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When most people think of New York, they think of nothing more than the high-rise steel forest, the financial elite in suits and ties, the pace of life where every second counts, and the long-lasting New York subway, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and the sprawling Central Park.

Although these impressions are only one of the many pictures of New York in this kaleidoscope, for Zhang Xuyao, a foreign girl, these impressions represent the pure taste of New York. So when the car drove up the Brooklyn Bridge, her neck and eyes could no longer settle down, and she completely entered the window climbing mode.

In fact, as a building more than 100 years ago, Manhattan's famous BMW bridge: the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge look very old-fashioned, far less than those who are full of advanced technology and post-modern design The younger generations look simple and beautiful, but these three suspension bridges not only witness one-third of the history of the United States, but also connect the "world center" Manhattan, and the natural bridge has become a world-famous scenic spot by virtue of its prestige.

Cars line on the bridge, and orange-and-yellow New York watertaxis and open-top boats ride the East River below, with their destinations either in Manhattan or on Liberty Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.

Manhattan Island is a slender island sandwiched between the Hudson River and its tributary, the East River, which was bought by the Dutch from the Indians with a box of glass beads worth $24 to establish the settlement of New Amsterdam, which was defeated by the British in 1664 and occupied by the Dutch, and renamed New York, which is now New York. From this point of view, New York should actually be translated as Xinxiang, and the European immigrants who have crossed the ocean are obviously using this "new xx" place name to miss and pay tribute to their hometown. It's just that I am bitter and worried, and I am worried about a bunch of new xxxx and Colombia on the map, but I don't know if there will be a navigation error from the Americas to Europe.

As the birthplace of New York, Manhattan has the earliest factory, the earliest university, and the earliest bank in New York, but today, the factories have long been bankrupt or relocated, and the old factory buildings left in place have also been redeveloped and turned into the famous loft duplex attic building.

"There's New York University here too!" Zhang Xuyao shouted excitedly, pointing to the purple torch sign on a building.

All 18 colleges of New York University (NYU) are located all over New York, and Mr. Zhang visited several of them some time ago to take pictures, so naturally he will not fail to know this purple torch.

Zhang Xuyao stretched out his hand and patted the back of the chair in front of him to activate the human flesh map in front of him, and soon heard Atletico Madrid say that "there should be a medical school and an affiliated hospital", which is not much more convenient than googlemap and here.

However, this academy was not on their itinerary today, and Zhang Xuyao's eyes quickly moved away from the building and turned to look at other scenery along the way.

After the heavy rain a few days ago, the blue sky and white clouds over New York have become clearer and brighter, and they look very pleasing to the eye, and even the tall and low old buildings beside the East River under the sky also look beautiful and pleasing to the eye.

These old buildings are dilapidated, and there is a more famous name Manhattan East River Waterfront Reconstruction Project, which has been packaged by some immigration agencies as a well-known brand for investment immigration, but several people in the car have no need for this, so Atletico just casually clicked a few words and jumped over.

Their destination today is the famous Broad Street to see the famous Broadwayshows.

Compared with Wallstreet, which is only 11 meters wide and more than 500 meters long, Broadway, which is more than 25 kilometers long and 25 to 40 meters wide, is indeed worthy of the name of Broad Street, if not compared with the 120-meter-wide two-way 16-lane street in some parts of China, but it was wide enough at the time.

Just as Wall Street formed a banking and financial street due to the agglomeration effect of the industry, there are more and more theaters around Broad Street, which gradually turns this place into a proper noun Broadway.

Later, because of the struggle between commercial and artistic tendencies, some dramatists began to run to Greenwich Village and other places in Manhattan to perform at cheap rents, and the so-called "Offbroadway" was born. Later, because Off-Broadway also became commercialized and utilitarian, some artists began to perform in other parts of New York, so it was called "Off-Broadway".

In fact, they are essentially Broadway, and the general direction of content is king, and the general direction of both business and art has always existed, and foreign Broadway theaters, theaters in other states and counties, and even foreign theaters are also part of the entire Broadway system, undertaking the task of being a testing ground for new plays and making money for old plays around the world.

The professionalization of theaters has been guided by the large number of props used in modern theaters, and each Broadway theater only stages one play a day, and the single-play cycle will not be performed for a few years until the attendance rate is unbearable. Therefore, a new play must receive good feedback in the peripheral theaters before it has a chance to be staged on Broadway.

Similarly, the popularity of old dramas has declined, but the fame is still there, and it can just be sent to other places or even abroad to make money to earn more benefits for investors.

"Why is Broadway next to Wall Street? It doesn't feel like it's a good match!" As the skyscrapers came into view, Zhang Xuyao immediately remembered the famous specialty banker and investment manager in Manhattan.

Wall Street in the financial center and Broadway in the theater center seem to be a bit out of tune, the former is rigid and rigorous, and the latter seems so out of place for its ostentatious freedom, but when analyzed carefully, it is very compatible.

The eight-hour workday was introduced after the Chicago workers' 51 strike in 1886, more than 60 years after the first Broadway theater had opened. ”

"It's the same thing, bank white-collar workers can't always work more than 10 hours a day, and their income is much higher, and they have enough spare money to patronize the theater. ”

"The most important thing is that when the workers have free money and free time, Edison's film is also invented. It is difficult to get back the market that has been snatched up by movie theaters, and theaters can no longer think of large-scale expansion. ”

Film and theater are two art forms that look like each other but are actually very different, and the biggest difference here is the "audience" element.

There is no "audience" in the movie, and everyone can only get in touch with what the producer or director wants you to see and hear, sacrificing the audience's sense of participation and liveness, but also bringing a strong reproducible attribute. Relying on a large number of copies, films can be rolled out in the fastest time, such as the famous 83 version of "Shaolin Temple", whose 500 million people have recorded forever in film history, and before that, the 81st version of the Peking Opera film "The Legend of the White Snake" has achieved 700 million screenings.

