Broadway is often called "the Great White Way" because of the magnificent illumination of the theaters. What would it be like if the Great White Way meets the Great Wall?

　　LES MISERABLES, the second-longest running production on Broadway, made its China debut at the Shanghai Grand Theater June 22 and the performance will end July 7. It became the first full-scale English-language Broadway musical to play on the Chinese mainland.

　　Based on Victor Hugo's classic novel that sweeps through three turbulent decades of 19th century French history, Les Miserables was performed in English with Chinese subtitles at the top of the stage of the Shanghai Grand Theater.

　　The idea of bringing the musical hit to China came in 1994, when producer Cameron Mackintosh visited Shanghai during Les Miserables' Asia tour to Hong Kong and Singapore, said Zhang Xiaoding, public relations manager at the Shanghai Grand Theater. But Shanghai did not then have a large enough theater.

　　The idea did not die, however, in part because Victor Hugo's story about an outcast who fought for social causes is one of the most popular Western novels in China. Qian Shijing, vice president of the Shanghai Grand Theater, started contacting Mackintosh about Les Miserables in 1997, and set the wheels in motion for bringing the production to China.

　　The more formal invitation arrived later when the Chinese Government contacted the United Kingdom's Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The tour became feasible in 1998, when the Shanghai Grand Theater was completed. It seats 1,800 people and is as large as Les Miserables' Broadway home, the Imperial Theater.

　　The next obstacle was shipping stage sets via a commercial jet at a cost of about US$240,000. Such a cost was "unheard of," Ying Houjie, deputy general manager of the Shanghai Grand Theater, told Reuters. Ying said they suggested the sets be shipped by sea, but Mackintosh refused.

　　Finally, about 5,663 kg of sets, weighing as much as a blue whale, arrived in Shanghai on a Boeing 747 jet.

　　Undoubtedly, the price for the performance is very high by Chinese standards. Tickets for the Shanghai shows run from US$10 to US$100, but advance bookings have been good. Four days before Les Miserables' Shanghai debut, about 23,000 tickets, or 74 percent of the total, had been sold, Zhang said.

　　The popularity was due largely to the familiarity with the story, and extensive media publicity. The Shanghai Grand Theater even sent four Chinese journalists to New York and San Francisco to interview the show's actors and producers, which is unusual in China.

　　The lead roles are filled from the London cast, with original star Colm Wilkinson staring as Valjean and Michael McCarthy as Javert.

　　Les Miserables will play in Seoul from July 12 to August 4 after Shanghai.

　　Worldwide, Les Miserables has been seen by more than 49 million people, with box-office gross topping US$1.8 billion.

　　The production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats was the longest running show in Broadway history.

　　(SD-Agencies)