Everyone has a dream. A young man diagnosed with cancer wants to kiss his university lover who has married his best friend; a doctor tries to help the actress he loves get back into the spotlight; a loser father just out of prison wishes to improve the lives of his son and daughter.

These seem like impossible missions, but director Meng Jinghui makes them come true in his first musical, Murder in the Hanging Garden, in a dramatic way.

The first run of the show in Beijing last month was sold out and the second run, currently at the Citycomb Theater, is still attracting young theater fans.

The six-scene musical has all the characteristics that Meng's works usually have: abstract settings, bizarre costumes, a ridiculous story, exaggerated actions and absurd anecdotes told by the performers between scenes.

The story starts with the rumor that the real estate magnate Mr Wang has been murdered. His wife offers the villa, Hanging Garden, as a reward for information leading to the murderer's arrest. The reward is so enticing that three people confess to the murder.

At the same time the director explores love, friendship and father-children relationships, in three independent storylines linked by a common desire for wealth and fame.

He uses the universal and eternal theme, love, at the same time, create a thriller to expose the dark side in human beings deep hearts.

Arguably the most successful avant-garde Chinese theater director, Meng is bullish about his first musical and even rubbishes other Chinese musicals and some Broadway touring productions.

"If I didn't create one, Chinese audiences could only see silly home-made, so called musicals, or old Western productions performed by low-class touring companies," says the ambitious Meng and reveals that he will do at least one musical a year for the next five years.

Though ambitious and arrogant, the box-offices in Beijing and Shanghai love him.

"It's an exciting theater experience. The title suggests a thriller but actually it's a drama full of black humor," says one audience member, surnamed Liu, after he watched the first run in Beijing last month.

"I watched quite a few musicals in Beijing and have to say it deserves two thumbs up," adds Yang Weiwei.

Zhang Ran and Wang Chuang composed the music and have done a good job of coming up with strong melodies. The live five-member band includes Zhang playing piano and Wang on guitar.

Time: 7:30 pm till July 26. Place: Dongzhimen Waidajie. Tel: 8404-9981/82 6415-7332

(China Daily July 25, 2009)