Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center has announced its plan to import popular Broadway musical "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" to test the water in the city for musicals. ¡¡

The center signed a contract with US-based Broadway Asia Entertainment Company on Wednesday to translate the musical into Chinese and put on 32 shows from December 5 to 31. Each of the two companies will invest 50 million yuan (US$6.25 million) in the project. ¡¡¡¡

Broadway musical shows imported by the Shanghai Grand Theater since 2002 have given Chinese audiences a taste for the art form and opened up the market to musicals. ¡¡¡¡

The fever for musicals in Shanghai reached a climax with the arrival of "The Lion King" on July 18. About 86 percent of the 160,000 tickets have been sold. ¡¡¡¡

Tom Virtel, chief executive officer of the Broadway company, said the company would open a Shanghai office within the next two months to take advantage of a market of "tremendous potential." ¡¡

The company brought the Broadway musical "The Sound of Music" to the Shanghai Grand Theater in 2004 and will bring another popular musical, "The King and I" to Shanghai next April. ¡¡¡¡