China/France: Puy du Fou Announces “SAGA“ – New Show Concept to Premiere in Shanghai in 2022

Only a few weeks after the opening of the new Puy du Fou (PdF) park in Toledo (Spain) – the first international location of the successful French brand (cf. EAP 3/2021) – plans for elaborate themed shows in other parts of the world are also becoming more concrete. While PdF has been planning a complete theme park in China for some time now, details of a new type of show concept were revealed a few days ago, which is to be staged for the first time in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai in 2022.

Under the title of “SAGA“ a show experience based on a completely new artistic concept is to be premiered, which has been specially developed for centrally-located performance venues in international metropolises. While the PdF parks in France and Spain invite visitors to a multy-day journey through history in the midst of nature, the new show concept developed by PdF envisages a stage performance lasting over two hours in adaption to the fast-paced, intense life in city centers. Inspired by Chinese history and personalities of the country, spectators of the future show in Shanghai will discover the city in the 1930s. A special novelty will be the interactiveness of the show, allowing the audience to actively participate in how the story told on stage unfolds. Several times, guests will have the opportunity to choose between different options of how the story continues – in total, 26 different show versions will be possible.

The show location in Shanghai will be the Everbright Convention & Exhibition Center, which will house the show, a themed restaurant and a bar in an area of over 40,000 square meters. For this ambitious project, Puy du Fou has entered into a cooperation with two Chinese partners – CYTS (tourism division of the Everbright Group) and the Shanghai Xuhui Urban Renewal Investment Development Group). The contract, which provides for the joint development of the 76 million euros show, was signed last week. Puy du Fou estimates that the development of the new show will create around 500 direct jobs in China and France.

Nicolas de Villiers, President of Puy du Fou, says: “We are proud that our new ‘SAGA‘ concept will premiere as a world first in Shanghai, China thanks to our Chinese partners. This is our first creation in the country, which will be followed by others that we are already working on with our French and Chinese teams. This new ultra-immersive concept, which will be performed in the heart of the city, illustrates our constant quest for innovation to offer new emotions to the world. Furthermore, SAGA has been created to expand rapidly on an international level. Discussions are already underway with several major venues around the world.“ (eap)