Broadway musical 'First Date' gets Chinese makeover

Musical comedy “First Date” has four performances at the People Grand Theater this weekend.

The story, following a couple’s blind date and the subsequent development of a relationship as a consequence, was adapted from a 2012 Broadway musical of the same name by American playwright Austin Winsberg.

Domestic production company ACO Musical purchased the copyright and created a Chinese version of the musical.

Musical actor and singer Gao Yang, who plays the lead role of Aaron — an introverted young man working in the finance industry, said the Chinese version has been localized to suit a domestic audience.

“In the original musical, there was a religious conflict between characters but in the Chinese version, we changed that into the different living habits of people of northern and southern China,” said Gao.

Ti Gong

The musical discusses not only relationships, but also social topics, such as a family’s origin, personal experiences and environmental influence on the individuals.

After performances in Shanghai, the musical will visit Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing and Chengdu in the following month.

“We were among the first batch of companies to stage performances when theaters were allowed to resume operation in May,” said Yu Xinyue, general manager of ACO Musical.

“The attendee limitation has been lifted from 30 to 75 percent so far, though there is no plan for a full capacity operation any time soon.”

Yu said ACO Musical had to suspend most of its international projects due to broader travel restrictions at the current stage.

“We will review some of our popular and classic domestic musicals with the audiences, while waiting for the whole industry to fully recover,” she said.

Ti Gong

Performance info

Date: December 12-13, 2pm and 7:30pm
Tickets: 180-580 yuan
Venue: People Grand Theater
Address: 663 Jiujiang Road