By Michelle Zhang (Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-12-14 10:27

Butterflies," billed as "the first world-class musical with distinctive Chinese flavors," flies to Shanghai this Sunday.

Over the years, audiences have seen top-quality Western musicals such as "Cats," "Phantom of the Opera" and "The Lion King," and have gradually gained an idea of what the best should be like.

But will "Butterflies" fly? It may have wings, but does it have legs?

Based on the story of the "Butterfly Lovers" ("Liang Zhu"), perhaps the most well-known Chinese love story in the world, the musical is an avant-garde interpretation of legend sometimes called a Chinese "Romeo and Juliet."

The leading male character Liang Shanbo is a young vagabond poet, while the leading female Zhu Yingtai is a proud, restrained beauty filled with dreams and illusions.

Zhu is not human, however, but one of the cursed Butterfly People. The only way to release them from the curse is for Zhu, the most beautiful Butterfly, to marry a human being at the World's Terminus.

On Zhu's wedding day, Liang and the bride fall in love at first sight and elope. Finally they are captured by the fierce Butterfly People. When the two are about to be executed, they soar up to the skies in flames and become a pair of free beautiful butterfly lovers.

Playwright Guan Shan has added vivid, dramatic characters not included in the original story, such as the Big Daddy, Zhu's father and leader of the Butterfly People; the Wave Flower, Zhu's loving, wildly passionate confidante with a sexy "devilish" body; and the Old Drunkard, a woman dressed as a beggar man who turns out to be Zhu's mother.

The original three-hour script was taken over by a Canadian "script doctor" who cut out a lot of philosophy, moved the story along and made it more entertaining.

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