"Zhou Sheng Ru Gu" presents a Chinese style aesthetic, from online novels, popular TV dramas to musical plots | Stage | Zhou Sheng Ru Gu
From August 18th to September 3rd, the Chinese style musical "Zhou Sheng Ru Gu" will premiere at the Yunfeng Theater in Shanghai. The drama is adapted from the popular online novel "A lifetime, a beautiful woman's bone" and the popular TV series "Zhou Sheng Ru Gu". It tells the story of three protagonists, General Zhou Shengchen, the daughter of a prestigious family, Shi Yi, and Crown Prince Liu Zixing, who face family, country, and emotions due to love and hate. Despite struggling with fate in the shackles of fate, they ultimately fall in love but cannot.
The musical version of "Zhou Sheng Ru Gu" is produced and produced by Shanghai Hehe Culture, and directed by Zhou Xiaoqian. The musical version has adapted the original work, endowing the work with a heavy historical style through the presentation of battlefield scenes and the strengthening of character tension. In order to better fit the expression form of stage drama, musicals simplify the storyline and focus on the three main characters, Zhou Shengchen, Shi Yi, and Liu Zixing, integrating the complex side plots and characters in the original work, and condensing the original novel and TV series into a 2-hour stage work. For the portrayal of the protagonist in the play, the creators added up. For example, in order to emphasize the fate entanglement between the positive and negative characters, the musical version of "Zhou Sheng Ru Gu" enriches the character line of Crown Prince Liu Zixing during his childhood and growth stage, making this character more full-bodied, and thus strengthening the dramatic tension of the subsequent opposition between Zhou Shengchen and Liu Zixing.
"Zhou Sheng Ru Gu"
A difficulty in the adaptation of this drama lies in the setting of the female protagonist suffering from temporary aphasia. For musicals, the silence of the female lead is simply a fantasy. So, the main creator made a bold design in the drama, distinguishing the protagonist's self world from the real world. During her inner monologue, she was asked to sing, while the rest of the dialogue was expressed through gestures. At the same time, the drama also designed more diverse physical expression spaces for the female protagonist. For example, in the stage presentation of war scenes, a section where the female protagonist beats the drum is designed, using significant body movements to express the character's emotions, in order to form a stage shock.
The musical "Zhou Sheng Ru Gu" has gathered a wide range of cutting-edge domestic creative teams, adopting a stage presentation method that combines virtual and real elements, integrating traditional elements with contemporary aesthetics, and creating stage works with Chinese style aesthetics. The entire drama uses a shrinkable combination of screen transformations to create imagery cuts, and based on this, uses props and soft scenes to render different spaces. For example, using lanterns and screens to create bustling streets, and using white silk to match the scene of the late emperor entering the tomb. By repeating and combining single elements to present completely different scenes, the entire scene presents a sense of changing scenery.
In terms of design and clothing style, "Zhou Sheng Ru Gu" also attempts to break through traditional costume styles, creating a more innovative and avant-garde image by combining unconventional cutting and combination methods. The color of the clothing also highlights the character's personality. Zhou Shengchen is a calm navy blue, while Shi Yi is like bamboo, gradually maturing from yellow green clothing to deep blue embellishments.
As a Chinese style musical, the musical version of "Zhou Sheng Ru Gu" extensively utilizes traditional Chinese musical instruments such as the pipa, erhu, and guzheng on the basis of Western instruments such as piano, strings, and brass, creating an auditory atmosphere with an oriental feel. The use of suona adds dramatic tension to the entire work. In terms of dance, "Zhou Sheng Ru Gu" adopts a classical aesthetic style that is close to the East, but attempts to break some formulaic movements in the specific arrangement, connecting tradition with modernity.
During the performance, Shanghai Hehe Culture, the producer of the play, collaborated with a series of IP "Chuancui" under the academic guidance of the Chinese Cultural Relics Society to jointly produce a series of cultural and creative derivatives, exploring new ways of cross-border integration between stage art and traditional culture.
