Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2225 Funding Difficulty

Like many foreigners, Zhou Buqi also has to read the subtitles to understand, but this is not important anymore... What can subtitles do in the face of real artistic performances?

This is not a mass commodity.

The consumption power in the United States is very strong, but there is generally no culture, so movies that are released in American theaters are often without subtitles, because for the vast majority of audiences, they do not have the ability to read subtitles to understand the film.

Therefore, those foreign films that can sell big box office in the United States are all classics without exception.

For example, the domestic martial arts film "Heroes".

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a big hit in the United States, that's because the film has an English version, and the actors used are basically from Hong Kong and Taiwan. They all speak English, and there is an original English version.

"Hero" is different, only the Mandarin version.

Americans have to watch the subtitles to enjoy the movie, but it still sold more than 5000 million US dollars at the box office.With such data, it ranks second on the box office list of foreign-language films in the United States, followed by the Italian classic "Life is Beautiful" and the Korean masterpiece "Parasite" at the third.

Captioning is a huge challenge for the masses.

But this is Broadway.

That in itself is a huge barrier to entry.

The audience who come here to watch the theater at night are all people who have a certain pursuit of life and a certain degree of understanding of art, and there is no obstacle for them.

During the whole process of watching the play, Zhou Buqi could even feel the feeling of looking up that filled the audience.

Just like Ning Yameng said.

Excellent people like Zhou Buqi always have some pursuits, and it is impossible to really lie down and live a life in a dull and mediocre manner.

Kunqu opera let him see the next direction.

Not to mention anything else, the orthodox language widely spoken by ancestors in Kunqu opera, but modern people can't understand it and think it is a minority dialect, this alone is worthy of attention.

Once he rises to the height of culture, no matter how rich he is, Zhou Buqi will feel humble.

Under the heavy curtain of history.

What is the short 100 years of life?
Zhou Buqi liked history in the first place, and now he has reached a certain kind of agreement.

The three-hour performance was finally over.

The main creative team came to the stage to take a curtain call, including actors, musicians, makeup artists, and instructors... At this time, the headlights in the theater were already on, and now you can see the expressions of those foreigners clearly.

The scene was shocking!
The audience all stood up, and the applause was like thunder!

Zhou Buqi looked back, and even saw that many foreigners were already old, tears were falling down, and they didn't care about wiping, just applauded vigorously, applauding vigorously, for this tradition that has been passed down for hundreds of years. Artistic applause.

So much so that Zhou Buqi almost shed tears.

He was not influenced by the strong artistic appeal of Kunqu Opera, but was moved by the current scene, which made him suddenly feel that art has the power to penetrate everything!

It has crossed the nation, the country, the language and the form... Even Zhou Buqi is confused and cannot understand the meaning of every move and smile of Kunqu opera actors on stage, but this is not important.

Art is inherently abstract.

Seeing is a feeling.

Just as the historical value of "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" is far greater than its artistic value, this is a meticulous painting, a painting by an ancient craftsman, not a painter or artist.

All the great artists are playing with abstract painting, and they are all freehand brushwork.

At this level, Eastern and Western art seem to have reached some kind of unification in the dark.The oil paintings of the French Salon School are as realistic as photos, but those who are really looked up to are Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso in his later years.

From this point of view, whether one can understand or understand Kunqu Opera doesn't seem to be that important.

Art is all about form over content.

To be abstract rather than concrete is a metaphysical feeling.

Just like Heroes.

At this time, Li Xinwan came over, and excitedly pointed to the team of "Youth Edition Peony Pavilion" on stage, and said with a smile: "That is Du Liniang, that is Sister Shen."

At this time, the actors have already removed their makeup.

The heroine changed into a white casual dress, she was indeed quite pretty and full of charm.

Zhou Buqi said angrily: "Don't guess, I'm not interested in married women. I just think we should do something for cultural revival, charity in the cultural field... This is a new angle."

For deeper reasons, there is no need to tell her.

Li Xinwan smiled, then pointed to the teams on stage who were taking a curtain call, and introduced them one by one.

That is "Liu Mengmei" after removing makeup.

That is Mr. Wang, a performing artist of Kunqu Opera, who is an apprentice of the "Chuan" generation, and is currently the No. 1 "Xiaosheng" in the Kunqu Opera circle in China.

That old Mr. Zhang Jiqing, this is a female gentleman, "Ji" character generation, can be regarded as the No. 1 "boudoir girl" in China.

In order to do a good job of "Youth Version of The Peony Pavilion", Bai Xianyong invited two of the best performing artists in the domestic industry to teach young actors.

In addition, there is Professor Zhou, who is the only remaining Qing opera master in China. The industry believes that he is an "old man" who has a lot of understanding and knowledge of traditional ancient Kunqu opera.

Kunqu Opera is different from Peking Opera. It is not enough to perform, the actors have to express the libretto emotionally.

This is a huge difficulty.

The libretto is so elegant that ordinary actors can't understand it at all, so it is necessary for literati like Bai Xianyong and Professor Zhou to impart their understanding and experience to them.

Zhou Buqi was very emotional, so he got up and followed her to the backstage.

And then it's a little embarrassing.

Because those foreigners stood still, applauding with bright eyes.

