Tianjin (CNS) -- A "red musical," which has been adapted from the book Red Star Over China, by American correspondent Edgar Snow, is due to debut in Tianjin on July 1st.
According to Liu Keqing, the general director of the musical and baritone, it's the first time in Chinese musical history that a "red musical" is adopting Western pop music styles and portraying Mao Zedong.
The musical uses the experiences of Susan Snow, who follows her grandfather's footsteps in China, as the main story. With the use of flashbacks, the story of Edgar Snow's visit in 1936 to the Shanganning region (then the revolutionary base for the Chinese Communist Party), to interview Mao Zedong and his followers, will be told.
Liu said that a Czech actor will play young Snow, while actresses from Russia and Poland will play his wife and granddaughter. The three of them will sing in Chinese.
Hanzhong, the tenor and a national first class actor who used to play the part of Mao Zedong, will once again take the part in this musical. The play will also show the life of several other historical characters during revolutionary times including Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Rosamond Soong (Madame Sun Yat-sen).
It has reportedly taken a year to prepare the play, which will have 500 actors and actresses. At the end of the musical, the folk song in North Shanxi Province "Red Flowers are Blooming" will be played.
