An original musical featuring famous Taiwan pop songs just might change the luck of Chinese musical theater with its forgettable songs.

Musicals are popular among Shanghai theatergoers, especially internationally acclaimed productions, such as "Cats," "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Mamma Mia." At the same time, original Chinese musicals - although most were produced with a big budget - are not so well received by the local audience.

"The key is the songs," says Zhang Yu, director of Shanghai Modern People's Theater. "Many people in the audience have complained about the rhythms being difficult to follow and the lyrics hard to remember."

On October 22, the theater premiered "What's Love About," an original musical featuring 60 Chinese pop songs by Taiwanese musician Jonathan Lee, known as the "godfather of Taiwan pop music."

It runs through November 12.

A legend in the Chinese pop music scene, Lee has written numerous songs for various artists from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. Many have become love song classics.

"Seeing the success of 'Mamma Mia,' which is based on the songs of ABBA, I'm very confident about our play because Jonathan Lee is much more famous than ABBA in China," says Zhang, who is also the producer of "What's Love About."

The musical is about the love stories of four young people from different parts of the world, who meet in Shanghai.

Each of them holds a distinctive theory about love.

However, when true love comes, they realize that love has no reason.

"I'm a big fan of Lee myself," says director Zhou Ke. "Many of his songs have deeply influenced me and reminded me of some of my past experiences. I believe that many people will be touched when they hear those familiar rhythms in the theater."

She also points out that many of Lee's songs have exceptionally long lyrics, which are very much like scripts.

The play is performed by a group of newly graduated music majors for the first round.

Producer Zhang also plans to invite celebrities and stars to join the second round, which will kick off in the near future.

In the next six months, the theater company will stage another three musicals, including an original musical discussing the conditions of underground artists in the metropolis and a collaboration with a French theater company.

Meanwhile, Shanghai Drama Arts Theater will stage "Jia Shen Ji," a historical drama adapted from famed Chinese writer Xia Zhengnong's namesake work. It tells the life story of Li Zicheng, a famous leader of a peasant uprising, who was one of the major figures in the rebellion that brought down the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). However, Li's peasant dynasty collapsed in only 40 days due to his army's greed and corruption.

The drama explores the reasons for Li's defeat, in terms of historical perspective and human nature.

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