When Zhou Buqi arrived backstage, there couldn’t be just a few girls following him, so he called Don Mattrick and his male assistant to accompany him, as well as two male bodyguards. This group of seven or eight seemed relatively Normal.

After the past, the curtain call is not over yet.

After waiting for a while, they returned to the background one after another.

After seeing Zhou Buqi, some people didn’t know each other. After hearing the introduction from the director of the theater, everyone became awe-inspiring, surprised and timid at the same time.

Zhou Buqi stepped forward with a smile and shook hands with them one by one.

I haven't seen their performances in China, but I saw them in New York, which is also a kind of fate.

……

The soul of "The Peony Pavilion of Youth" is of course Bai Xianyong.

In the entire Kunqu Opera industry, it is believed that Bai Xianyong's appearance is a blessing for Kunqu Opera.Under the ever-changing changes in the new era, Kunqu Opera seems to be failing, and it is about to enter a serious downturn period... Bai Xianyong came out, and his "Youth Version of Peony Pavilion" brought new vitality to Kunqu Opera.

Just like when cross talk was not good, Guo Degang appeared.

The two appeared almost at the same time.

It's just that the artistic content of cross talk is relatively low, and one actor is enough to save the day.Kunqu opera is not good, any actor or even a group of actors are not qualified to save the scene.

Bai Xianyong is from Formosa, and later immigrated to the United States. Now he is a Chinese-American, and his family is here.

Zhou Buqi was not polite to him either, so he went to his house that night and said with a smile: "I am from the Northeast, and my father has a good friend whose surname is also Bai."

Bai Xianyong smiled, "Really?"

Zhou Buqi said: "Well, I call him Uncle Bai, but unfortunately passed away due to illness during the Spring Festival. When I was young, I always went to Uncle Bai's house to play, and Uncle Bai's father was there at that time, so I call him Grandpa Bai. Tell me a story, that his father's name is Bai Chongli, and he has an elder brother named Bai Chongxi, who is a big man."

"what?"

Bai Xianyong was a little surprised.

Zhou Buqi said: "I don't know if it's true. I asked my dad and my grandfather, and they said it was true. My grandfather even went to the government to check the details of his family. The ancestral home is indeed from the west of Guangdong. I moved over there, but later stayed here because of the Northeast War. Because the Bai family was a famous family and a famous anti-Japanese general, my grandfather agreed to my family's contacts with the Bai family, and also helped the Bai family to do a little business. , and the family property is tens of millions, and life is not bad."

Bai Xianyong is also in his 70s this year, and he is very indifferent to many things in the past, "Then it should be unmistakable, they should be relatives in our family. My family is originally a scholarly family in western Guangdong, and it is a family. Big family, my father has dozens of cousins. Especially after my father took charge of the army, he brought in many family relatives."

Zhou Buqi sent out an invitation, "Are you free to visit the Northeast?"

Bai Xianyong sighed.

Not much to say.

Clearly not interested.

What do you say about this kind of thing?
Bai Chongxi supported many relatives in the family back then, but these people had a miserable life because of his support.

The Bai family in the Northeast is okay. They have established a good relationship with the Zhou family and have started a certain scale of business.Bai Xianyong didn't even want to think about more relatives.

His father's generation lived in a chaotic era, and many things should be hidden in the dust of history.

Bai Xianyong is getting old. He is a book writer. In order to promote Kunqu Opera, he has almost lost his family fortune. He really has no more ability.

Zhou Buqi also saw his predicament.

The other party is a literati.

So Zhou Buqi was very knowledgeable and took the initiative to talk about money, "Mr. Bai, you spent a lot of money to promote "The Peony Pavilion of Youth Edition", right?"

Bai Xianyong nodded, and said with a wry smile: "Well, "The Peony Pavilion of Youth Edition" has been in operation since 03, and it was first performed in 04. It has been nine years now, and a total of 2 million Taiwan dollars has been spent."

2 million Taiwan dollars is 4000 million Huaxia dollars.

Not much actually.

But Bai Xianyong is a writer, the sales volume of his works in mainland China is not high, so he can't make any big money, and it's not easy to raise this money.

Zhou Buqi said empathetically, "Well, that's quite a lot."

Bai Xianyong sighed: "Funding is my biggest headache. In order to do this, I have searched all the rich and wealthy friends around me... I am at a loss as to what to do in the future, and even some people in our team have said that they want to give up. A world tour is planned."

Don't look at "Youth Edition Peony Pavilion" is so popular in the theater, it makes foreigners mesmerized.

But the ability to make money is really bad!

There are only 2000 seats in a theater, and the total box office for one night is less than 20 US dollars.

40% of the money was given to the Kunqu Opera Troupe, which was a mere $8.

This amount of money, not to mention the expenses of accommodation, catering, transportation, life services, etc. for the nearly 100-person theater troupe, is not even enough for air tickets.

This kind of foreign tour requires a large amount of subsidy money to enter.

The money given by the state treasury is not enough, and the Kunqu Theater is also clinking poorly. All the funds have to be raised by Bai Xianyong. It is indeed a bit embarrassing for him to do such a big thing by a literati.

But it is precisely because of this that such literati ambitions are more respected.

(End of this chapter)