Finding their voice

Musicals have long struggled to gain audience acceptance in China. Now, a new center in Hebei province aims to give domestic productions a boost, Chen Nan reports.

When the Broadway musical Mamma Mia! was performed in Mandarin for the first time in China in 2011, it drew an audience of about 300,000.

At the time, profit was the key driver for its producers from the United Kingdom, while their Chinese partners hoped the success of the show would encourage growth of homegrown musicals.