Stills of "Under the West Clock"

Xiaoke, a musician who composed classic songs such as Welcome to Beijing, Because of Love, Come Back, Wait for You to Love Me, recently released a musical "Under the West Clock", and the novel play of "watching the play first and then buying tickets" pioneered in China has also attracted a high degree of attention.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Xiaoke Theater, "Under the West Clock" premiered on December 4th, and the audience paid whatever they thought the play was worth after watching it. In an exclusive interview with Beijing Youth Daily recently, Xiaoke said that the attempt of this new model is also in line with the theme of "Under the West Clock"-about the collision between ideal and reality.

method of work

Pay zero yuan after seat selection, and pay voluntarily after the performance.

According to Xiaoke, "Under the West Clock" adopts the mode of "watching the drama first, then buying tickets". The audience can choose seats through the small program of the theater. The lowest fare is 100 yuan, and the highest is 699 yuan. The difference is that the location is different. After the selection, they will pay zero yuan, and after the performance, they will pay voluntarily according to their own experience.

This model is the first in the domestic Shang Yan market. Xiaoke said that he decided to make such an attempt because he was invited to go to the theatre and found that the quality of some plays was actually very different from that of propaganda. "You buy the wrong thing and waste some money at most; But watching the performance is not only a waste of money, but also a waste of time. " In Xiaoke’s view, many performances now ignore the production and rely only on marketing to attract the audience, or even completely "bluff", which is the most unacceptable thing for him.

"In my personal values, when making music, I have always followed the concept of’ wine is not afraid of the depth of the alley’, that is, writing a good work is much more important than hype." As early as 2019, Xiaoke came up with the idea of "watching the drama first, then buying tickets", but it has never been an opportunity. Now, it is the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Xiaoke Theater, and this idea can finally be realized, and the timing is just right. "Catch up with the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the theater, even if it is not done or failed, it can be regarded as a feedback to the audience for 10 years."

Xiaoke said that the attempt of this new model is also in line with the theme of the play "Under the West Clock"-about the collision between ideal and reality, "that is to say, we are all talking about the same thing in and out of the play, and with the help of rock music as the carrier, everyone thinks that I am also rock and roll in doing this in reality."

At the beginning of the idea, Xiaoke also consulted many people in the industry. Those who agree that this move is a new way, and it is bound to have a high degree of topic and attention; Opponents believe that this is a bet on unpredictable human nature. Someone specially sent him a message saying: if you really do this, you will be disappointed and sad. It is better to perform for free, at least you can gain traffic. But in the end, Xiaoke decided to try. "First, we believe in the quality of the work, and second, we believe in the audience. I believe that in today’s society, most people are still very honest and kind. I don’t think those who love to take advantage of it will come in the first place, right? People who can walk into the theater to watch musicals first have certain qualities. "

effect

At least everyone who watched the performance paid for it.

In fact, from the premiere on December 4 to the box office effect on December 8, almost all the venues were full, and the audience paid 100% after attending the performance. Except for those who are not present after booking, the minimum fee for a ticket is 100 yuan, which is also the lowest price for tickets sold normally. The highest fare of 699 yuan is the price of the first row. At present, it is impossible to know whether the audience sitting in the first row will pay at this price-because they buy tickets for real-name registration system, but WeChat payment is not a real name and cannot correspond one by one; In addition, some viewers paid far more than 699 yuan. It is still unknown whether they paid for one ticket or several tickets.

On December 9 and 10, the box office was higher than before. In a word, up to now, his friend reminded him that "he may be sad" has not appeared, and the box office of the performance is not much different from the normal ticket sales, which makes Xiaoke feel very gratified and "feel very happy." I have always advocated rational consumption. In fact, people who watched the performance at least paid. "

The performance of "Under the West Clock" will last until January 20th next year. Xiaoke was also psychologically prepared for the final box office situation. "Being sad is also behind, and the front should not be very good. Just like falling in love, the front is warm, and you will be sad later. I think everything has a process. "

In this process, some people may not be able to book tickets, and some people maliciously sabotage the situation. Xiaoke introduced all the countermeasures. At the same time, he admitted that it was a little risky, but in his view, the adventure was worthwhile. After all, the original intention of making Xiaoke Theater was not to make money at the theater. If there was profit, all of it was invested again to improve the various hardware facilities of the theater.

drama

Recall the time of "going to the cave" and the lush years.

The name and conception of The West Clock have been in Xiaoke’s mind for many years. When he was a young man, Xiaoke cooperated with many singers. When we were together, we talked about the story of going to the cave in the 1980s. That kind of wandering brought a lot of unspeakable happiness to Xiaoke and left a deep impression.

Xiaoke said that at that time, the gathering place of the acupuncture team was often under the west clock of Beijing Railway Station. Therefore, the words "under the west clock" left a deep mark on his heart. "I can only write songs at that time, but the name of the west clock can’t be written as a song, and it is too laborious to explain; It can also be written as a novel, but I can’t. " Nowadays, it is more appropriate to tell these stories in the form of musicals.

Some of the stories in the play were heard by Xiaoke, and some of them were experienced by him personally-for example, the status of musicians was very high at that time, and some singers became arrogant after becoming famous, and musicians didn’t like it, so they would stumble when performing, such as disrupting the rhythm and making singers unable to sing normally; Another example is that the singer had already finished singing a song, but the band started playing again immediately, so the singer had to sing it again. In this way, the singer may have to sing the same song many times in succession. Xiaoke wrote similar stories in Under the West Clock.

