"I fell in love with you watching Casablanca..." Those are the famous words sung by Humphry Boghart in the film. Sixty-three years after its debut, Casablanca is perhaps the world's best-loved film.

Now, a brand new musical drama on Casablanca is set to make its international premiere in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on April the 8th. The show also opens the third Beijing International Drama Festival.

With the themes of war and peace, love and friendship, the Oscar Award-winning blockbuster "Casablanca" is soon to be staged again, in a musical extravaganza to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

In a Beijing press conference, the production crew explained their ideas in making this drama. According to the executive producer, Patrick Conton, the show combines music and dance. The familiar plot and locations are all reproduced on stage, while the first half deepens a sense of times past with a set design dominated by black and white. Some rare World War II-era recordings are used during the show, including 1939 speeches of Adolf Hitler and the Mayor of Paris.

First shown in 1942 in Los Angeles and New York, the film immediately became a big screen classic and clinched three titles in the 16th Oscar Awards including Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director. The musical version of Casablanca will be a nostalgic experience for many.

The show runs in Beijing from April 8th to 12th. Beijing is the first stop on its worldwide tour, after which it moves to Shanghai, and then onwards to foreign shores.

(CCTV.com April 8, 2005)