Shanghai is 'home' to French musicals premiering in China

The French musical Le Roi Soleil (The Sun King) made its China debut at Shanghai Culture Square on Friday, drawing a full house for the 20th-anniversary revival staged by the original creative team.

Shanghai is the production's only China stop, with 21 performances scheduled through Nov 15. Nearly 80 percent of tickets were sold before opening night, according to Fei Yuanhong, general manager of Shanghai Culture Square, the city's premier musical theater venue.

The production is the first of the theater's year-end season. Shanghai Culture Square brought a lineup of French musicals to China over the past decade and a half, including Notre-Dame de Paris, Romeo et Juliette, Mozart: l'Opera Rock, Don Juan, and Moliere.

Created by producer Dove Attia and director-choreographer Kamel Ouali, Le Roi Soleil premiered in Paris in 2005 and staged more than 380 performances across France, Belgium and Switzerland, drawing over 1.6 million spectators and selling more than one million soundtrack albums.

Its 20th-anniversary revival opened in December 2025 at the Dome de Paris, where advance sales surpassed 350,000 tickets before a single performance was staged — a record for a French musical — and the subsequent French tour performed for full houses.

Thirty songs trace Louis XIV's rise from his early coronation to military triumph and the glory of Versailles. Numbers such as Etre a la hauteur (To Live Up to It) and Tant qu'on reve encore (As Long as We Still Dream) remain standard favorites among fans of the genre's golden age.

Fei says the title is regarded as canonical in the French musical repertoire, with songs that enjoy high recognition among Chinese audiences and strong viewership on domestic platforms such as Bilibili. The new version, featuring updated choreography and the latest LED and other stage technology, had just been completed in France and had no international touring schedule in place when the Chinese side extended an invitation.

Shanghai's advantage in landing the production is structural as much as commercial. The city has effectively become "home" to French musicals in China. Nearly every major French title now premieres in Shanghai, opening exclusively in the city, building local momentum, and only then expanding elsewhere. Within the industry, Fei says, Shanghai's position as the country's best first-run city is now beyond dispute.

Emmanuel Moire, who created the role of Louis XIV, returns to the part after 20 years. "The character's journey touches me deeply — it is, in a way, a reflection of my own life," he says. He is joined by Lou Jean, Louis Delort, and more than a dozen French performers, with most of the dance ensemble from the current French tour.

To match the Paris run's standards, the company spent nearly a week in late October in technical rehearsal in Shanghai, recalibrating lighting, sound and stage mechanics — including the throne, palace columns and transformable mirror units — for the theater's proscenium stage.

"Le Roi Soleil keeps audiences returning not only because it tells the story of a great king, but because it carries an entire generation's love for French musicals," says Ouali. "This trip to Shanghai is the show's first step outside the French-speaking world. We want Chinese audiences to feel the vitality this classic still holds after two decades."

"This premiere is both another milestone in building Shanghai into Asia's performing arts center and a tribute to China-France cultural exchange," Fei says.

Shanghai Culture Square's year-end season, launched in 2011, has presented 54 productions in seven languages across 760 performances, drawing more than 1.08 million attendees. The 2026 lineup also includes Einstein: A Matter of Time; LUDWIG²: The King Is Back; Moliere; and Notre-Dame de Paris.