With the advantage of being able to combine the strengths of music, dialogue, choreography, and acting, the musical genre is increasingly proving its appeal to modern audiences.
It can be seen that never before have Vietnamese audiences had the opportunity to access and enjoy as many musical works as they do today. Notably, besides the appearance of plays with a strong Western classical style, many plays opera Films written by Vietnamese people and telling stories about Vietnamese people are also being exploited by many "committed" art units.
Some purely Vietnamese musicals that have received much love from audiences in recent times include: "The Adventures of Men the Cricket" (Ho Chi Minh City Opera and Ballet); "Snow in Saigon", "Tam Cam", "Thuy Tinh - The 101st Child" (Buffalo Theater Group); "Tien Nga" (Idecaf Theater); "Trai hoa vang", "Song", "Vien da ngu sac" (Tuoi Tre Theater)... Recently, there have also been successful political musicals, typically "Nguoi cam lai" (People's Police Theater) recreating the life and revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh or the musical "Khat au doc do" (The Military University of Culture and Arts in collaboration with the Vietnam Opera and Ballet Theater), depicting the story of the ideals of modern soldiers...
In particular, the appearance of two purely Vietnamese musicals at the recent 2024 National Music and Dance Festival: "Chi Pheo's Dream" (Thang Long Music and Dance Theater - Excellent Award) and "Bi Vo - Cung Mot Kiep Nguoi" - Silver Medal, surprised many viewers because they did not expect the musical to be so good. Among these works, there are works inspired by Vietnamese literature and history, and there are also works that are completely new, or based on real life stories, with varying degrees of success, but in general, they are all contributing to realizing the dream of a "made in Vietnam" musical industry and affirming the development potential of the country's musical market.
Since "Miss Sao" (script, music: Do Nhuan), the first Vietnamese musical, premiered in 1965, our country's musicals have gone through nearly 60 years of development. But it must be frankly admitted that if Vietnamese musicals want to go far and affirm their brand, they still have to professionalize in many stages. Compared to some other art forms, musicals are a relatively difficult segment. According to director - Meritorious Artist Le Anh Tuyet, "musical is like a high mountain with a brilliant sun on top with a myriad of sparkling colors, but to touch it, you must have enough skills and high training to conquer the mountain".
Musicals require performers to be proficient in two to three skills, from dancing, singing to acting. However, there are not many actors in Vietnam who can possess these skills and apply them skillfully on stage. Furthermore, our country does not have a professional training facility for musical performances. This leads to the art units as well as artists having to "learn as they go" when staging a play.
Looking at the picture of Vietnamese musicals, it is not difficult to recognize the imbalance in the performance techniques of the artists. Watching the works of units that focus on dramatic performances, you will see that the acting is much more prominent than the singing and dancing. On the contrary, with musicals of units that focus on singing and dancing, you will see that the acting ability is somewhat weaker. With musicals, the music is an extremely important element, but in some plays, this element has not been invested in.
Recently, with the support of projection equipment, modern sound and lighting technology, the visual elements of musicals have been increasingly invested in, but there is still a gap in the number of domestic authors, directors and scriptwriters who truly understand musicals and have the ability to make musicals.
Looking at Korea, musicals were introduced to the country around the 60s of the 20th century, which is the same time musicals appeared in our country. But by 2000, Korea had professional musical education programs and qualified musical instructors, creating rapid development for this field. Over the past 20 years, the Korean government has continuously developed strategies for Korean musicals to reach out to the world, through direct investment consultations, connecting domestic producers with international partners... And to date, Korea has officially become one of the four largest musical markets in the world.
From the development experience of your country, it can be seen that if Vietnamese musicals want to make long and far strides, they also need special mechanisms to train and supplement professional human resources for musicals and have appropriate investment to promote creativity, creating musical works with Vietnamese identity and brand. Besides, there also need to be policies to form a market for musicals, gradually develop the musical industry, and make practical contributions to the development of the cultural industry.
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