| Source: Liaoning Daily 2007-4-4 |
Reporter Yang Jing
Recently, the first joint venture theatre network in mainland China ¨C New Century Nederlander ¡°Broadway China Network¡± announced its formally establishment in Beijing. This is the first performance planning and theatre management joint venture company approved under the newly Revised Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Performing Arts. The joint venture company will specialize in introducing Broadway musicals into China. This signifies that from now on, China¡¯s stage performance sector will be operated in the same way film network is operated, and that major theatre performances will spring up all over China just like major films. Very soon, Chinese audience will be able to enjoy authentic and original Broadway musicals from the U.S. right here at home. Broadway is here. What Can China¡¯s Cultural Industry Learn from ¡°Broadway¡± Debut?
Broadway is coming; is it a ¡°wolf¡± in the market? Some from inside the industry predict that the establishment of Broadway China Network signifies that ¡°Beijing¡¯s performance market will enter into the phase where operation will be industrialized¡±, and that ¡°it will cause a tremendous impact to certain show runners and ticketing companies¡±. Their predictions might be overly optimistic. For one thing, high ticket price might bar the audience out. It is reported that the average ticket price for Broadway China Network¡¯s musicals ranges from USD 30 ~ 40, which translates into roughly RMB 240 ~ 320. In a country where the capacity for cultural consumption is relatively low, how many people are actually willing to pay out of their pockets? Secondly, after all, one needs to be nurtured in Western culture in order to understand and embrace American style musicals. Musicals are mostly comedies with full of humorous elements. Can Chinese audience ¨C lacking in cultivation of Western culture, really buy those humors instantly as American audience do? In addition, musicals are mainly performed in the formats of singing and dancing, the storyline on the other hand, is just a thin thread linking the dances together; that is to say, unlike American films, musicals lack universal themes related to humanity which could strike the chord of just any audience. It is truly a difficult task for Chinese audience to accept Broadway culture. However, this does not stop us from gaining some insights through the entering of Broadway into China. To China and to our province that are endeavoring to find even greater breakthroughs in our cultural industry, Broadway¡¯s launching into China is especially worth learning from.
Broadway¡¯s operation and development
As Broadway is not a non-profit cultural enterprise, it relies solely on itself for its business operations and development. Broadway began creating musicals in 1912. As of today, it has established its own theatre networks in the United States and in London, the United Kingdom. Broadway represents the highest artistic achievement and the greatest business achievement within the drama and theatric industries. The Broadway Enterprise can be mainly divided into three categories: first, theatre runners; second, producers; third, show brokers. Theatre runners usually own the theatres or rent them in the long-term; in addition, they are responsible for the daily work at the theatres and other technical elements. Producers refer to companies that develop and create Broadway shows. On the one hand, producing companies are responsible for acquiring all legal rights including intellectual property rights for the works they create; and on the other hand, they are responsible for raising the necessary funds, and supervise the development process of the shows to ensure their success. Show brokers are the intermediaries between producing companies and theatre runners. These are no doubt the reasons behind Broadway¡¯s success.
Broadway¡¯s intention for launching into mainland China did not start today. As early as two years ago, Broadway came to major cities in China to "test the water¡± through the showing of the musical - the Sound of Music. Maybe at the time, with their rich experience in operating the international performance market, Broadway decision makers had already decided that mainland China is a market with tremendous potential. Similarly, Broadway¡¯s ¡°lofty ambition¡± for launching into mainland China will expand far beyond Beijing. It was recently reported that Broadway has set its eye on the market in Shenzhen; the Asia opening night of the musical ¨C the King and I, has been decided to take place at Shenzhen Grand Theatre at the end of April. Hangzhou Theatre will present the King and I during the golden week of ¡°May 1st¡±. Reports have shown that in the first year, Broadway plans to establish a theatre network consisting of at least 11 theatres; and throughout the next five year, the network will expand to include 23 theatres, covering not only major first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, but major second-tier cities as well. Just like the movie theatre network, Broadway China Network will hit out in China as one.
At the announcement ceremony of New Century Nederlander Broadway China Network, relevant figures have clearly stated that through integrating resources that give play to every party¡¯s strength, New Century Nederlander will invest in a ¡°nationwide approach¡± for developing China's performance market, and will ¡°create a new era for China's performance market.¡±
Market takeover through ¡°cooperation¡±
Market takeover through ¡°cooperation¡±. Losing money is theatre runners¡¯ greatest fear when taking on stage performance projects. A stage performance with a lot of cast members and full of equipment would give show runners a good scare just by knowing the cost of their traveling back and forth. Whereas the most fundamental relationship of interest established between Broadway China Network and local theatres across China that have joined the Network is in essence a cost-splitting and profit-splitting system, a system adopted by major films when they are shown in China. First, establish a relatively low cost price, so that local theatres would not suffer a big loss. Then, by leveraging on the theatres' full local marketing power, ticketing is linked with the interest of the theatres. When tickets sold reach a certain level, theatres will receive a certain proportion of profits; the more tickets are sold, the greater the proportion of profits received. High cost and high ticket price are one of the biggest obstacles for the development of the cultural industry.
Broadway foresaw that ¡°musicals¡¯ high production cost is the greatest obstacle to lowering ticket price¡±. Broadway intends to adopt the measure of ¡°maximizing the utilization of local resources in order to lower cost¡±, for example, ¡°stage settings and costumes can be made locally using Broadway designs¡±, and ¡°there is no ruling out of the possibility of inviting talented Chinese performers to play non-major roles in the performances¡±. In addition, Broadway ¡°seeks for the possibility to produce local musicals in cities of China.¡± These measures are a display of Broadway's keenness and prudence in terms of its business operation. What is different from the film network system is that Broadway China Network will also be involved in the production part of stage performances. The Network has already established a musical education Fund, used for fostering local musical talents. It is reported that the Fund has already raised USD18 million.
Aside from that, the Network will invest heavily in local Chinese musicals. While introducing outstanding Broadway shows into the domestic market, the Network will also introduce some outstanding Chinese stage performances (not just musicals, but other types of stage performances with Chinese characteristics) to overseas, so that excellent Chinese stage performances will be able to reap some good profits abroad.
Broadway China Network is comprised of a number of theatres, producers, audience service companies and marketing agencies. The Network openly claims that its goal is ¡°to present different shows at over ten partner theatres", and to lower cost ¡°under the premise of guaranteed show quality.¡± In order for Chinese people to understand musicals, Broadway will hold various activities to popularize and promote musicals, including its traditional ¡°show-popularization¡± work. This is apparently following in the long-standing operating tradition of Broadway. Introducing these operating aspects of the Broadway enterprise into China's cultural market will no doubt set a valuable example for the development of our cultural industry. |
