From a new German musical about the scientist Albert Einstein, to the revived French production of Le Roi Soleil, and a Cantonese musical featuring the Chinese lion dance, Shanghai Culture Square has announced an upcoming colorful assortment of shows.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of Shanghai Culture Square, a theater dedicated to musical performances. The premiere of overseas musicals has always been the core mission and an important advantage of the theater, says general manager Fei Yuanhong. He says there are four heavy-weight productions scheduled to make their Chinese debut this year.
Probably the most anticipated new show is Le Roi Soleil, which will make Shanghai its exclusive stop in China, playing at Shanghai Culture Square from Oct 30 to Nov 15.
Produced by Dove Attia, the mastermind behind the sensational musical Mozart — l'Opera Rock, and directed by Kamel Ouali, Le Roi Soleil premiered in 2005 and ran for two years of sold-out shows in Paris. The revived production will breathe new life into a spectacular play that dramatizes the life of the French monarch Louis XIV, known as the Sun King.
Compared with the show 20 years ago, the new version features strengthened female roles, and huge changes in terms of the set, says Lou, the French actress playing the Sun King's first love. "Everything is digitized, with screens and motorized columns that move on the stage," she said at the conference on March 30.
The German musical Einstein: A Matter of Time premiered in Switzerland last year, winning wide praise from the industry and audiences. The show will make its China debut at Shanghai Culture Square from Dec 12 to 20. It outlines the personal life and career of physicist Albert Einstein, presenting the academic and social context in which he lived from multiple perspectives.
Leading actor David Jakobs performed a song from the show, Wer hat hier die Antwort? at the conference, saying that he was overwhelmed by the welcome he had received from audiences and staff members at Shanghai Culture Square.
Also making their Chinese debut will be the French musical Cyrano de Bergerac starring Laurent Ban, a widely beloved musical star in China, and L'Alegria Que Passa.
The latter is the pinnacle farewell work celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legendary Spanish theater company Dagoll Dagom. It has swept multiple theater awards in Spain, blending a modern musical style with electronic music and live performance, complemented by visually striking choreography, which mixes street dance, acrobatics and physical theater, presenting an avant-garde artistic stance and further expanding the audience's perception of European musicals.
Last year, a Cantonese musical, The Impossible Trial, won high acclaim at Shanghai Culture Square. The show is coming back this year from Aug 14 to 30. Another musical in Cantonese, I am What I am, will feature in the showcase of original Chinese musicals in April.
Pop songs in Cantonese have won popularity all over China since the 1980s. The dialect has rich tones and unique strength for musical expression, according to Fei. In recent years, the emergence of outstanding Cantonese musicals such as The Impossible Trial has "raised the bar of original Chinese musical creation", he says, adding that "we believe they represent a new direction of musical development in China".
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, where Cantonese is widely used, has a large population equivalent to that of some countries in Europe. "It is no wonder that a number of great musicals should be born here," he says. "We believe more productions featuring the colorful dialects and folk cultures of China will come out as the musical industry develops."
