During the Dragon Boat Festival holidays, a great many Shanghai residents and tourists went to see the classic Broadway musical, Beauty and the Beast, whose Chinese adaptation was taking top billing in Shanghai Disneyland.

Chinese version of Beauty and the Beast [Photo/xinmin.cn]

Beauty and the Beast is one of the most successful and popular plays in the history of Broadway musicals. A month prior to its staging in China, its director, Rob Roth, and screenwriter, Linda Woolverton, both members of the original production crew, arrived in Shanghai to join the rehearsal with the local theatrical group. Rob Roth won a 94th Tony award nomination along with the original crew and has also successfully directed a number of other musicals. However, Rob was not sure about the reception for the Chinese version of this play. According to Rob, a new introduction using a voice-over is used while a granny suddenly turns into a beautiful fairy. This saw an exclamation from the audience, justifying Rob’s efforts, who shed tears at the warm acceptance from the Chinese viewers. Throughout the two-hour runtime, there were laughs, applause and cheers.

The Chinese version went through multiple phases of translation and adjustment of fine details.“Right after the English screenplay was translated into Chinese, we translated the Chinese back to English to see if the essence had been nicely retained and made a few changes to the content. Then we translated that again into Chinese and had it compared among actors and the director. All records of the screenplay were kept,” says Linda.“For example, the scene where Belle and the beast read in the study is a new one for the Chinese version and also my favorite.”

The fabulous costume design of this musical also won acclaim from the Chinese audience, especially the gorgeous nightgowns worn by the protagonist, Belle. These costumes are all designed and produced by the award-winning designer Ann Hould-Ward and her team.

As the costume designer of many previous versions of Beauty and the Beast, Ann is highly-experienced. For the Chinese version, she creatively includes in Belle’s costumes Chinese elements such as flower-bird patterns, which are known to be an essential component of Chinese traditional painting. The peony blossom and chirping birds brilliantly echo Belle’s vivacity. Ann also ingeniously used Chinese embroidery techniques in making the costume. She says that her eyes were brimming with tears when Yaorong Guo, who plays Belle, walked out of the fitting room because she perfectly embodied Belle for the Chinese version of Beauty and the Beast.

The musical is on till June 30 in Shanghai Disneyland: don’t miss the chance to witness Belle and the rest of the cast as never seen before.