A U.S. Broadway show highlighting the transforming power of music struck the right chord during its premiere in China.

School of Rock, a kind of Sound of Music story based in a classroom, had its first stop in Shanghai, and then traveled to Beijing for almost a month-long run at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center from March 22 to April 14.

Based on the 2003 film of the same name, the musical is the story of Dewey Finn, a maverick rock singer and guitarist who, after he is kicked out of his band, joins a prestigious prep school pretending to be a substitute teacher. There he decides to create his own curriculum, turning his class into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping and mind-blowing rock band.

Oscar-winning British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who has given such Broadway hits as Cats, Evita and The Phantom of the Opera, composed 14 new songs for the show, which also features all the original songs from the movie.

The musical was hailed by The Guardian as "Andrew Lloyd Webber's most exuberant show in years" in a 2016 review.

The audience in China echoed the praise. "Excellent choreography, light, music, plot and lines. I was moved by the children's vibrancy, sincerity, enthusiasm and confidence…I want to watch it again," a commentator said on popular review website Douban.com.

"This is the first musical I watched," wrote another. "Every actor showed professionalism… It's really a big challenge to perform for two and a half hours."

"The show was a bit of a challenge: to remember everything, remember where to go, remember all the lines," a young member of the cast said at a press conference at the performance center ahead of the show. "But I think it's more fun. It's like a live rock concert."

Reflecting reality

The young cast was selected through a lengthy audition process which took about three and a half months. Finally 17 were chosen. Most of them had been learning classical music instruments when they were 5 or 6. For the musical, they learned to play the bass, drums and the electric guitar.

The youngsters said like the students in the musical, they too are pursuing academic studies because their parents want them to do so. However, after several months of rehearsal, their personalities began to change. They became more extroverted and optimistic. Perhaps this is where the attraction of the musical lies: to show the transforming power of music.

In contrast to the film, which focused on Dewey, the musical puts more emphasis on the children and their relationship with their parents.

When the children rehearsed the song If Only You Would Listen, which in the musical is an expression of their sorrow at being ignored by parents who are busy or prefer their siblings, many of the cast said they also often wish that their parents would listen to them. It would make them better motivated.

Asked how he prepared for the role of Dewey Finn, theater and TV actor Brent Hill who played the singer said: "I decided to not pay my rent for three weeks and see what happened. Basically the same story happened. I suddenly became the leader of a band with these kids."

Brent said he has "been in Dewey's position of not being able to pay the rent before because of what I wanted to do" and so empathized with the character.

Although he had watched the film 12 times, he wanted to make the musical his own. "Hopefully I've done that," he said at the press conference.

The musical's China tour also includes Guangzhou and Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province, Chongqing Municipality in the southwest, Xiamen in southeast China's Fujian Province, and Nanjing in Jiangsu Province of east China.

Over the past decades, a number of Western musicals like School of Rock have been staged in China. The Tianqiao Performing Art Center has hosted many renowned musicals since it opened in November 2015, like The Phantom of the Opera, My Fair Lady and Kinky Boots.

Compared to the time when musicals were first staged in China over a decade ago, today's generation is better informed about the latest shows on New York's Broadway or in West End in London, thanks to the Internet.

Facing a struggle

According to the Chinese Musical Annual Book 2018 released by the Tianqiao Performing Arts Alliance, China Musical Association and Daolue Performing Arts Research Institute, in November 2018, China's musical market box office reached 255 million yuan ($38 million) in 2017. Over 2,300 performances were staged and 1.32 million tickets sold, an increase of 23.3 and 60 percent year on year respectively.

However, this is only around 5 percent of the performing market in China, which means musicals still have ample room for development. In countries in Europe and North America, the figure can be as high as 80 percent.

The domestic musical market is dominated by foreign productions with a dearth of original Chinese musicals and adaptations from foreign musicals. While the revenue from imported musicals in 2017 was 116 million yuan ($17.3 million), 45 percent of the total box office of musicals, original Chinese musicals earned only 79 million yuan ($11.8 million), less than 30 percent. Adaptations from foreign musicals earned 60 million yuan ($8.9 million).

Mao Xiubing, head of Daolue Performing Arts Research Institute, told the media the domestic musical industry lacks talent. Only a few universities offer courses in the art and these courses are focused on performance rather than the whole industrial chain. As a result, producers, scriptwriters, composers and choreographers are scarce. In addition, musicals are not well popularized, leading to a low public recognition of the genre.

Lack of good content is another constraint for the development of domestic musicals. Fei Yuanhong, Deputy General Manager of the Shanghai Culture Square Theater Management Co., told the media it is necessary to have works that reflect Chinese values.

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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