Music to his ears

The debut of Meng Jinghui's latest production, a six-scene musical Murder in the Hanging Garden, ended in thunderous applause at the Citycomb Theater. At the curtain call, the director led his team, all dressed in black shirts and suits and including the producer, playwright, composer, lyricist, set designer, lighting crew and the live band to the front of stage, each tipping their heads to the left and each with a cigarette in mouth. It looked like a team of Robert De Niros or James Deans posing against a wall in the corner of a back street.

A super-confidence, even conceit, was detectable in his eyes as the curly-haired Meng stared at the audience for a while, then said: "Thank you for coming to the show. I hope tonight is a significant day in the history of the Chinese musical."

What Meng also said during rehearsals was: "I am finally doing a musical. I have been thinking of doing one for some time. So many people make Chinese musicals or import Broadway productions but few of them succeed. If I don't create one, Chinese audiences can only see silly home-made, so-called musicals or old Western productions performed by low-class touring companies."