The Tony Award winning – 42nd Street，was first put on stage in 1980. This Broadway Musical tells the story about how young actress Peggy Sawyer grows from a chorus girl to a Broadway star, and fulfilled her dream of America. Tony Award is the most honorable award for stage performances, and is only awarded for artistic groups in Broadway. With one of the grandest scenes in Broadway, over 50 cast members and thousands of costumes presented a luxurious Broadway of 1920s when 42nd Street was first performed in Broadway in 1980.

From New York to Toronto, and London to Sydney, 42nd Street harvests 3,486 performances all around the world till now. In September 2007, the musical will be introduced to China, and unveil the newly founded Broadway China Network. On March 21, 2007, Broadway China Network was officially founded in the Ministry of Culture of China. At the same day, representative of the Network said in the news conference that “the oncoming 42nd Street will bring an exactly the same musical staff from New York.” However, lots of Broadway musicals came to China to test the market had their performance effects more or less “discounted” due to some technical difficulties in stage arrangement and sound effects.

The founding of Broadway China Network thanks to the revised version of the Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Performing Arts newly promulgatedby the State Council in September, 2005. The Regulation for the first time permits China-overseas show brokers and theater management joint venture companies. Thanks to the Regulation, the joint-ventured Oriental Broadway International Theatre Management Company (BOBITMC), operator of Broadway China Network was established by Beijing Time New Century Entertainment Co, Ltd and Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment which is renowned in Broadway. Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment is one of the three largest performance brokers in Broadway, running 9 theaters in Broadway and managing thousand ones all around the world. Apart from 42nd Street, it has invested, produced and operated numerous well-known performances such as the West Side Story，Beauty and the Beast, the King and I, Chicago, the Lion King, etc..

Market Testing after Six Year

Ms. Chen Jixin, Board Chairwoman of Beijing Time New Century Entertainment Co, Ltd and Mr. Robert Nederlander, Jr, Board Chairman of Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment have been waiting for six years for the cooperation. Ms. Chen Jixin successfully introduced “the 3 Tenors” in 2001 as a performance broker when she was employed by a large state-owned performance broker company. The short-term profit from individual performances put her into deep thought about cooperation with large overseas companies to operate theater networks by borrowing their capital and management experiences.

Just at that time, she met Robert Nederlander, Jr who came to China for market investigation and has been seeking opportunities from 2001 to bring Broadway musicals to China. Accompanied by Ms. Chen in the following years, he contacted some theaters in large and medium sized cities and concluded that “there is a group of loyal musical funs in China.” however, not until March 2006 when the Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Performing Arts was promulgated that Ms. Chen Jixin and Robert Nederlander, Jr founded Oriental Broadway, and the Broadway China Network in March 21st of this year.

“In short, Broadway China Network conducts theater renovation and training on management, service and ticketing in those better theaters existing in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai in China, and brings shows by Broadway performers,” described Chen Jixin about her Network, “it is not simply an alliance, but a full set of concept of design and schedule arrangement of programs and marketing, so as to improve the efficiency and profit of theaters and foster a community of mature audience.”

This is not the first time for Broadway to enter China. As early as 2004, Broadway Asia Entertainment introduced the Sound of Music to China, which was the first national tour in China for Broadway musicals. Following that, other classic Broadway musicals such as Cats, Rent, the Phantom of the Opera, and the West Side Story have tested the market in China.

Lots of Broadway musicals came to China had their performance effects more or less “discounted” due to some technical difficulties in stage arrangement and sound effects; however, there were survivors such as the West Side Story in Beizhan Theater in May 2006. General Manager Gao Qi of the undertaker—China Performing Entertainment and Culture Co. Ltd, is till surprised by the precise management of the Broadway Tour: first is to arrange the stage according to time schedule, all sound systems were installed by American staff, Chinese party were not allowed to intervene. The performance would never start if stage arrangement did not meet the Broadway technical requirements. All lighting and scene sets were put in six containers, and stage set and property and sound system were carried by American staff themselves. Nothing had been chosen from local places to prevent performance defects resulted from substitutions.”

Broadway’s knots in China
“Strictly speaking, Broadway does not have network in New York. Nederlander owns several theaters, each of them presents various musicals all around the year.” Chen Jixin thinks that presently there are inadequate conditions for successive year-long performances in China, and Broadway musicals have to take the form of national tour (i.e. the Network) to realize profits through performance-of-scale. However the newly born Broadway China Network can not compete
with the well marketized Film Network, “nowadays theaters are on the stage of system transformation with little anti-risk capability.”

General Manager Chi Tao of Qingdao People’s Congress Hall has deep impression for this. Since 2005, a Deputy General Manage of Nederlander has been to Qingdao People’s Congress Hall for signing of cooperation framework expecting the theater to share risks by means of investment but was refused by Chi Tao. “It was a good proposal, but the market in Qingdao is at least ten years after Beijing and Shanghai with little capacity. Audiences are not keen at buying tickets and enterprises are not willing to sponsor cultural industry.”

Before 42nd Street enters China, Oriental Broadway reached a cooperative agreement of strategic investment with Ticketmaster—a leading ticketing company in the world, who will greatly finance Broadway China Network and establish his own data system to form out a huge ticket distribution network. Furthermore, to cultivate Broadway-style performers who are good at both singing and dancing, Oriental Broadway reached a strategic alliance with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation: i.e. partial ticket income from the markets chosen by both parties will be donated to the Foundation and used to hold the Sino-America Musical Summer Camp.

Chi Tao emphasizes that the success of Broadway comes from the unique status and commercial culture of New York City. Tourists are the source of musical audience. According to the statistics from the alliance of American theaters and producers, the annual income on tickets solely reaches USD 500 million, the total revenue exceeds USD 5 billion, the number of audience amounts 10 million, and 25 million celebrities from various circles come to visit. Chi Tao states that after hundred years of operation, the theaters, producers and brokers in Broadway have formed into a complete business system. To form a similar market structure under the condition that lacks operational capability, Chinese theaters have a long way to go.

Editor: Jiang Hong jiangh@newcenturyweekly.com