New theater designed especially for musicals
17/1/2006 7:20
Fu Yingqing/Shanghai Daily news
A theater
specially designed for musicals will be set up in the former site of the city's
largest flower market, the Shanghai Committee of Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference announced on Sunday.
The theater will be part of
Shanghai Culture Square, which will be located on Shanxi Road S. near Fuxing
Road - the former home of the Shanghai Jin Wen Flower Market, which was shut
down late last year.
Theater stages will be designed specially for musicals,
according to Zhu Jialin, vice president of the Shanghai Culture Square Co, Ltd,
which will manage the government-owned facility.
Zhu said the government is
still looking at several designs for the theater, so he couldn't say how much it
will cost to build, when construction will begin, or when it will open to the
public. He did say the facility will hold about 2,000 seats.
The government
is expected to decide on a design in the next couple of months.
Music and
theater experts say the new theater is a necessity for the city.
"I'm just
pining to see the new theater, as it will be an advance for the development of
local musicals," said Jin Fuzai, a musical professor at Shanghai Conservatory of
Music.
He said the city lacks a proper facility for staging musicals.
The
stages at the Shanghai Grand Theater and the Oriental Arts Center were designed
for top-level ballet and symphony performances, but they aren't suitable for
musicals, Jin said.
"Facilities for musicals and dramas are different," said
Jin.
"We need bigger stages for background settings. Also musicals use
different lighting. But I haven't yet seen one local theater made specifically
for showing musicals."
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