Over the past 20 years on air, Tao Quan has gone through many ups and downs, receiving a "storm of compliments" for its message, the weight of its script, and its sarcastic, biting laughter, but for many years, Tao Quan has faced pressure to innovate.
The most difficult thing for Tao Quan is probably the form of presentation. The year-end show was originally designed with the Tao gods taking turns reporting on the situation of the past year in the lower world to the Jade Emperor. The form of the report, the way of conveying the report (through music, different types of stage) were applied by the director in a diverse way, with the desire to break free from old patterns.
However, despite many years of innovation, including bringing to Tao Quan many musical materials, parodies, and all kinds of theater from tuong, cheo, cai luong to musicals, symphonies... In the end, Tao Quan still has to depend on the form of the Taos reporting to the Jade Emperor.
In the past 2 years, facing public pressure, Tao Quan has innovated its form of expression. Most recently, in 2024, the director brought the Jade Emperor down to earth to make an inspection tour. Instead of the old reporting scenes, the Jade Emperor personally went with Nam Tao to mini apartment buildings, witnessing the lives of people in cramped, unsafe places, but still having to live together when the urbanization rate changes rapidly. Along with the inspection tour of mini apartments and apartments for the rich, the Jade Emperor and Nam Tao also "surveyed" places where real estate prices were sky-high, leading to countless consequences...
Previously, in 2020, Tao Quan stopped airing and was replaced by the program Meet at the end of the year. The program aired with a completely new format, similar to a television stage play combined with folk singing and dancing.
No more characters like Jade Emperor, Nam Tao, Bac Dau and the Kitchen Gods... Meeting at the end of 2020 leads the audience through the story of Vu Dai village in the integration period, with the desire to develop tourism to make a living, changing the poor life after many years.
However, in both format changes, the program received controversy, with many opinions criticizing the new script for lacking weight, lacking highlights, and losing its inherent satirical and satirical identity.
In a conversation with Lao Dong reporter about the performance form of Tao Quan being criticized as old, Meritorious Artist Chi Trung said: “Innovating Tao Quan has always been the desire of all of us, from the director, screenwriter to the cast. Before the audience criticized, we were the ones who were the strictest with ourselves. We were also bored with what was old and repetitive. More than anyone else, we are the ones who want innovation the most, wanting to bring surprises and excitement to the audience every year.
However, innovating Tao Quan is a difficult problem. Even though every year we try to add, find new points, find different highlights for the script... but we are still criticized. There are audiences who like to watch Tao Quan as before with the tragicomic reports, but there are also audiences who constantly demand that Tao Quan change everything, from the script, the performance to the cast. We are like the brides of hundreds of families. It is very difficult to satisfy all audiences. Just know that every year we try our best to serve the audience on New Year's Eve."
This year, Tao Quan 2025 returns with the same cast after many years of trying to "change blood". The overall script is expected to have a lot of material when 2024 brings many events and big changes in many fields and sectors.
The most difficult thing for Tao Quan is still the story of how to maintain the "brand" of satirical and satirical laughter, while still having something new and attractive.
