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."

If it sounds arrogant it is very much Meng's style, just like the curtain call, which illustrates his grand plan in this musical stage of his career. From "Murder in the Hanging Garden," arguably China's most successful avant-garde theater director plans to do at least one musical a year for the next five years.

"I have watched more than 100 musicals on Broadway, West End and many other theaters in Japan, France and China. Now I want to do something as a Chinese director's response to the Western theater genre," says the man whose signature work, "Rhinoceros in Love," has been acclaimed as the "bible of love" among young Chinese.

"Murder in the Hanging Garden," Meng's first musical lives up to people's expectations but, frankly, does not go further. It features the obvious characteristics that all Meng's plays have: abstract settings, bizarre costumes, a ridiculous story, exaggerated action and absurd anecdotes told by the performers between scenes.

It starts with the disappearance and rumored murder of a real estate magnate named Wang. His wife offers the villa, Hanging Garden, as a reward for information leading to the murderer. It is so enticing that three people front up and confess to the murder.

In the shadow of this apparent murder, Meng explores love, friendship and father-children relationships in three independent storylines linked by a common desire for wealth and fame.

"Love is a universal and eternal theme in musicals but in ours it is just one of three," says playwright Shi Hang, who has previously collaborated with Meng in such plays as "I Love XXX," "The Maze," "The Magic Mountain" and "An Exotic Encounter". "We create a thriller to expose the dark side in people's deep hearts. We satirize them but not in a harsh way."

Lyricist Sun Jian adds: "The story has black humor and is cold but Meng does not make it that cruel. It starts with an apparently terrible murder and the reward of a luxury house but in the end, nobody cares about the house. The Hanging Garden turns out to be a symbol that connects with happiness, love and the value and meaning of life. Meng ends a dark story in a bright and hopeful way."

Naturally, music and songs play an important role. In many of Meng's previous plays, such as "Rhinoceros in Love" and "The Amber," the performers also sang but each play only had one or two songs. "In this musical, music promotes the development of the plot and every character sings on stage," says Meng.

The composer Zhang Ran writes the main melodies and plays the piano on stage, while the guitarist Wang Chuang, who has performed in many rock bands, including "The Second Hand Roses," "The King" and "The Oranges," adds a cold sound to the music. The five-member band, including Zhang and Wang, gave a wonderful live performance and guided the rhythm of the full-length show.

Sun's lyrics are poetic and easy to remember. Meng might be conceited but this is a rare Chinese musical that left the audience still remembering the lyrics and humming the tunes on their way out.

"We had no clear idea what kind of music we would do before we gathered for rehearsals. I play rock and ballads while Zhang writes pop and lyrical songs," says Wang. "But we have both watched several of Meng's plays and known his characteristics. He explained the story to us every day; we tried to offer some melodies and create the feeling he described. The final version may not be perfect but everybody agreed this is what we wanted."

In return, Meng is full of praise for the songwriters and musicians. "The story itself is too ridiculous and everyone of the 11 roles is extremely absurd," he says. "Without the singing, I think they would hardly have convinced the audience. It is the music that gives full rein to the intensity and makes each of them sound as if they could have been involved in a murder."

"Murder in the Hanging Garden" runs at Citycomb Theater until June 14.

(China Daily June 3, 2009)