A performance worthy of the stage: Don't miss the opportunity

Many shows by international stars had to be canceled because the stage could not meet performance requirements.

The live show celebrating 30 years of singing by singer Dan Truong, taking place on November 1 at the Vietnam Exhibition Center ( Hanoi ) has a budget of more than 11 billion VND.

Face many risks

According to manager Hoang Tuan, 80% of the total cost is for stage setup because the rented venue is an empty lot. "To have a satisfactory stage, we have to set up everything. Just calculating the investment cost to set up the grandstand area for the audience is 1 billion VND" - manager Hoang Tuan revealed.

Live concert stage "Brother overcomes thousands of obstacles" at Global City, Ho Chi Minh City (Photo provided by the organizers)

The live concert stage "Anh trai vu ngan cong gai D7, D8" (day 7 and 8) just took place in Ho Chi Minh City and was highly appreciated by the audience for its magnificent and professional stage. A world-class stage from sound, light to staging. This stage worth tens of billions of dong was built on an empty land (in Global City, Ho Chi Minh City) with outstanding quality, making the audience satisfied with each performance. To have this "dream-like" stage, the producer took about 1 month to set up.

Currently, Global City is almost a frequently chosen location for organizing events because of its advantage of being large enough to accommodate tens of thousands of spectators. In addition, the stage in the Saigon River Park is also an optimal choice because of its beautiful location and large space, enough for producers to set up a stage of the desired size.

In addition to the outstanding advantage of space, the above mentioned venues are all "field" in nature. On these stages, producers will also have to face risks.

Recently, on the 8th day of the live concert "Anh trai vu ngan cong gai", both the audience and the organizers encountered problems due to unfavorable weather. The audience had to brave the rain while the equipment supplier was "worrying" because the expensive electronic equipment would definitely have problems if it got wet in the rain.

Why are foreigners shy?

Director KiKi Tran confided: "One of the reasons why producers have difficulty inviting international artists to perform in Vietnam is that there is no specific venue for shows with thousands, or tens of thousands of viewers."

According to director KiKi Tran, the terms of the agreement of foreign stars always mention the performance stage, but Vietnamese producers often cannot take the initiative in this content, everything is not available. Of course, there is no shortage of places to make a stage, but a performance venue with a specific function for a performance stage (scale of tens of thousands of spectators) is almost non-existent. That makes foreign stars hesitant.

Vietnamese producers spend a lot of time and money to build a stage quickly. This is risky because a stage that costs billions of VND may not meet the requirements of foreign stars. In fact, many foreign stars' shows have been canceled because the stage does not meet the quality requirements of the partners.

As a result, some shows were canceled a few hours before they were scheduled to start. Regardless of the legal battle that followed, the reason "the production unit did not meet the performance conditions" also made people in the industry somewhat worried.

Step by step improvement

The Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera once brought its programs to Lan Anh Stage (Ho Chi Minh City), but this place was almost unsuitable for academic music due to the lack of supporting equipment and space suitable for music. Dr. and conductor Le Ha My - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO), shared: "The stage standards for symphony or chamber concerts are completely different from the stage standards for ballet and musical performances. And HBSO must perform all types of music at the Ho Chi Minh City Theater."

When Eifman Ballet - one of the world's most famous contemporary ballet companies - brought the classic ballet Anna Karenina to Ho Chi Minh City, they only performed excerpts; audiences who wanted to enjoy the full work had to go to Hanoi. The main reason was that Ho Chi Minh City did not have a standard stage.

Conductor Le Ha My believes that if Ho Chi Minh City has a theater that meets international standards, it will be easier to invite world-class art troupes to perform in Ho Chi Minh City. Therefore, the resumption of the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera House project (in the Thu Thiem new urban area) brings much hope.

"HCMC leaders are determined to push the Thu Thiem Theater project to be implemented by the end of this year and will be completed in 2028 as planned. Hopefully, the day HBSO can perform musicals and ballets in a worthy place will not be far away" - conductor Le Ha My confided.

The Phu Tho Circus and Multi-Purpose Performance Theatre (Phu Tho Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) has just been inaugurated and is the only circus in the world that has a mobile round stage combined with a rectangular stage to create a multi-purpose stage. The stage has all modern technology; it can be raised, lowered, opened, and flexibly transformed for all types of performances from the air, on the floor, underwater, and even on the ice rink. With this stage, it is completely possible to perform a water battle scene in which a warrior jumps from a height of 24 m to the lake surface.

Not only does it provide an international standard space for both traditional and modern performances, it is also a place for training in performing arts and new system operation skills. Artists from the Ho Chi Minh City Art Center - the beneficiary of Phu Tho Theater - expressed their joy at the magnificent facility after many years of waiting.

Currently, the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City and the Ho Chi Minh City Arts Center are urgently developing a project to operate and use the project, first of all implementing a project to train operating staff for the Phu Tho Circus and Multi-Purpose Performance Theater.

According to insiders, "Phu Tho Circus and Multi-purpose Performance Center, Ho Chi Minh City" is an address that holds many expectations for the cultural and artistic field of Ho Chi Minh City. With a state-of-the-art technical system, initially, Ho Chi Minh City will accept to hire operating units, while at the same time training specialized human resources in operation. The goal is that within 5 years, "Phu Tho Circus and Multi-purpose Performance Center, Ho Chi Minh City" must be self-operated and operate as a self-governing public service unit of type 2 or higher.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/san-khau-bieu-dien-xung-tam-dung-bo-lo-co-hoi-196250910213536673.htm