With its arrival come heated discussions concerning musicals and their future development in China.

Many professionals in China who have tried to unentangle musicals' secret of success are swarming into the city in the hope of being inspired by "Les Mis."

The grand hit production owes much to legendary producer Cameron Mackintosh, often dubbed as the "emperor of the musicals," who also spawned "Cats," "Phantom of the Opera" and "Miss Saigon." Alongside "Les Mis," they are usually referred to as the "four classical musicals."

According to Matthew Dalco, manager of Cameron Mackintosh Co Ltd, standardization is one key to Mackintosh's success.

For the audiences in Shanghai, "there won't be the slightest adaptation and we will try our best to guarantee the audience will see the exact show performed in the West End and on Broadway," said Dalco.

The only adaptation has appeared in the promotional posters. French painter Emile Bayard's illustration of the little Cosset has been the logo for "Les Mis" since its American premiere in Broadway. This time, Cosset will appear on the posters with a Chinese long dress, Cheong-sam, in Shanghai.

Mackintosh, supported by his colleagues, said "making art and producing musicals is no easy job."

Aged eight, Mackintosh fell deeply in love with musicals after watching Julian Slade's "Salad Day." He then vowed to be a producer.

Today, Mackintosh has 30 different productions being staged around the world.

According to Chinese music critic Ju Qihong, most of Mackintosh's productions feature huge moving sets, enormous casts, grand costumes and triumphant music, which are the grounds to captivate an audience.

Great stories

However, Mackintosh firmly believes the most common thread through his hit productions is that they are great stories, which is the main secret to his attainment.

"That is what grabs the emotions of the audience," he said. "That's what takes them on a journey. I like to have a story that actually allows the characters to develop and change in the most entertaining manner, which gives the characters a great number of reasons to sing for it."

Colm Wilkinson, who starred as Jean Valjean in the original London production in 1985 and returned to the role for the Shanghai tour, also stated that the story is not only moving but universal, depicting how poor people conquer bad things in their lives and how they die for the political statement they strongly hold.

Apart from the story, the creative team of "Les Mis" also spared no effort to offer audiences the best visual and audio impact.

In 1997, in honour of the Broadway production's 10th Anniversary, all the scenery was refurbished, new costumes and wigs were made, and sound and lighting systems modified. The staff of Mackintosh Co Ltd pledged to provide the audience here with all these enhancements.

More than 20 wardrobe staff will dress the 36 actors/actresses in more than 100 costume pieces, 45 wigs and 150 pairs of shoes.

The most important stage prop, the barricade, weighs 5,557 kilograms. The turntable enabling the movement of all the stage props and actors on it weighs more than 4,536 kilograms.

Logistics transportation

"Logistics had previously been a big headache in the process to introduce the musical to China," said Qian Shijin, deputy general manager of Shanghai Grand Theatre. "We suggested the stage props be shipped by sea, but Mackintosh refused. However, transportation by air cost more than US$240,000."

Mackintosh, a Brit, persuaded the United Kingdom's Department for Culture, Media and Sport to work with the Chinese Government to make the Shanghai tour possible, revealed Qian.

All the stage sets, weighing almost as much as an adult blue whale, arrived in an Air China's Boeing 747 cargo jet the previous week.

The total production fee, including transportation and housing, has surpassed US$1.7 million.

However, the huge investment generates rewarding audience feedback. Most of the dress rehearsal audience was fascinated by the stage effects after the curtain fell in Shanghai last Friday.

"The scene of Parisians fighting for the barricade they built up is most impressive," said Chen Yifei, a renowned painter. "It meticulously portrays ferocious battles and death."

And the premiere last Saturday was also a runaway success, with the music captivating the audience. As the audience swarmed out of the theatre, many of them were humming "Les Mis" pieces.

Mackintosh said he is only satisfied when he creates a miraculous scene with beautiful melodies.

"The music of 'Les Mis' is indeed wonderful," he said.

He came across the CD of its original French version in 1980. "I don't know much French, but the music instantly caught me," he said. "That was also the motivation for me to invite the original authors, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, to adapt it into English."

Tao Xin, a professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, pointed out the songs in the musical are written in accordance with the diapason of ordinary people rather than professionals, thus making them easy for the audience to follow.

Moreover, the composer blended the recitatives with arias with great deliberation, which free the audience from monotony.

"As 'Les Mis' has a serious theme, the authors also added comic elements - the performance of the Thenardiers - to adjust the atmosphere," added Tao.

When speaking of the Thenardiers, Alain Boublil, who put forward the conception and wrote the French lyrics, believes it is also a challenging yet attractive part of the musical, especially when it is adapted to other languages.

"The Thenardiers are cunning, vulgar and greedy, who abuse young Cosette," he said. "The lyrics for them must been rough and even dirty. Therefore, it is difficult for me to translate them. So I worked with local song-writers to rewrite them."

The production will be performed in English, but plans are afoot for it to be translated into Chinese in the near future. Boublil recounted how it took him more than 18 months working with Japanese partners to translate it into Japanese.

Mackintosh believes casting the right people for the roles is also crucial to success.

"Not stars but star performances make it a hit," Mackintosh said.

Mackintosh narrated how he found Wilkinson as Valjean to show his criteria for selection.

"After some 400 actors singing the same song, our creative team of 'Les Mis' were pretty tired," he said. "Suddenly the music scores came alive when Wilkinson was singing. I 'smelled' the success. He is the one who can make the songs fresh and different from others."

Regardless of his uniqueness and musical talent, Wilkinson stated that hard work and disciplined daily life made a good musical actor.

"I am leading the life of a monk while playing Valjean," he stressed. "After the performance, I stay off the phone, speak little and drink a lot of water."

Wilkinson's words are without exaggeration, according to Wang Luoyong, who was cast as the Engineer - the leading character in "Miss Saigon" produced by Mackintosh Co Ltd - and was the first Chinese to walk the boards of Broadway.

"As a member of the cast, I strictly followed the working schedule - going to the gym in the morning, practising with the special voice tutor," he said. "There is no time for entertainment and staying out late."

He added that such management of the actors also makes musicals successful. "The company regarded our performances as products, thus a consistent quality is required and as an actor you should always be in the best condition."

Mackintosh attaches great importance to audience feedback, as he is quite prudent in his answer to: "What will be the next musical to be introduced to China?"

"All will depend on the response of the audience in Shanghai," he said. "After all, it is a market adventure."

However, Mackintosh's ambition won't stop at the successful premiere of "Les Mis" in China. "My final ambition is to aid the local artists to stage 'Les Mis' in Chinese," said Mackintosh.

(China Daily June 26, 2002)