Shanghai gets ready for Chinese premiere of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”

With the Chinese premiere of "Moulin Rouge! The Musical" coming to Shanghai in December, a shopping mall in the city is hosting a variety of promotional and exchange activities this month, themed around American opera and songs.

Even though the stage show, adapted from the hit film, is still more than seven months away, Shanghai is already going "rouge".

Set in the legendary Moulin Rouge nightclub in late 19th-century Paris, the story follows the tragic romance between a young composer, Christian, and star performer Satine.

"The show is a lot about courage. Satine has experienced a lot of limitations and expectations in her life. And then Christian comes along and shows her that love can be like free and liberating and spontaneous. The love story isn't easy at all, but that's what makes it deeply human," said Verity Thompson, who will play the role of Satine in Shanghai.

Since 2018, the musical has won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and has attracted more than 10 million audience members worldwide.

"As well as the classic songs that people know from the movie, there are some new ones as well to give the audience the surprise. So there's some songs by Beyonce or Adele or Lady Gaga in there, as well as Elton John and some of the classic songs that they expect," said James McKeon, an associate musical supervisor for the Shanghai show.

The shopping mall, called Grand Gateway 66, has taken on a distinctly Parisian glow, with Moulin Rouge–themed installations throughout.

"We expect this event to be an immersive experience, and also to bring about a lot of excitement and surprising elements to shoppers. But at the same time, we hope that we can infuse and also inject more vitality into the district by introducing arts and culture," said Pan Mingfeng, general manager, Shanghai Grand Gateway Plaza.

Shanghai gets ready for Chinese premiere of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”

The more people-to-people exchanges there are between China and the U.S., especially between young people, the better bilateral relations will become, according to Max Baucus, the former US Ambassador to China.

Baucus who has dedicated himself to people-to-people connections between the two nations in the world for years, talked about the importance of citizens from both nations getting better acquainted in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Monday.

"I think the more Americans go to China and the more Chinese visit America, the better the relationship will be. It's that simple. It's really sad today. About 260,000 Chinese students study in the United States even today. Only about 700 American students today study in China. It's a huge, huge mismatch. I believe that the more I can encourage more Americans, including students, to go to China, the better-off we're going to be. I know it's trite, but they're gonna be our leaders. They're our future leaders. One man downtown here where I live stopped me on the street and said, 'Oh, Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much! My daughter was going to go to China. I was so afraid of her going to China. She has come back so excited! Oh, I thank you very much for sending her to China!' I get comments like this all the time," said Baucus.

More youth exchanges between China, US would boost bilateral ties: former ambassador