright China selects 120 pieces of music with different styles from its music library and participates in the incubation of jukebox musicals. At the same time, it will also convene its creators to invest in the creation of musicals, in order to mobilize music resources and activate the creative ecology. “The “Stealer” of the Story, which entered the mid-term assessment, currently uses 17 songs from Universal Music’s copyrighted Chinese music library, and has created 2 additional original songs, which will be continuously adjusted during the incubation process.
iQIYI Stardust Studio provides three high-quality IPs – “The Mystery of the Octagon Pavilion”, “The Girl in Armor”, and “The Love of Two Worlds”, and works covering different themes of suspense, love, and ancient costumes have entered the incubation plan.
The specially invited incubation section has attracted much attention as a new track. This time, the Cultural Plaza officially announced that two works will be included in the specially invited incubation section, namely the musical “The Sewing Machine Band” and “Lady Macbeth”.
The musical “The Sewing Machine Band” is adapted from a well-known film and television IP. It is jointly managed by famous Hong Kong composer Gao Shizhang and American lyricist/screenwriter Robert Lee, and is managed by Ni Delun Global Entertainment and Phoenix Performing Arts. As China’s first original musical with a rock band as the theme, the musical version of “The Sewing Machine Band” attempts to tell a humorous, passionate, Wonderful, moving and interesting story, an excellent story belonging to local rock fans and musical fans, showing high literary and commercial value.
The musical “Lady Macbeth” is based on Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and tells the mysterious and unknown past of Mrs. Macbeth. The work was arranged and composed by James Beeny and Gina Georgio. In the spring of 2022, “Lady Macbeth” has undergone a round of small workshop presentations in London, inviting a number of West End musical stars and actors to participate. After joining the Shanghai Cultural Square Chinese Original Musical Incubation Program, the Chinese and British teams will continue to incubate all scripts and music with creators from both countries, and plan to complete 2-3 rounds of workshops in Shanghai and London this year and next. The play is expected to have its world premiere in Shanghai.
“Whether it is a fledgling newcomer or a mature creator who has become famous and established a family, the incubation mechanism is a scientific and pragmatic creation process and system.” said Fei Yuanhong, deputy general manager of Cultural Square and initiator of the Chinese original musical incubation plan. , two specially invited works invited outstanding “big names” in the musical theater industry to join. This is not only an attempt by Shanghai Cultural Plaza to integrate international resources and tap the creative potential through the incubation plan, but also an exploration of a sound creative model and industry original ecology. .
From a paper blueprint to a show4Yearly harvest
The “Chinese Original Musical Incubation Program”, as one of the important links of “Performing World – Shanghai International Musical Festival”, aims to allow creators, industry insiders and audiences to connect and speak on the same platform, and finally achieve the convergence of the musical industry. Resources, connecting the market demand of musicals, scientific musical incubation mechanism, cultivating new talents for musicals, and the desire to protect the rights and interests of musicals creation, in the process not only incubating “works”, but also incubating the musical industry such as screenwriters, composers, actors and so on. Therefore, it is known as “a pair of eyes that can see the broad future of the industry”. In the past four years, a total of 342 original works participated by 463 people participated in the submission of the incubation plan.
From the birth of Lingkong in 2019, a small harvest in 2020, and the formation of a closed-loop incubation in 2021, the “Chinese Original Musical Incubation Program” has deeply participated in the works from a paper blueprint to a performance, and the main creators from dreamers to professional creators. development and transformation. The first incubation works “Life and Death Sign”, “I’m Sorry, I Forgot” and “The Queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty” had their official premieres last year. Among them, “The Queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty” is a rare original hit, which is even in Shanghai. Two rounds of 17 performances, all sold out and one ticket is hard to find. The work will complete its first national tour in 16 cities by April 2023. “The Sign of Life and Death” will also start its second round of tours in 11 cities across the country this summer. The 2020 shortlisted works “Inaccessible” and “South Wall Project” have also been put into commercial production, and will be officially premiered in Hangzhou in October 2022 and Shanghai in May 2023 to meet the audience.
When Chinese works become the mainstream of the musical industry and the performance market under the normalization of epidemic prevention, Shanghai Cultural Plaza hopes to practice a scientific, professional and practical “supporting newcomers, innovating dramas, developing and promoting Chinese musicals” through the “Chinese Original Musical Incubation Program” for Chinese musicals. “New Bureau” of the original road of musicals.Return to Sohu, see more