Chapter 915

"The times", "the big news: London's west end is back in the public eye

As the most well-known and the largest newspaper in the UK, it has encountered a strong impact from the Internet since it entered the new century. The status of "times" has gradually returned to the world. The authority is equal to that of "Guardian". The elite readers have been overtaken by "Financial Times". The political influence has even been eroded by "Independent newspaper". However, the public influence and social status are still weak, The times is still slightly ahead.

Undoubtedly, for most ordinary people, the readability and readability of the times are still at the forefront. Today, the times chooses to publish an entertainment news item on top of the heavy news item on the front page, which is really rare.

In the report, "the times" takes the grand queue of Almeida theatre as the starting point, and details the frenzy in the west end of London yesterday. More than 1800 people queued up, more than 10000 people came and went, and even triggered a frenzy of reporters. More than 300 reporters rushed to the West End of London to report at the first time.

All this is just for the pre-sale of a play which started at 9 a.m. this morning. It has been a sensation from yesterday to today.

Even if you read the news above the newspaper type, there is still a sense of absurdity, just like the surreal black comedy written by the writer, mocking the traditional culture and the lack of literacy culture brought by the contemporary fast food culture.

But this is the times. Therefore, this is the fact. It is because of the shock and surprise that the times has attached so much importance to it. After the objective news reports, they further analyzed the difficulties and embarrassments faced by the west end in the past decade; At the same time, it also analyzes the impact of the play on the west end.

News report is becoming an editorial.

What's more, the times is not the only media to report; With the tickets for the Almeida theatre being sold in advance, the news media in the whole UK have become a sensation!

"Whose house did 350 tickets go to?" That's the headline of the guardian.

The guardian focuses on the number of 350 pre-sale tickets, and tells the background of the birth of news

In the past five to ten years, in addition to "phantom of the opera", "Miss Saigon" and other classic dramas with a long history, the attendance of brand-new dramas in other west end theaters in London has continued to decline, and the decline rate is far faster than expected, and even the attendance rate of some dramas has been less than 20%, which makes the operation of theaters difficult.

Even with the Oliver or Tony Awards, the box office is still far from ideal.

For those new plays, the premiere is the only exception. However, it is not because the tickets are sold out, but because one third or even half of the tickets will be distributed to special guests, easing the box office pressure; After the premiere, ticket sales were completely out of control.

The guardian cited one of the most straightforward examples: Daniel Radcliffe.

In 2007, the child star, who made a name by virtue of the "Harry Potter" series, was only 18 years old, and his career was on the rise, and the series of films had been shooting continuously; However, in order to break through himself and his image, Daniel chose to return to the west end and polish his acting skills on the stage.

Daniel took part in the performance of the stage play "horse belongs to horse madness", and in the last ten minutes of the stage play, he took off his clothes one by one and faced the audience with red fruit all over his body. At that time, it was an absolutely hot topic, and even caused many teenagers' parents to write letters and protest.

"Horse" box office performance is really good, the first week of the premiere, all tickets sold out; But the follow-up was weak, the attendance rate went from bad to worse, and it only lasted three months in the end; However, with the fame effect of the title of "Harry Potter", the following year, "horse" went to Broadway and performed again for three months.

Apart from the artistic works and quality standards of the works, the commercial performance of "horse genus" has been one of the most outstanding works in the past few years.

It is because of the downturn of the whole market that the "miserable world" of the Queen's theatre can be staged for nearly 30 years, and it is still not offline: tourists are filling the vacancy in the theater box office market.

At present, the Almeida theater version of "les miserables" has only 350 pre-sale tickets, and it is a six hour experimental play, but it has attracted more than 1800 audience members to line up - not onlookers, but real die hard audience, who start to line up more than 36 hours in advance!

Don't mention "horse genus". Such a grand occasion has never been seen in the past 10 or 15 years. I haven't seen you for a long time.

