1980 My Literary Era.

Chapter 512 The Original Treatment

As Lin Weimin's first novel to land in the United States, "Farewell My Concubine" did not make much waves in the first two years of its publication in the United States.

The annual sales volume of 30 to [-] copies can barely be called a bestseller, but compared with those well-known works, there is still a long way to go.

Of course, if we simply take a foreign novel like "Farewell My Concubine" as an example, the publishing house and the author are very happy to be able to achieve such results in the book market in the United States.

Things changed in the third year after the publication of "Farewell My Concubine". It was about the first two years that the word-of-mouth of the novel continued to ferment, and the sales of this novel in the American book market began to change significantly.

Then "Burning" won the National Book Critics Association Award, "The Lover" won the Goncourt Literature Award, and "The Last Emperor" won the Oscar Award. The continuous literary and film awards made Lin Weimin's name frequently appear in the United States In the eyes of the public, he became famous.

It directly drove the sales of his works in the United States. The sales of several works published in the United States have been rising all the way, among which "Farewell My Concubine" is the top one.

Today, "Farewell My Concubine" has been in the United States for six or seven years, and its total sales have already exceeded 200 million copies. This figure is extremely good even among all the best-selling novels in the United States.

With sales of millions of copies, "Farewell My Concubine" has a very good appeal among readers in the United States.

Why are the Big Six in later generations obsessed with adapting IP?

It is nothing more than because of the popularity of the original book, many book fans and strong appeal, these advantages can naturally be converted into profits for these production companies, and it is the kind that takes no effort.

"Farewell My Concubine" has created a large number of readers in the United States for several years, but due to the oriental background of this novel, its popularity is relatively small compared to its sales.

If Arthur Miller had announced the news elsewhere, it might not have caused much repercussions.

But most of the audience who came to the Netherland Theater to watch the drama today are experienced drama lovers. Many of them have watched "Untouchable" and know about Lin Weimin's other works published in the United States.

The audience was naturally very excited to hear such good news announced by Arthur Miller.

The thunderous applause lasted for a long time. Arthur Miller stood on the stage, and the reaction of the audience made his blood boil. He seemed to have seen the day when "Farewell My Concubine" was successfully performed on Broadway.

Great attention!

After a long time, the applause in the theater finally calmed down. After Arthur Miller and Lin Weimin led the actors to call the curtain again, the audience left.

"Arthur, you really surprised me today!" Lin Weimin said with a smile.

Arthur Miller was still a little excited, "The work has been performed on Broadway for so long, but you rarely enjoy the applause of the audience. This is a rare opportunity."

"It's a really good feeling."

"Lin, let's talk about "Farewell My Concubine"!" Arthur Miller said with bright eyes.

Lin Weimin smiled, "Arthur, you should check the time."

Broadway performances always take place at night, and it was already eleven o'clock in the evening when the performance of "The Kite Runner" ended. After a lot of trouble just now, the time is now close to 11:30.

Arthur Miller patted his head, "I'm a little too excited! I forgot the time. By the way, you just came to New York, and you haven't had a good time with your wife for a few days. Then wait a few days, you play It’s almost time to tell me.”

After finishing the chat with Arthur Miller, Lin Weimin took Tao Huimin to leave the theater.

"teacher LIN!"

When he reached the entrance of the theater, Chen Chong stopped him.

"what's up?"

Chen Chong looked hesitant, and asked, "Just now Mr. Miller said that "Farewell My Concubine" will be staged on Broadway soon, I want to ask you..."

What Chen Chong wants to ask is of course the question of the role. Isn't it just for this opportunity that she has worked so hard on Broadway for so long?
Lin Weimin pondered: "Arthur and I haven't talked about this matter in detail, and now we just confirmed the matter of adapting it. But you performed very well in "The Kite Runner". Since you have worked together before, if you want to If you choose an actor, you will definitely have more chances than others.”

Chen Chong was slightly disappointed in her heart, and she asked unwillingly, "Will this drama still be localized?"

"This one……"

Chen Chong was very clever, and he asked the most critical question about the adaptation of "Farewell My Concubine" in one sentence.

If a foreign play wants to be introduced to a commercial stage like Broadway, it will be difficult to succeed without localization, unless the play itself has a Western cultural background.

It stands to reason that if a work with an oriental background such as "Farewell My Concubine" is going to be on the Broadway stage, localization is a matter of course.

A few years ago, when Lin Weimin and Arthur Miller talked about the adaptation of this play, they also discussed this issue.

But after many years, today is different from the past.

The total sales volume of "Farewell My Concubine" in the United States has exceeded 200 million copies. At least in the United States, literature lovers are quite influential.

In the past, I considered changing the cultural and historical background, and did localization to make it easier for the audience to understand the story.

