Creating a song and dance

Xiao Ke sat on a 5-m-high lighting stack to gauge audience reactions to his musical, Whereby I Love You (Ping Shen Me Wo Ai Ni), at the Century Theater, Beijing.

China's first pop musical, with 17 pop songs by the A-list musician, caused a storm when it was first shown in 2007 and also had successful runs last year, in February and May.

"I was nervous and excited but what I felt most was a sense of self-achievement," Xiao Ke says, while sipping green tea at his studio on the east side of the city.