The Metropolitan Opera on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

After the last rehearsal in the morning, the time quickly came to evening.

The theme performance of the "Book of Songs" of the National Style Art Troupe started at 7 o'clock in the evening, and there were still more than ten minutes before the opening, and the theater was almost full.

Michael Morton, the New York Times' resident culture critic, sat in the center of the hall with a great view, flipping through the program brochure in front of him while listening to the bickering of a young couple behind him.

"I don't know why you're coming to see this, Winnie, and I've inquired, and the ticket price is a lot higher than before. I know it's rumored that this dance group was created by Simon Westeros himself, but, classical dance from China, tsk, are they going to perform kung fu on stage?"

"Jack, what do you know about China besides kung fu?"

"Chinese food is very good. ”

"I feel more and more now that I have been cheated by you, I should not have married you. ”

"Hey, it's too late. ”

"Well, I know Simon is enough to make all of you men feel inferior, so, you just have to shut up. ”

"In any case, even if you like Westeros no matter how much you like it, you don't have a chance to be the second Jennifer Bray, speaking of which, that little man is really lucky, chasing stars and chasing more than $400 million in net worth, it's a miracle. ”

"Shut up!"

“OK。 ”

Michael Morton never looked back, but he was also in the media circle, and he was very familiar with a lot of gossip, and when he heard some words from the men in the young couple behind him, he couldn't help but think that the chance was still quite big, or the chance of getting married was even greater, after all, Westeros had some fetishes about women, which was no secret.

The slightly playful thought was only fleeting, and Morton's attention was quickly focused on tonight's performance.

Compared to the young couple who probably don't watch the opera very often, Michael Morton feels that the ticket price of this show is more appropriate, it is indeed really expensive, at least 50% higher than the previous ticket price, definitely more than the bonus booklet in his hand, although it is good, but it is far from the extra ticket price.

And this time it was his own money.

If it weren't for the singing and dancing team created by Simon Westeros, Michael would not have come to watch this kind of classical Chinese dance that he has no interest in at all, after all, like many Westerners, his impression of China, except for kung fu and Chinese food, is probably poor and backward.

As a drama critic who is still somewhat famous in the circle, since he has rarely let himself out of his pocket this time, if the next performance does not satisfy him, even if Simon Westeros is involved, he will definitely not have anything good to say in his review article tomorrow.

However, after pondering the details of the ticket price, Michael Morton felt that no matter how harsh his criticism was, a young tycoon might not care.

Thinking so, the time quickly came to 7 o'clock.

The lights dimmed in the theater, and a moment later, the curtain rose, and the stage was set against the backdrop of a row of erected bamboo slips, covered with beautiful ancient seal characters.

The sound of elegant and neutral music sounded.

Unlike Western symphonies, it was the first time that most of the audience heard this kind of tinkling sound like striking metal, and only the audience in the upstairs box overlooking the orchestra pit in front of the stage could see an Oriental woman in ancient Chinese costume striking a row of chimes.

Immediately, accompanied by the heavenly women's singing, two rows of women in ancient costumes with dignified and elegant clothing slowly came to the stage.

Even though they are two completely different cultures, listening to the music and chanting in his ears, and looking at the elegant and elegant antique women on the stage, Michael Morton's most intuitive feeling is only one word: beauty.

Or, the nearly 4,000 people who have been curious about the show for a long time basically feel the same way.

Many years later, some things have repeatedly proved that 'XX has no borders' is a joke, but at this moment, even if it is separated by a completely different cultural background, this kind of cultural beauty accumulated by a nation for thousands of years still hits people's hearts.

Backstage in the theater.

The other girls who were all dressed up listened to the music from the front desk, and their little hearts were raised high, and it was inevitable that they would lack a little confidence.

In fact, everyone felt that in addition to the brochure that came with the ticket, there should be more annotations for the audience, and some people proposed that the corresponding poems be recited before each dance in the planning stage, after all, these ordinary Americans are not as knowledgeable about Chinese culture as a man, and as a result, similar suggestions were directly rejected by someone without any explanation.

Obviously didn't care much about the success or failure of the show.

And this time, when you learn that someone has personally increased the average theater ticket price for this show by 50%, everyone thinks that someone may want them to fail.

In front of the dressing table, Wei Sancha stood obediently like a little wood, slightly spread his hands and asked Mr. Wang next to him to help him check his makeup, Wang Dongyue looked at the girl's nervous appearance, and comforted: "Relax, wait a minute, you are just dancing in a group, and you will still look like this when you dance solo with "Pu Jia", which is not good." ”

"It's just nervous," Wei Sancha said, taking the initiative to try to bypass the topic to help himself relax, and said, "By the way, Mr. Wang, Simon said during the day that we can return to China during the New Year." ”

Wang Dongyue nodded slightly and hummed softly.

Wei Sancha, who gets along well with several teachers on weekdays, noticed that Mr. Wang's mood was not high after listening to his words, and he roughly knew why: "Mr. Wang, isn't your green card going to be processed soon, and when you get your green card, you should be able to pick up your uncle and children to come to the United States, right?"

Wang Dongyue paused, looked at the girl in front of her and hesitated, and then said, "Uneven, I want to ...... Can you help me meet with Mr. Westeros?"

When Wei Sancha heard this, she suddenly remembered the man's reaction when she talked to him about Feng Caisu in the morning, which was very cold, but after a little hesitation, she still said: "Okay, Teacher Wang, but, I don't dare to guarantee anything." ”

Wang Dongyue hurriedly said: "You just need to help mention it." 360 Literature Network

After all, it's still a matter of immigration.

