Cāi Cāi

Chapter 84: Curtain Call: Fame the Musical (1)

Because the subject matter was niche and funds were limited, Waiting for the Midnight Sun hardly did any offline promotion, and all its promotional materials were based on the Internet. They had only a few hundred fans on their official Weibo account, but they were well-connected public accounts in the industry which they used to promote the first wave of audience members.

It sounded pitiful, but in fact, it was a dilemma faced by most domestic musicals.

Only half of the 320 seats were sold in the first show, while the remaining half were used for public relations, inviting many insiders to watch. There were dozens of tickets assigned to surrounding colleges and universities, as they hoped for young college students to become 'tap water'* for this show.

[T/N: * = spontaneous publicity and recommendations]

With the ardent expectations of everyone in the crew, Waiting for the Midnight Sun finally arrived on the stage, under the view of the 320 audience members.

...

That night, the first wave of repo* quietly appeared on social networks.

[T/N: * = report of an event from fans who were there live.]

The well-known director Tang Fengyu in the musical circle and the gold medal producer Song Lin took the lead in posting good reviews to their circle of friends.

@Tang Fengyu: Today, I watched Xiao Xiang's new work Waiting for the Midnight Sun with Old Song; it is a story of self-salvation and self-reconciliation. There are still several areas in the script that need to be polished, the rhythm was a bit slow in the middle, and there were also some minor problems usually present in the first performance, but the flaws were not too obvious.

I have to say that the child Xiao Xiang grew up too fast. He is only twenty-three years old, but was able to take the lead alone and complete this two-hour one-man show with almost no flaws. At his optimal state; there are still hopeful successors in the domestic musical theater circle.

@Song Lin: I still remember the first time I met Xiang Cai five years ago in Huawu Affiliated Academy. At that time, the expression 'newborn calves are not afraid of tigers' was written all over his face. Even though his audition failed, he did not show any sadness. At that time, I felt that the future of this child was absolutely boundless.

Sure enough, he brought me new surprises in Waiting for the Midnight Sun. His singing, dancing, and acting were all excellent. I was fully engaged right through to his concluding song - singing and dancing whilst trembling. When I met him backstage, the young man was exhausted and paralyzed. [smile][smile][smile]

The pictures the two seniors posted were exactly the same: a sweaty Xiang Cai, makeup un-removed, holding a bouquet of flowers, standing between them. His fatigue was obvious, but his eyes were still extremely bright.

The two seniors had very extensive contacts in the circle, and thousands of friends in WeChat. As soon as this was posted in their circle of friends, it was immediately filled with dense likes and comments.

Although this circle was full of 'commercial exchanges'* due to owed favors, Song Lin and Tang Fengyu were always united when critiquing a work - praising if it was good, and scolding if it was bad. The two people's consistent praise towards the other party this time was enough to demonstrate the excellence of this drama.

[T/N: * = means complimenting each other.]

With the support of these two sponsors, many people in the circle remembered the name of Waiting for the Midnight Sun in their hearts. They even planned to go and watch when the show toured.