China's Romeo and Juliet

[Photo/China Daily]

For the first time, the classic love story of Romeo and Juliet will be presented through a Chinese musical.

The composer, often considered the soul of a musical, is San Bao. He has been called "father of Chinese musical" because the once pop songwriter has devoted himself to writing musicals and has created four productions in the last three years.

On Oct 24, his latest work The Piano in a Factory premiered in Dongguan, Guangdong province.

The lyrics are written by Guan Shan who has worked with San Bao on all his musicals. San Bao says that it is Guan's lyrics of a song named Light that give him inspiration to write music for the "most beautiful love story of the world".

Director Jiang Tao adds many Chinese elements into the production to make it feels like a love story in China, not Verona.

Both Yang Guang who plays the role of Romeo, and Liu Chen as Juliet, studied musical at the Central Academy of Drama.

7:30 pm, Nov 7-10. Poly Theater, Poly Plaza, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6506-5345, 6506-5343, 400-610-3721.