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48 / People
48 / P eop le

Off-Broadway musical in 2021, actually, I did not know what it nese versions of Broadway musi-
Tick Tick Boom, which is a musi- was,” she recalls. cals.
cal that premiered in 2001 in New
York. The teacher introduced two “At that time, it was difficult
classical musicals Les Misérables to find teaching materials about
In recent years, Zhu participated and Jesus Christ Superstar to her musicals. When I studied musical
in many original Chinese musicals and she instantly fell in love with theatre in Shanghai, I bought pirat-
such as The Orphan of Zhao(趙氏 this type of art. ed discs of British, American, and
孤兒). French productions,” Zhu recalls.

Apart from listening to others’
work, Zhu also joined a band as a
vocal singer. She ran for roles in
many Chinese versions of Broad-
way and Off-Broadway musicals.

“I share the feelings
and inner thoughts of
those characters and
even know the devel-
opment of a whole
thing from a single
song”

In 2017, Zhu acted in the Chi-
nese version of Murder Ballad, an
American rock musical launched
A group photo of the four main stars of the Chinese version of the Off-Broadway rock mu- in New York in 2012.
sical Murder Ballad, with Angelina Zhu Zirong in it. (Photo courtesy of Angelina Zhu Zirong)
“I learnt a lot because I played
“Artists have little room for in- “I share the feelings and inner two characters with completely dif-
terpretations when performing thoughts of those characters and ferent backgrounds and personali-
adapted versions of foreign mu- even know the development of a ties. I enjoy challenging myself to
sicals, as they want to respect the whole thing from a single song,” perform for two roles at the same
mature original scripts. I prefer she says. time,” she says.
to do original Chinese musicals
which give me all the space I want Pursuing her love for musicals, To get ready for the two roles,
to perform the role with my un- Zhu studied at the Shanghai Con- Zhu learned from the stories and
derstanding and interpretations,” servatory Of Music between 2003 songs to know more about the
she says. and 2008. characters and how to interpret the

roles.
Her passion for musicals can During that period, the musi- To cater to the Chinese audi-
be traced back to 2003 in a singing cal industry in China was mainly ences, she also studies how to
performance at her high school. dominated by foreign works such change some lines in the original
She sang so well that she won the as Les Miserables and The Lion script and adapt them to the Chi-
admiration of a teacher from a mu- King, according to the China Eco- nese context.
sical college. nomic Network, the largest eco-
nomic information portal website “I discussed adaptations with
“She asked me:’ Do you want to in mainland China. In 2010, many the director… like how to express
learn musical performance?’ But companies began to produce Chi-