Crossing into the Qing Dynasty palace to share the joys and sorrows with "Empresses in the Palace," sitting around a dining table enjoying barbecue while interacting with actors—Happiness Mahua is using immersive stages to transform audiences from "spectators" into "participants." As a representative of immersive comedy and theatrical content in China, Happiness Mahua has expanded from traditional theaters in recent years to a diverse "new space" performance system, forming a stable dual-track parallel structure. Its exploration has not only activated its own second growth curve but also reflects the diverse vitality of Beijing's performing arts market. Driven by the demand for emotional value, social attributes, and immersive experiences among young groups, this model integrating dining, commerce, and theater has become a new path for the upgrade of cultural consumption in Beijing.
"Empresses in the Palace" Steps Off the Stage, Exploring New Scenes for Youth Emotional Consumption Thirty minutes before the immersive version of "Empresses in the Palace" began, the area outside Beijing's Happiness Mahua A88 Theater had already entered a "warm-up state." Audiences took photos with character standees in the interactive zone, purchased peripheral dolls, or participated in lottery games. Even before officially entering, their emotions were already "heightened."
Stepping into the theater, the audience felt instantly transported to a Qing Dynasty palace. In the 1,500-square-meter immersive space, the 619 seats were no longer just traditional "audience seating" but more like part of the plot. The immersive version of "Empresses in the Palace" broke the boundaries of traditional stages, with actors moving among the audience, lighting and scenes constantly shifting, turning the audience from "viewers" into "experiencers" within the story.
This transformation stems from Happiness Mahua's continuous exploration of "new space performances" in recent years. "Initially, venturing into new spaces was just an innovative attempt, but it has now become an important product line for the company," said Hong Ye, General Manager of the Product Center at Happiness Mahua Performing Arts Brokerage Co. Since 2019, Happiness Mahua began targeting young audiences with its new space performance system, gradually achieving scale. By 2025, new space products accounted for over 60% of the company's approximately 10,000 annual performances, becoming the fastest-growing business segment. Among them, the immersive version of "Empresses in the Palace" has already been performed over 90 times, receiving a 9.9 rating on platforms like Damai and Maoyan.
"Young audiences today enter the theater not just to watch a story but to enter a space, gaining a comprehensive experience of emotion, socialization, and participation," Hong Ye noted. It is worth mentioning that the A88 Theater, home to the immersive "Empresses in the Palace," was converted from a basketball court. The large 1,500-square-meter space and higher ceiling provided conditions for immersive staging, with devices like rotating stages, lifting platforms, ice screens, and wirework enabling multi-scene transitions and spatial storytelling.
However, in Hong Ye's view, traditional theaters and new space theaters are not substitutes but complementary. Currently, Happiness Mahua has established three thousand-seat standard theaters and six new space theaters in Beijing, forming a performance network covering different consumer needs. Among these, new space performances account for about 60%, but due to capacity limitations, the overall audience scale remains lower than that of traditional large theaters. Projects like "Empresses in the Palace," with around 600 seats, fall between traditional theaters and small immersive spaces, representing a new exploratory form.
As more audiences begin to interact and participate in the plot within theaters, Happiness Mahua's new space experiment is not just an innovation in performance form but also gradually turning theaters into new scenes for offline socialization and emotional consumption among young people.
Dining + Theater: "The Great Escort" Ignites Weekend Consumption Vitality A further step taken by Happiness Mahua in the cultural and creative field is the deep integration of theater with dining, bars, and other formats. The "Happiness Mahua · The Great Escort American-style Dining Show," which opened in Wanli Tingyun Town last December, directly taps into the most vibrant high-frequency scene of urban consumption—dining. Customers eat while watching, actors move among the tables, and the stage is integrated into the entire restaurant structure. Ten to fifteen-minute plot performances are interspersed throughout the dining process, with 20-minute intervals for interaction, food pickup, and socialization, allowing a natural switch between "dining" and "watching the show."
"Audiences coming here essentially turn a meal into a complete weekend experience," Lü Bin, Catering Operations Supervisor at Beijing Happiness Mahua Performing Arts Brokerage Co., explained. The project has now launched multiple performances such as "Crazy Foodie" and "Cowboy Carnival Night," incorporating character interactions, mission challenges, and even allowing diners to participate in advancing the plot.