Since its premiere in the UK in 1986, the evergreen "Phantom of the Opera" has garnered more than 50 million views and grossed more than $3.2 billion worldwide.

But the latter's $2.7 billion global box office was achieved in a few months, while the former took nearly 30 years and 16 crews to create this miracle.

The large investment, long-term, high-risk, and high-return characteristics of Broadway's flagship product musicals also make them inseparable from the financial support of Wall Street. Similarly, London's West End, another centre for musical theatre, is also inseparable from the support of the banks in Canary Wharf, and it is also quite interesting that the banks and the theatre are cleverly linked.

"By the way, what did Mr. Nidelun invite you to the theater for? Aren't they reluctant to shoot VR?"

Broadway theaters have long banned the use of video footage during performances, and Bee Mirage contacted them in an attempt to VR the classic drama, but unsurprisingly failed. However, their actions alarmed the Broadway giant family, and when they heard that Atletico Madrid happened to be on vacation in New York, Mr. Robert Niedren specially called to invite Atletico to come over to watch the play.

There are only 40 "authentic" Broadway theaters that have joined the theater alliance, and Nidlun has 9 of them. The family has always been active in exploring overseas markets, and has many investment and cooperation projects in China. I heard that Atletico Madrid came to Apple City, no matter whether the cooperation can be successful or not, I must see it.

As for his purpose in looking for Atletico Madrid, "Of course he is pulling me to be an angel!"

"Which angel?"

"Angel investors. ”

The "angel investors" who are known all over the world because of Silicon Valley's TMT (technology, media, communications) industry actually originated on Broadway to describe wealthy investors who are willing to sponsor high-risk creations on Broadway.

Artistic creation is risky, even if Hollywood movies hit the streets, they can slowly recover their costs by relying on videotapes, DVDs, and online broadcasts, while dramas can only be put on hold if they are not good at the box office, after all, dramas will cost money every day after they are established, and it is impossible to rely on follow-up TV broadcasts, videotapes, and DVD rental and sales income like "The Shawshank Redemption".

At that time, the film invested 25 million US dollars, and the first round of box office was 18 million, and because it was nominated for the Oscar, it received another 10 million for the second round of screenings, but it still failed to make up for the production costs, let alone the distribution costs, but relying on the continuous influence brought by good word-of-mouth, the film has already recovered its investment and made a lot of money.

On Broadway, each show has to be forced to go down if the attendance rate is less than 80% in two weeks, and it usually takes hundreds of performances to recoup the cost, and the cast and crew all work 8 hours, plus various preparation times, these theaters will only run about two shows a day until the attendance is no longer tight.

"Huh, then do you want to vote?" Zhang Xuyao continued to focus on cheering.

"Invest in it," Atletico affirmed, "Broadway's slogan is not to buy Coca-Cola shares, they won't give you drinks, but to invest in Broadway, premiere tickets, celebrity parties, industry events, Tony Awards are waiting for you!"

"Brother, are you sure that the slogan you are reading is not eight hearts and eight arrows, and the breaking price is only 998?"

"Actually, it's pretty much the same, so you should try the water, in case any cloud will rain. ”

Because of the professionalism and uncertainty of artistic creation, the treatment that investors get in the drama system is also ice and fire, and when you pull investment, it is natural that you say what you say, and the people carefully prepare the audition repertoire in order to impress investors, and when they get the money, they will change from "you play Kai, let the professional come!"

Fortunately, the legal system in the United States is relatively perfect, as long as you are willing to spend money on a lawyer to buy insurance, the investment will basically not be completely wasted, even if the repertoire loses money because of the lack of performances, there are also copyrights and props and costumes to talk about as comfort.

Of course, if the show is prosperous for a long time, investors will also make a lot of money, not to mention the losses caused by losing money and goods before, and they can also get a long-term meal ticket that is enough to eat for more than ten years or even decades.

However, in general, usually only one out of every four or five new dramas can win the favor of the audience and succeed, so the producers very much need to find a wronged gentleman to bear this super high risk of failure. In particular, the production cost of musicals is becoming more and more expensive, and the total investment has increased year by year from hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 70s, to one million in the 80s, and to more than 10 million in the 90s.

Speaking of which, this is all caused by film and television, they not only compete with the drama to grab the audience, but also the stars and staff in front of and behind the scenes are also the objects of plunder, and the soaring salary in the film and television industry will naturally be transmitted to Broadway, coupled with special effects film and television dramas to enhance the audience's appetite, the stage props of the drama must also be made more exquisite in order to keep the audience, and it is impossible for the cost of the entire system to rise without rising.

For example, the new "Spider-Man" show in 2011 cost $65 million, and the actors can fly over the audience's heads, bringing an "immersive" experience that is even stronger than that of a 3D off-screen movie. This new drama is willing to spend so much money because of the popularity of the anime movie of the same name, which makes investors full of confidence in making profits. The older the rivers and lakes, the less timid they are, and the same is true for investors.

The same is true of Mr. Robert, who is known for investing tens of millions of dollars, but he also likes to take risks with other companies, such as the insurance company AIG and the ticketing company Ticketmaster.

Mr. Robert Jr. of Ni Delun Company has invested in several projects in the mainland in recent years, which proves that the family's mentality is relatively open, as long as it is profitable, it will naturally not worry about the failure of cooperation.

And Atletico is very confident in the combination of VR and drama, even if they can't cooperate on the classic repertoire of famous theaters, it is good to put a nail on Broadway to do a demonstration.