The world’s most respected English language playwright has the perfect story for the stage. It’s timeless, profoundly tragic, and eulogized romantic love like no other. It’s Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet has been adapted into almost all forms of art and is coming to the Beijing stage this summer. This version is the much beloved musical produced by French composer Gérard Presgurvic, whose melodious garnish for the classic play has won hearts of millions across continents in the past 18 years.

If you're looking for an assorted package of art for just one price, go to a musical. Musicals are true feasts for art enthusiasts because they combine a little bit of everything.

Audience ecstatically clapped along with Les Rois du Monde, a song whose relationship with Roméo et Juliette is equivocal as it’s hard to tell which is more famous than the other. The clapping could easily bring you the vibe of a rock concert, but the graceful movements of dancers pulls you back into the theater. Choreography is necessarily an important element to consider so to call a musical successful. The whole cast was able to vividly perform love and hatred, two extremes of human emotion that practically gave birth to the Romeo and Juliet story.

The lighting design was a stark contrast of red and blue, respectively representing the Montagues and the Capulets, the two families behind the Verona lovers. The striking juxtaposition in color visually manifested the tensions in the story: Intense, emotionally stimulating and simply beautiful. To be more interpretative, the colors could as well suggest the clash between romance and convention.

This must-watch performance will be on stage at Beijing Century Theater until June 23, before embarking on a nation-wide tour across China passing through Xi'an, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Guangzhou. At a time when many are lost in the labyrinth of love, let us listen and learn from Roméo et Juliette, if not Shakespeare himself.