"The reason the special show is called Having Made It is that when I first performed stand-up, there were only 20 people in the audience, but tonight at the Nine Trees, there are 1,200 people here," Shanghai-style comedian Men Qiang said on the evening of October 25 on the stage of the Grand Theater at Nine Trees (Shanghai) Future Art Center in Fengxian District. That night, Men Qiang presented his personal Shanghainese stand-up special Having Made It, winning over the entire audience with humor full of everyday life. The comedy special sold out quickly as soon as tickets went on sale, making it extremely hard to get a seat.
As a headline performance of the Nine Trees seventh anniversary performing arts season, the packed success of Men Qiang's Having Made It special reflects the venue's strong content appeal in recent years. On the night of the performance, not only did local residents watch the show at their doorstep, but a large number of spectators from downtown Shanghai and even surrounding cities in the Yangtze River Delta also drove in specifically for the event. When Men Qiang used authentic Shanghainese to talk about the many facets of life and life philosophy during the performance, it triggered enthusiastic resonance and bursts of applause from the audience. Coincidentally, the Wang Yue stand-up special that recently went on sale was also nearly sold out. The hot phenomenon of "hit after hit, sold out one after another" is a vivid microcosm of Nine Trees' seven years of deep cultivation of a high-quality performing arts ecosystem.
From the forest theater that first opened seven years ago to attracting more than 3.64 million visits into this art forest, Nine Trees is becoming an important "premiere pier" for quality major productions landing in Shanghai, and is gradually rising to become a "source highland" that exports cultural influence outward. Over the past seven years, Nine Trees has staged nearly 4,000 wonderful performances and events: heavyweight productions such as the French musical Moliere and the dance drama The Big Dye Workshop 2.0 set off from Nine Trees to national stages; major works by famous artists and troupes such as the National Theatre of China's Four Generations Under One Roof, the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre's Shang Yang, the phenomenal dance drama The Exploitation of Nature, the dance poetry drama Only This Green, and the dance drama The Eternal Wave shone together; diverse art forms such as the Broadway immersive musical Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Tan Dun and Hanggai Band's joint presentation Symphony Rock & Bach Universe, the Chinese Three Tenors concert, and Blackout stand-up comedy took turns performing here; and top-tier galas such as Weibo Movie Night repeatedly chose to land here.
Beyond content, the bigger change at Nine Trees is that it has gradually grown from a single theater into a composite cultural destination. During this year's May Day holiday, Nine Trees launched a cute pet carnival, exploring pet-friendly performances, pet interactions, and park scenarios; during the National Day holiday, the "Today There Is a Show" event further linked performances, markets, and outdoor experiences. To break down barriers to art, Nine Trees has also continued to roll out a series of high-quality free outdoor performances such as open-air movies and fire dance shows, allowing residents and tourists to experience the charm of art under the forest and stars without buying tickets.
As the space has been opened up, the radius of collaboration has also expanded. Around performances and events, Nine Trees links surrounding merchants, hotels, and local intangible cultural heritage, actively exploring a new path of deep integration of "culture, commerce, sports, tourism, exhibitions, and agriculture." No longer relying only on "one performance" to attract audiences, Nine Trees has successfully explored a new integrated micro-vacation path centered on the theater of "watch a good show, stroll through the market, enjoy discounts" under an "performance-tour-shopping" model.
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