But this is not the theme of "Under the West Clock". The pop music of 1980s is full of passion, ideal and romance, which is the youth of a whole generation and Xiaoke. In "Under the West Clock", Xiaoke made up a character: an ordinary guitarist fell madly in love with rock music, and went through hardships, strange encounters and even narrow escape on the road of pursuing his dreams. Under the great contrast between reality and ideal, his lover and brother around him left him one after another. Finally, he returned to the west clock to save everyone’s ideals and enthusiasm with singing, but as the bell rang, everyone went their separate ways, leaving him alone. The image of the protagonist in the play is a condensation of their generation-he is new and bad, he likes poetry and rock music, he is stubborn and willful, and he is also indomitable …

theatre

Music is used to make a living, and theater is ideal.

The creation of "Under the West Big Clock" began during the epidemic last year, and it was completed and revised repeatedly, just in time for Xiaoke’s 50th birthday. Xiaoke said, this is also a birthday present for himself. Having reached the age of knowing destiny, Xiaoke said that the biggest change he felt was that his music creation became more pragmatic and he knew what he was going to write.

"When you are in your twenties and thirties, you often don’t know what to write, and you are very casual, and you don’t prejudge the songs you write; Now I will predict it more accurately, and I can know what my song looks like when I write it, and I also know how deep the emotional concentration is, including how others will feel after listening. "

Xiaoke said frankly that it is difficult to accurately judge the quality of music creation, and there is a lot of luck in success. On the contrary, the current screenwriter’s work makes him feel more comfortable and confident. For this reason, Xiaoke thinks that writing songs is relatively simple, and the script is relatively complicated, so controlling the details will get better and better. "Just like the more complicated the machine, the more accurate you control it, and the train must run fast because it is complicated. If it’s a motorcycle, it’s simple, but I don’t know if it’s fast or not. The song is relatively simple, and it is hard to say whether it is good or not. But the play is relatively complicated, with stories, structures, music, actors, rehearsals, audiences and so on. You just need to control every detail. Of course, it is limited to us (Xiaoke Theater). "

In 2012, Xiaoke founded Xiaoke Theater and started his second career as a screenwriter. So far, he has performed many musicals created by Xiaoke here, including Steady Happiness, Because of Love and Waiting for You to Love Me. In fact, as early as 2007, Xiaoke set foot in the musical field. At that time, he tried to find a like-minded professional screenwriter to cooperate with him, but failed. "It is an idealistic thing to engage in musicals, and it is difficult to find a professional screenwriter who is really willing to calm down and create. Moreover, I felt that music alone would not work, so I began to study and write scripts. " In the first play in 2007, everyone gave feedback: the song is very good, so the story will not be evaluated. Xiaoke just thought it was a compliment, and spent a lot of time studying how to write the script, and the later plays simply didn’t have music. After completing two plays, Xiaoke became more confident in his scriptwriting ability, and started writing musicals again in 2013, until now.

Xiaoke said that if music is used to make a living, the theater is his ideal and a comfortable harbor. He described the theater as his golf course. "For example, you get up every morning to play golf, and I play golf here every night. You are playing on someone else’s court, and I am playing on my own court. I am very happy. "

psychology

Learn from your children over 50 and ask why.

Xiaoke, 50, still tries to keep her curiosity about new things. In the past two years, he has recorded many short videos. Among them, there are videos of him singing classic songs, and there are also "talk shows" where he expresses his thoughts and opinions. On a short video platform, his fan base is close to 1.6 million. In fact, this is something that Xiaoke did unintentionally during the epidemic. I didn’t expect so many people to pay attention to it. Here, we can see all kinds of comments, direct feedback and attitude towards his music most intuitively, which is what Xiaoke cares about most. Some of them left a message, hoping that Xiaoke would create more new works instead of living on his laurels.

In this regard, Xiaoke said frankly that it is a skill to live on one’s laurels, but innovation also has metabolism. "There is always a process, that is, you can’t do anything sooner or later, that’s for sure. It’s just how long you can extend it. Of course, I also hope that it can be extended. First of all, you need good health and energy. This is the most basic thing. Then you have to maintain a curiosity. Of course, it is also important to maintain a strong desire to express. "

In Xiaoke’s view, when people are 50 years old, they should have all the experiences. After crossing Qian Fan and hills, it is difficult to talk endlessly as they did when they were young. "Why did you talk endlessly when you were young? Because you don’t know anything, you always ask why, so you wrote 100 thousand songs. You don’t have so many reasons when you are old. You don’t want to ask and think. "

Such a change, in Xiaoke’s view, is a sign of maturity, but in terms of career, it is a big trouble that needs to be broken urgently. "Sometimes I have to learn more from my son and learn a hundred thousand reasons."

He has created countless classic tracks for Chinese music, including Because of Love and The Most Familiar Stranger. Xiaoke’s position in music is beyond doubt, but it has never been valued by him. He even fears being defined and pushed to the forefront. "It is best to be a common man."

In the past ten years, Xiaoke has tried to reduce the chance of publicity, and spent most of his time creating, followed by staying in the theater, which was very quiet and real. Recently, he participated in the variety show "Time Concert" and "The Most Beautiful Central Axis". When he got home, he began to reflect on why he was so high-profile. When I think about it carefully, the process of participating in these two programs is also the process of his "asking why", which shows that he is still curious about some things. "I want to see how the reality show is filmed now? I am curious about technology and like content. For example, the central axis is written in Beijing. I am interested in the feel of songs in time concerts. I also want to see what it is like to make music programs now. "

Text/Reporter Shou Penghuan Coordinator/Liu Jianghua

Photography/Reporter Fu Ding