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16 Monday, June 25, 2018 LIFE CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Theater comes SHOWTIME IN SHANGHAI to the screen A new Chinese-language production of hit Broadway and West End musical Beauty and the Beast has just opened at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, Zhang Kun reports. By CHEN NAN starring actor Benedict [email protected] Cumberbatch, at Beijing’s MOMA Broadway Cinema. Chinese cinemagoers will Meanwhile, popular NT soon have diverse offerings Live productions, including that go beyond films. Shakespeare’s Hamlet featur- The new season of the the- ing Cumberbatch in the title ater live program, New Live role, and No Man’s Land, in China, announced by Bei- which has Ian McKellen and jing-based company, ATW Patrick Stewart share the Culture, on June 20 will stage, will return to cinemas bring 58 productions from this year. And, besides popu- different genres in the Unit- lar plays, New Live in China ed States, the United King- will offer opera and ballet dom, Russia and France to productions to Chinese cine- cinemas across the country. magoers for the first time. The highlights will be Audiences will be able to William Shakespeare’s Juli- see five opera productions by us Caesar featuring British the Royal Opera House Cine- actor Ben Whishaw, filmed ma, including Carmen, The by the National Theatre Live Nutcracker and Tosca; and at the Bridge Theatre in Lon- five ballets by the Bolshoi don; the Olivier Award-win- Ballet in Cinema, including ning Royal Court Theatre Giselle choreographed by production of writer-direct- Akram Khan and designed or Martin McDonagh’s by award-winning artist Tim Hangmen; the Royal Shake- Yip, Romeo and Juliet and La speare Theatre’s contempo- Traviata. rary production of Among the other high- The Shanghai Media Group Live and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group launch their Phantom China Project, which includes the production of The Phantom of the Shakespeare’s Macbeth, fea- lights are Tony Award-win- Opera in Chinese. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY turing British actor Christo- ning Broadway musical An pher Eccleston in the title American in Paris and ajor production involved in the Chinese pro- ond installment of the pro- role and Irish actress Niamh French romantic comedy companies and duction from the very begin- grams will take place again in Cusack as Lady Macbeth; Cyrano de Bergerac. established artists ning. When the script was first Shanghai. and Stage Russia’s produc- According to Li Chongzhou, from Broadway translated into Chinese, she The first joint production tion of Chekhov’s The Three the CEO of ATW Culture, so andM the West End have had asked for it to be translated between SMG Live and RUG Sisters with a cast who only far 76 theater productions in announced they will be collab- back into English to ensure was Webber’s Chinese version communicate in sign lan- total from international dis- orating on a slew of musical everything was correct. She of Tell Me On A Sunday, which guage. tributors, such as NT Live, the coproduction projects in Chi- made changes and offered sug- was performed at the Majestic Since 2015, New Live in Royal Shakespeare Company, na. gestions to the director on how Theatre in Shanghai from China, supported by the Brit- Broadway HD and Stage Rus- A new production of Beauty to improve the musical in a bid June 8-16. ish Council, has been offered sia, have been screened at 58 and the Beast in Chinese pre- to guarantee the production Jessica Koravos, president to Chinese viewers by ATW venues in 24 cities across the miered at the Walt Disney remained true to her vision. of RUG, said that the produc- Culture, the main distributor country. Grand Theatre in Shanghai on Both Woolverton and Roth tion “marks an exciting cross- of Britain’s National Theater And, besides cinemas, 16 June 14, led by the creative were very much impressed pollination of skills and Live in the country. plays by Shakespeare’s Globe team behind the original with the ability of the Chinese resources between the UK and A new production of Beauty and the Beast in Chinese premiered at And, so far, the project, have been aired online Broadway show, including actors, who she praised for China to grow the global the Walt Disney Grand Theatre in Shanghai on June 14. known as NT Live, or Nation- through iQiyi, a major online playwright Linda Woolverton, being “spoton and disci- industry.” al Theater Live, which was streaming platform in Chi- director Rob Roth and set plined”, and for giving “heart- “This project has nurtured launched in June 2009 with na, to enable viewers to get designer