"How I wish I'm the man in the painting, how I wish my soul could be saved," sings the character of Dorian Gray in a scene from a recent Chinese musical that has been adapted from Irish writer Oscar Wilde's only novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray." The musical premiered in Shanghai in March.

Based on a South Korean version, the show tells a story of the beautiful Dorian Gray, who trades his soul with a painting of himself to stay young and beautiful while his portrait ages and records his sins.

"When I watched the original South Korean version of the musical, what impressed on me most was that I thought it was about self-redemption," Zhou Ke, director of the musical, told CGTN. "Dorian is like every one of us. When facing all kinds of temptations, are you able to resist them?"

In the South Korean version of the musical, Gray died by suicide by stabbing himself with a paper-knife. At that moment, his portrait returned to youth.

"His soul was saved when his body died. We changed it to fire in the Chinese version. He eventually died in the fire. I think it's also an act of self-redemption," said the director.

"Depending on what kind of a good person you are, you should stay in that direction," Ye Qisheng, actor who brings Dorian Gray to life, shared his thoughts about the story.

"You may experience a lot of things, but you have to keep your bottom line as much as possible," he said. 

A work of international cooperation

The musical is a work of international cooperation created by artists from countries including China, South Korea and the U.S. 

"We didn't want to make it like we were imitating the West," Zhou told CGTN. "So, we made changes to most of the parts except for the music."

The director said that the foreign team gave great affirmation to the adjustment and revision of the script they made.

"By working with our actors, they realized that China's musical industry has made great improvements in recent years due to the actors' professional performances," Zhou said. "I think this is also very gratifying."

Ye said that the foreign team could bring a lot of new things.

"We need to work with great international teams to widen our horizons and enrich our productions, and then the audiences will see a lot of different things," said the actor, adding that China's musical industry has been improving and getting better. 

"Through cooperation with international teams, we can absorb more new things to improve ourselves, and then present them with our characteristics," he said. "Our authentic elements also need to be kept."

Breaking stereotypes and going international

Zhou said that Western audiences have a stereotype, thinking Chinese productions are more inclined to propaganda. 

"To get rid of this stereotype, we need to tell more touching or interesting stories in terms of the exploration of humanity, the structure of the story, the melody of music, and even the concept of marketing," she noted. 

The director believes the key for Chinese productions to go international is to give their best efforts to communicate with the audiences. 

"The musical is a popular art form, and it doesn't need to be very profound," she said, adding that productions need to meet audiences' basic demands by making them happy or touched.

A booming industry

China's musical industry has seen rapid development in recent years.

In 2021, the total number of musical performances nationwide reached 15,300, a 410-percent increase compared with 2018; the total box office in 2021 reached more than 1 billion yuan ($145 million), about 192 percent up from 2018, according to industrial reports from China Association of Performing Arts.

Ye is grateful for the environment in recent years. 

"It lets more people recognize musicals and makes them willing to come to theaters to watch musicals," he said. 

The actor sees the development of China's musical industry as a "revolution."

"It needs more people to join and support it," he said. "This great art form needs to continue to grow vigorously, and blossom and bear fruit."

"The development of an industry requires concerted efforts," Zhou said, adding that both appreciation and criticism are good for the ecosystem of the musical industry. 

"When the actors and the production team complete the final communication with audiences in the theater, they will know what kind of things are being recognized by audiences and what audiences are not satisfied with," said the director. "I think these are the things that can help them to improve."

(CGTN's Zhao Yuxiang also contributed to this story)

Videographer: Li Bancheng

Video editor: Guo Meiping

Cover image: Li Jingjie