Stories that sing

Li Dun has long had a dream to bring original Chinese musicals to audiences in China.

All the world's a stage

How I discovered the lure of Will power

In 1997, Li joined famous composer San Bao to produce the musical version of Legend of White Snake, which had an unprecedented run in China - more than 1,000 performances.

In 2002, Li came to Beijing from Shenzhen and founded Songlei Culture & Media Communications to support his musical ambitions. Four years later, he worked again with San Bao on a musical, Butterflies, which toured China and went on to Europe in 2011 and the United States in 2012.

Now, his dream is to make the Oriental Theater into a multifunctional venue. Besides staging musicals every night, he wants to open courses about musicals by cooperating with schools and universities. He will also offer musical training.

"Musicals in China are going through adolescence fast. We need professional people in the musical field to tell a good story, make good music and productions," Li says. "My experience told me that audiences don't need shows beyond their reach. They need entertainment and easy-to-understand stories. That's enough."