Musical on Jiang Jie to be staged in Beijing

A musical based on the well-known story of Jiang Jie, a female martyr, is to be staged at the China National Opera House in Beijing at the end of September. It's produced by the newly established musical department of Beijing Film Academy.

The musical tells the story of Jiang Jie, a household hero in China who battled with enemy in 1949 for the founding of the People's Republic of China. It's adapted from a revolutionary novel titled Hong Yan (Red Greg).

The leading role of the musical is singer Wang Li. When Wang was 25 years old and won a top national musical award, she was chosen to play the role of Jiang Jie in an opera version. Since then, the singer has played the role for more than 100 times.

Now a musical teacher at Beijing Film Academy, Wang, together with some of her students, made their efforts to present the first production of the musical major which was set up earlier this year.

Hu Zhifeng, vice-president of Beijing Film Academy, says the musical is not only a salute to the opera version of Jiang Jie, which was premiered 60 years ago, but also an experimental work of the academy.

"Musical is challenging and can offer the best training for young people who learn performing art," says Hu. Many of China's popular film stars and directors graduated from Beijing Film Academy.

After its performances in Beijing, the musical will tour around the country.