But so many years have passed, and the continuous popularity of novels has cultivated a certain soil and audience base for dramas to a certain extent.

Under such circumstances, the adaptation of "Farewell My Concubine" has a greater possibility.

If the original flavor of "Farewell My Concubine" can be maintained to a certain extent, then the chances of Chen Chong, a Chinese actor, will naturally increase greatly.

With the current influence of this novel in the United States, the performance of the drama will definitely have a wide influence, and Chen Chong believes that he will also benefit a lot by then.

"It's too early to tell about this," Lin Weimin said.

Chen Chong was disappointed again, but the expression on his face remained unchanged, "I see, thank you!"

Lin Weimin nodded towards Chen Chong, and left the Netherlands Theater with Tao Huimin.

The next night, Lin Weimin invited Tao Huimin to watch "The Phantom of the Opera" being performed at the King's Theater.

It has been more than half a year since this musical came to Broadway from the West End of London, and it still has a huge audience and it is hard to get a ticket for the show.

This time at the King's Theater, Lin Weimin did not see Andrew.

He is busy with the Canadian version of "The Phantom of the Opera," which will be staged in Toronto, Canada, later this year.

In the next few days, Lin Weimin took Tao Huimin around New York City.

East, west, north, south, Manhattan, there is no place to expand, only to develop high altitude.This is the main reason for its magnificence. This is New York in the book of American writer E. B. White.

For commuters and immigrants on the run for their livelihoods, the city of New York is like the cashier in a luxury store, and it's hard to look them in the eye.

But for another group of powerful people, this cabinet lady would be a little too enthusiastic.

Bringing Tao Huimin to New York for honeymoon, Lin Weimin can fully feel the enthusiasm of this city.

After playing for several days in a row, no matter how many attractions there are, there is enough time.

This afternoon, the two strolled along Broadway.

April in New York is similar to that in Yanjing. The cool wind blows from the port to Broadway, and the pedestrians on the road are in a hurry.

The two walked on the sidewalk on the west side of the road, overlooking the slopes of Wall Street.Next to it is a cart selling hot dogs and roasted nuts with umbrellas.

Two people with bags on their backs walked towards them, chatting in a language that Lin Weimin could not understand, they looked like tourists visiting New York.

Tao Huimin asked: "You played with me for several days, shouldn't you be busy with business?"

"We're here to play, and playing is the business." Lin Weimin looked at her.

Tao Huimin smiled and said, "But it's not interesting to play like this all the time."

"Enough for just a few days? We're on our honeymoon!"

"I don't do anything every day, I always play like this, spending money like water, I don't feel at ease." Tao Huimin said frankly.

Lin Weimin couldn't help laughing. Many migrant workers in later generations have this mentality.

When you go to work, you think about vacation all the time, but once you really take a long vacation, you will start to fall into a panic of doing nothing after a few days, and you will start looking forward to going to work in your heart.

Then after going to work, I looked forward to taking a vacation.

It goes round and round, and it goes back and forth.

"Okay, I'm going to do some business. You rest in the apartment for a few days, and we'll go shopping again in two days."

Honeymoon also has to talk about work and rest.

When he came to the San Remo apartment again, Arthur Miller was very happy to see Lin Weimin. He didn't expect Lin Weimin to finish his honeymoon so soon.

"It's just an intermission. I just have time, so I'll come to talk to you about the drama." Lin Weimin said to Arthur Miller.

Whatever the reason, Lin Weimin is very happy to be at Arthur Miller.

The two chatted about the adaptation of "Farewell My Concubine", and Lin Weimin expressed his thoughts to Arthur Miller.

Over the past few years, the novel "Farewell My Concubine" has sold more than 200 million copies in the United States, and has already gained a very large readership base. He hopes to bring the original content of this play to the Broadway stage.

Arthur Miller was not surprised by Lin Weimin's thoughts. The influence of "Farewell My Concubine" is beyond comparison in the past.

What's more, when he watched "Farewell My Concubine" in Yanjing, he left an indelible impression. If this drama was moved to the United States, it would change the cultural and historical background of the drama, which is really regrettable.

"It's a big risk!" said Arthur Miller.

"I think it's worth a try. Arthur, the big difference between "Farewell My Concubine" and "Untouchable" and "The Kite Runner" is that the core of his story is too Chinese, so he took the liberty to localize it , but will become nondescript.

Now it just so happens that the novel "Farewell My Concubine" has such a good sales volume in the United States, such an approach can be tried. "

Lin Weimin's words made Arthur Miller nod, "You are right. With the current influence of "Farewell My Concubine" in the United States, even if this adaptation method fails, there is no need to worry about losing money. .”

"Then follow this direction!" Arthur Miller made up his mind.

Lin Weimin said with a smile: "With this change, it will be much faster to write the script!"

(End of this chapter)