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A brave enterprise

2015-01-12 09:31 China Daily Web Editor: Si Huan
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Performers rehearse the Chinese version of the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The musical will be staged in Beijing's Century Theater for a month and then tour Shanghai in May. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Performers rehearse the Chinese version of the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The musical will be staged in Beijing's Century Theater for a month and then tour Shanghai in May. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Success is fun both onstage and off, but for a young impresario of Broadway musicals the two worlds can go in tandem, reports Raymond Zhou.

If you browse through books at airport stores in China, or sample the hottest Web postings, you won't miss the biggest trend in the Middle Kingdom: tips on making it big by making tons of money.

Chinese even coined a word for it, "successology", a faux science which some are slavishly loyal to and others thumb their noses at. In China, the notion of success, especially as conventionally defined, has become both a shot in the arm and excess baggage.

One musical comedy has turned it into a collective mirror for boisterous laughter, and maybe, a pause for reflection.

It is a wonder that nobody thought of licensing How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying for the Chinese stage-until now, that is. Yang Jiamin, born in 1987, wants success badly. But the success she has in mind is not necessarily measured in salaries or perks. She left the easy money from high finance for the unpredictable world of musicals because her dream is to present the best musical works to Chinese theatergoers.

Judging from audience reception, she is on her way to realize that. How to Succeed is her third production in less than three years. And after starting on Jan 9, it'll run in Beijing's Century Theater for a month and then tour Shanghai in May, a very auspicious start by Chinese standards.

The American original debuted on Broadway in 1961, and has since accumulated 1,417 performances, most recently starring Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. Yang caught one of the 2012 shows and she instantly knew it would click with Chinese audiences. Now, she has planned a run of more than 100 performances with a 20 million yuan ($3.2 million) budget.

That's a big splash in China.

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