Stanley Meyer. felt and emotional” audiences responded to the original star who played Chris- cooperation across every disci- the broadcast of the National easier access to a theater The production follows The performances. performance with huge bouts tine in the first production of pline — script and lyric writ- Theatre production of Phed- experience. Lion King as the resident show Roth said that it took them a of laughter and overwhelming Phantom, joined the news ing, stagecraft and technical re, starring Helen Mirren, “Broadcast allows audien- at the Walt Disney Grand The- while to find the Chinese applause. “I hope this play will conference, and shared the work, marketing, creative has broadcast numerous ces to watch theater being atre, part of the Shanghai Dis- actors, “because musical thea- usher in a wave of musical the- story of how her career took development, musicianship stage productions to cine- performed on the other side ney Resort. While it wasn’t ter doesn’t have such a long ater productions in China, and off with the musical. “I hope and performance, and cos- mas around the world, of the world,” says Li. “And revealed how many shows history here as it does in the I hope it will make people Phantom will continue to tume design — it’s been excit- including War Horse and we are hopefully attracting a were planned for the Chinese US,” he said. But once they want to see more Broadway launch careers in China, and ing to collaborate with Frankenstein. new generation of fans and production of Beauty and the started to work together he shows in Chinese.” whoever wins the talent show Chinese designers,” Koravos The project first came to bringing more theater pro- Beast, its predecessor The Lion was surprised at “how quickly Earlier this month on June will not only have the opportu- said. China in June 2012 when it ductions to a movie screen King ran for 500 shows before they understood the ideas,” 7, the Shanghai Media Group nity to play in the Chinese ver- The first Andrew Lloyd broadcast Frankenstein, near you.” it closed in October 2017. and he said their performan- Live and Andrew Lloyd sion, they will be rewarded in Webber musical to be per- “This is the best version of ces “more than matched Webber’s Really Useful Group ways they couldn’t imagine,” formed in Shanghai was Cats the show,” said Rob Roth, who Broadway in terms of quality”. held a news conference at the she said. Brightman will be in 2003, when it ran for 53 was nominated for a Tony “I wanted to create the show Shanghai Grand Theatre one of the talent show judges, shows at the Shanghai Grand Award as best director for together with the actors, rath- announcing the launch of which will undertake a nation- Theatre, said Zhang Xiaod- Beauty and the Beast in 1994, er than just teach them how to their Phantom China Project. wide search for an actor to ing, general manager of the which marked his Broadway do it,” Roth said, adding that The project consists of a play the lead role in the Chi- SGT. In 2004, the Phantom of debut. Roth has since worked he was happy that the actors series of plans, starting with nese production of Phantom. the Opera made history at the on more than 20 different ver- “brought their own ideas, “the largest scale China tour” A TV production about the tal- theater by making 100 con- sions of the musical in several which made the show so much of The Phantom of the Opera in ent show will be broadcast in secutive full-house perform- different languages. better.” 2020, a reality show to find 2020. ances. “The record is still “As an artist, I always want In contrast to The Lion King, musical talent in China, as The collaboration between waiting to be broken, and to keep pushing forward. You which was a modern theatri- well as the production of The SMG Live and RUG began last hopefully with the combined learn more each time you per- cal production, featuring fan- Phantom of the Opera in Chi- year, with the two hosting a efforts of SMG Live and RUG, form a show,” he told China tastic puppetry and visual nese. series of training programs for we will make that happen,” Daily in Shanghai. “This latest effects, Beauty and the Beast is Webber was in New York to musical talent in Shanghai Zhang said. production has a better struc- an “oldfashioned Broadway accept a lifetime achievement last November, when profes- Webber’s latest musical cre- ture ... and the lighting and show”, consisting mainly of prize at the Tony Awards, and sional musical actors and ation, School of Rock, will tour music are also much better singing, dancing and comedy, was therefore unable to attend aspiring young students spent China in 2019, with its open- than the last production, Roth said.