Staging a classic tale

Liu, the second actor for the role, started his musical career with the Chinese production of Cats more than 10 years ago, and has since become a veteran musical actor in the country.

"The Phantom is the dream role of every musical actor," he says. "I am greatly honored and overwhelmed to be given this opportunity."

The third actor, He, the youngest of the three, is an opera singer who graduated from Italy's Nicola Paganini Conservatory of Music in Genoa and trained at the Academia Verdiana's program for promising young opera singers.

Fei Xiang, or Kris Philips, an American Chinese singer and actor, who was the first to introduce the legendary musical to China, shares his experience of working with Webber and singing Webber's works in Chinese in a video message.

Fei joined Webber's concert production The Music of the Night, which starred international singing superstar Sarah Brightman, in 1995.

After touring more than 40 cities in the United States, the concert was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and the Shanghai Grand Theater in 2001. That was the first formal introduction of Western musicals to audiences in China, he says.