"Fifteen minutes. 350 tickets are sold out in 15 minutes! This is also the result of the limited purchase of Almeida Theatre - they limit each audience to two tickets at most. Nevertheless, all tickets are still sold in 15 minutes

The guardian's exclamations are endless. Finally, it concludes that "now, on the black market, the price of the premiere ticket of the" les miserables "of Langley Hall's version, the ordinary ticket with the original price of 120 pounds, has been hyped to 3500 pounds, and is still rising: because there is no market for the price.

With the wishes of countless people, Almeida theater has started the pre-sale of tickets for the first week of its premiere. Therefore, the long queue at the gate of the theater will continue to be lively. Now the question is, how long can it last? "

Apart from the "times" and "Guardian", almost all London media and almost all British media have launched relevant reports and expressed their sighs one after another.

"Fifteen minutes, all tickets for the premiere are sold out! There's an amazing frenzy in the west end

"Langley hall is in the west end of London, showing its box office appeal!"

"London's west end is back to its former glory: social network discussion is the most popular!"

……

Within 24 hours, on the wall of Facebook, twitter and photos, Langley Hall's version of "les miserables" has been completely screened. It has even gone out of the UK and ranked first among the hot topics in Europe. The North American continent on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean has also vaguely felt this frenzy.

It's not the "les miserables" of the Queen's Theatre, but the "les miserables" of the Langley hall version. A brand new cast, the essence of the original novel, the six-hour daring feat, and the three-month long performance contract... Every detail is a hot topic, triggering a wave of discussion.

The "les miserables" crew of the Queen's theatre also generously sent their best wishes. They were interviewed by the media for the first time and expressed their expectation for the play.

Leading producer Cameron - mackintosh is full of praise, "Hugh and Tom said before, Langley is an excellent actor. To be honest, I admire his courage, whether it's challenging the role of Jean Valjean or the long six hour performance, it's a feat. Yes, I'll be at the party on premiere night, and I'm ready for shock baptism. "

Returning to the times, they mentioned a crucial factor in the report: Langley hall.

After the screen brushing of three films in 2011, the ups and downs of "hype gate", the successive ascent of Grammy and Oscar, and obviously the legendary experience of "Don Quixote", Langley's reputation as an artist is being affirmed step by step.

Does this mean that lanli has got rid of the aura of "Star" and really stepped into the next level? We don't know for the moment, only waiting time for precipitation and recognition; But at least to be sure, Langley has a start.

It is different from the outstanding representative actors of generation Y such as Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Williams and Jack Gyllenhaal. Lanli's every step is very solid, but also very shocking, especially after the harvest of the Oscar winner, the reputation has reached the peak, at the same time, people's inner doubt has also reached the extreme——

Is Lan Li relying on the sympathy of "speculation door" to complete the reversal at the last moment and harvest the little golden man? Is Langley strong enough to beat George Clooney, Jean dujardine and Brad Pitt? Even though Langley is excellent, is he good enough to break the shackles of the Oscars for more than 80 years at the age of 22?

This is a professional challenge to lanli.

Not only Langley, but also Natalie Portman faced the same situation last year, especially the follow-up influence of "double door"; Now lanli is facing a more serious situation. However, unlike Natalie, who chose to stay at home and take care of her children as an excuse, she avoided the limelight; Langley returned to the stage, standing on the top of the west end, to meet the challenge with absolute strength.

It can be imagined that "miserable world" will be put under the microscope for research and criticism; What's more, drama critics are more tricky, harsh and strict than film critics. Moreover, without the advantage of the number of movie audiences, the fan effect will be further weakened, and the real strength will determine.

So is it a good thing or a bad thing for Langley to return to the west end? Can this bring prosperity to the whole west end? Or is it just like a bubble? After a tumult, it's fleeting. Furthermore, if the Langley version of "les miserables" fails miserably, will it make the amateur audience have a wrong fixed impression of the west end, and further push the crumbling drama industry of the west end into the abyss?

High attention, this is a double-edged sword, what will lead to the result, but there is no way to know“ The times still expressed concern.

However, the latest news has been updated before this kind of worry has spread

In three hours, only three hours, Almeida sold out all the tickets for the next week, still in short supply. Some audiences have already asked for the theater to open the advance sale of all the tickets for the next three months.