Unlike the young girls who only need to take care of themselves more than the Guofeng Art Troupe, a group of female teachers who came with them half a year ago basically have families and rooms, and compared with many people who thought they were heaven before going abroad and found out that they were hell after going abroad, the salary given by the Guofeng Art Troupe is completely in line with the expectations of the Chinese people for the West in this era, and even exceeded, so these teachers inevitably want to go further and let their families come together.

It's just that the Guofeng Art Troupe has not yet reached this level of charity, and if they want to do this, they basically need to operate themselves.

It's not easy.

Diverting from this topic changed his mind a little, Wei Sancha also relaxed, and heard that the first "Guan Ju" at the front desk was just over, and the warm applause came, which made Wei Sancha a little more confident, you know, "Guan Ju" is a relatively decent one among the 12 dances tonight, and the reason why it is used as the beginning is only because "Guan Ju" is the beginning of the "Book of Songs", and the more exciting ones are behind.

In the words of a certain man, this is called getting better.

Now, since the first dance can attract enthusiastic applause, the audience response should only be better.

The facts are also like Wei's judgment.

The final duration of the performance was 100 minutes, with a total of 12 dances, corresponding to the twelve poems in the Book of Songs.

When the opening was already quite successful, several dances such as Wei Zancha's solo dance "Pu Jia" and Simon's choreographed "Cai Wei" all aroused more enthusiastic applause than the opening.

When the last dance was over and all the members of the troupe took the stage for a curtain call, many of the audience were shocked to realize that the 100 minutes had passed so quickly that many of the audience did not leave immediately, but tried to go backstage to communicate face-to-face with the dancers who had just brought them a visual feast.

Although most of the people who tried to do so were stopped, there were still some lucky ones who had strong connections and were able to clear the level.

Michael Morton, the New York Times' resident critic, was one of them, and Joseph Walpe, the general manager of the Metropolitan Theatre, personally ushered him in with a number of other special guests, much to the envy of the young couple who had been sitting behind Morton who also wanted to go backstage after the performance.

"First of all, congratulations, Joseph, haven't you always wanted to reform the theater? ”

Everyone walked backstage together, and Joseph Volpe heard Michael Morton say this, but he smiled wryly: "You should know, Mike, this is just a special case. Frankly, it's a good thing it worked, and the next show should be very popular, otherwise, well, I really don't know what to say. ”

The main thing is that a certain young tycoon is really messing around.

Joseph Volpe was very opposed to insisting on a drastic increase in fares, but unfortunately he was only a professional manager after all, and his arms could not twist his thighs.

It turned out to be good.

Even, of course, Joseph Volpe hoped that this would bring about some change.

You must know that the main operas staged by the Metropolitan Opera are actually similar to China's Peking Opera, all of which are at the 'quintessence' level, but they can't escape the fate of getting higher and lower in music.

Tonight's show, because of a young tycoon, is an exception.

Before the start of the performance, Joseph Volp quietly observed that there were nearly 4,000 people in the audience, and most of them were young audiences.

If this situation can continue, that is, the ticket price will increase by 50%, and the audience will be followed, Joseph Volpe will wake up laughing in his dreams.

It's a pity that these can only be thought about in dreams.

Let's just say that this performance, the plan is only to increase a total of 9 performances in the two months from December to January next year, which is actually the average level of more than 200 performances of the Metropolitan Opera every year to 20 or 30 dramas, but, after the end, it can be said that this is a good start, but it also came to an abrupt end. Because Joseph Volpe simply couldn't find a replacement program, and a young tycoon had no intention of keeping the team on a permanent basis, the opera house had to return to tradition.

In short, it was a flash in the pan.

Everyone chatted and entered the backstage, and found that it was busy but not chaotic, and a large number of staff were helping to remove the dancers' makeup and organize various props in an orderly manner.

Some media people who followed into the backstage were originally very interested in the various Chinese instruments used in this performance, but it turned out that all the instruments were put into a professional storage box for the first time, and it was impossible to experience them.

The answer is simple: expensive.

Not only the musical instruments, but also the costumes and jewelry of the dancers, and even some of the props used in the dance, are very expensive, so that the Guofeng Art Troupe does not even worry about the help of the theater staff, and they all sort it out themselves.

Joseph Volpe personally even had some envy and jealousy for this.

You know, as a theater manager, Joseph is also responsible for the preparation of some operas, and this season, because he invested $190,000 in props and sets for an original new opera, Joseph was questioned by the board of directors, thinking that it was too wasteful, and the various props used by the dancers of this show ...... Well, just one of the guqins, which is said to be a real Chinese antique, is worth more than $300,000.

This is just a glance, you can see how much manpower and material resources are spent behind this performance, and it is strange that the result is not sensational, regardless of the cost.

There was no surprise at all, and the next day, the news about the performance of the Guofeng Art Troupe quickly unfolded.

Michael Morton praised the show in his New York Times column as "a visual feast of perfection, mastery, captivity and elegance."

In addition, the New York Post, the New York Daily News, the Daily News, and other major newspapers around the East Coast, such as the Boston Globe, have covered the performance. There is even a Broadway drama critic who has accumulated a large number of followers on Facebook directly posted a blog post, claiming that he is "full of jealousy that Simon Westeros can have such a team of dancers", which can be regarded as breaking the background of the Guofeng Art Troupe, and this blog post was not only not restricted, but also promoted, and for a time the Guofeng Art Troupe became more well-known.

Immediately afterward, the news also spread back to China.

The news that the theme performance of the "Book of Songs" of the National Style Art Troupe caused a sensation at the Metropolitan Opera in New York directly appeared in the largest newspaper and received the attention of CCTV.

As the show's fame spread rapidly, tickets for subsequent performances became even more difficult to find, and even became a hype hit among Broadway ticket sellers.