However, this model was not mature from the start. According to Lü Bin, the earliest product featured completely separate restaurant and theater formats. It was only with "The Great Escort American-style Dining Show" that the boundaries were completely broken, "integrating dining and performance within the same space, thereby improving space utilization and operational efficiency."
As a performance company, Happiness Mahua's crossover into "dining" involved considerable磨合. "Dining emphasizes cost efficiency, aiming to operate at lower costs, while theatrical performances have higher requirements for details like lighting, sound, stage design, and actors, making it difficult to 'downgrade specifications,'" Lü Bin admitted. After continuous adjustments, the team ultimately chose to prioritize ensuring performance and dining quality, then control overall costs by optimizing service processes and human resource allocation.
This exploration quickly received market feedback. Within less than half a year of opening, the overall occupancy rate of "Happiness Mahua · The Great Escort American-style Dining Show" remained between 80% and 90%. Compared to单纯的 dining consumption, the performance content significantly延长了 customer stay time and increased repurchase rates. Lü Bin revealed that performance content noticeably drives weekend客流 and消费热度. Mr. Cao, an on-site audience member, is a "die-hard fan" of "The Great Escort" and has brought family and friends multiple times. "Originally just coming for a meal, it felt like entering a small theatrical scene, full of仪式感和 experience."
Undoubtedly, this model of "high-frequency dining" driving "low-frequency performance" is also becoming a new exploration in the experience economy: using dining for daily traffic引流, then enhancing brand recognition and user stickiness through content, transforming consumption from a one-time transaction into a continuous social and emotional experience.
Happiness Mahua Activates Urban Cultural Consumption with "Immersive Experiences" Relying on diverse new space products, Happiness Mahua continues to expand the boundaries of urban cultural commerce, providing the public with richer consumption choices. Its own role is also transitioning from a单纯 content production company to an "urban cultural space organizer."
Currently, Happiness Mahua has formed three成熟 new space product formats: site-specific驻场 performances represented by the immersive "Empresses in the Palace," roaming immersive experiences like "Fangcheng City Detective," and theatrical performances deeply integrated with dining and bars, such as "Stolen Heart Dinner" and "The Great Escort American-style Dining Show." Among these, the "dine while watching the show" model particularly打破业态壁垒.
Behind this布局 is the trend of "emotional value" becoming the core driver of cultural consumption. Amid消费升级 and lifestyle重塑, the experience economy has become an important force in拉动消费. Against the backdrop of expanding domestic demand and cultivating new formats, various industries are exploring new growth points. As Hong Ye stated, in the current context, audiences are not just purchasing a plot but a participatory emotional experience—tension, immersion, interaction, and sharing,构成新的消费闭环.
New space performances推动 theaters from "viewing spaces" to "experiential spaces," with audiences transitioning from "watching from below" to "participating in the plot." This aligns with the development direction of Beijing's performing arts market—as the most active performance market in China, Beijing is构建戏剧与多业态深度融合的复合消费形态.
Happiness Mahua's innovative exploration and rapid development离不开 Beijing's policy support and ecological synergy. According to Hong Ye, Beijing, as the national cultural center, has significant advantages in the linkage of culture, commerce, tourism, sports, and exhibitions. Regarding the落地 of new space products, the government provides support in various aspects such as venue location, innovation, and operations. From the perspective of Beijing's business environment, this support is reflected not only at the policy level but also in空间供给 and industrial agglomeration effects.
Taking "Happiness Mahua · The Great Escort American-style Dining Show" as an example, its popularity benefits from the location and business support provided by Wanli. Future plans include expanding to the second-floor space, enriching剧目供给, creating new scenes integrating bars and theater, and establishing a replicable urban cultural model.
It is understood that the immersive version of "Empresses in the Palace" plans for a 3 to 5-year驻演, and the A88 Theater is preparing new productions. Starting from Beijing and expanding to key cities nationwide, adapting结合各地空间条件, Happiness Mahua's national replication path is clearly taking shape.
As culture embeds into urban lifestyle consumption, from stage to urban space, Happiness Mahua's second growth curve is not only a transformative breakthrough for the company itself but also a vivid footnote in Beijing's cultivation of new cultural formats and activation of urban cultural vitality.
Comments