The winners of the 2006 Super Girls contest will performed their
last concert this year in Wuhan on Saturday.
In a drastic comedown from last year's nationwide craze, this
year's national tour has met with a lukewarm response from fans and
performance companies. However, E.E. Media, the organizer, has
announced that lack of enthusiasm at home will not affect its plan
to push the tour overseas.
The national tour of the 2006 Super Girls began in October,
aiming to cover 10 cities, but some industry insiders had already
begun to cast doubts about its popularity, since the fans' passion
for the Super Girls was on the wane.
After concerts in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing, the doubters
were proved right. In Shanghai, the Super Girls sang at a theater
with less than 10,000 seats, compared with last year's show at
Shanghai Stadium in front of an audience of 80,000.
"Wuhan will not be the last stop of this tour, because we had
scheduled the tour until March. We are still negotiating terms to
land it in Hainan, Fujian and Tianjin," said an official with the
organizer.
Ke Chaoping, general manager of Hangzhou Theater which held a
successful Super Girls concert last year, said he was not
interested in this year's tour. "They are asking a sky-high
performance fee, despite the fact that people are not as keen on
them as last year."
Liu Xiaokang, who organized last year's Super Girls show in
Beijing, said he watched one of this year's concert in Chengdu.
"This year's production did not impress me much, but I decided
to do it because the passion of fans put the box office on
insurance. It's different now," said Liu.
E.E. media said it hopes to take the brand to overseas markets
by signing a contract with the China International Culture and Art
Co.
"We are still negotiating on terms for Super Girls concerts in
the United States and Canada, certainly in regions with a big
Chinese population," said a manager surnamed Du, who is responsible
for finding venues for the tour overseas.
Du confirmed Li Yuchun, the winner of last year's Super Girls
contest, will appear in two concerts in Hong Kong on January 2 and
3. "Li's participation is an assurance for the box office in Hong
Kong," said Du.
(Agencies via CRI December 11, 2006)
