Various live musical productions have been staged or are in the works, as Chinese audiences increasingly embrace the genre.

The musical is becoming the most popular theater genre in China's live show market.

Every year a few foreign musicals have been staged in Shanghai. Almost all the established Broadway musicals have been to Shanghai, from Les Miserables, to The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Lion King and even the more classic Sound of Music.

In the past few years audiences in Shanghai have seen musicals from the less familiar context, such as Romeo and Juliet in French, and Elisabeth in German language.

The current musical on tour in China is Ghost, the international tour edition in English, and will hopefully have a Chinese edition in the future. Next year, Sister Act, also adapted from a film starring Whoopie Goldberg, will be staged in Shanghai as well.

Although War Horse is not strictly a musical play, it will have lots of music, with live singing performed on stage. The Chinese edition will premiere later this year. "It's going to be phenomenal, and may change the outlook of China's live theater scene," said Zhao Chenlin, a member of the production team of War Horse in Chinese.

The play will cost tens of millions of yuan to make, she said. This project could be the largest production of live theater in China so far.

Besides imports from Broadway, West End and other parts of the world, China's theater companies are also producing translated editions of well-received musicals, and creating original plays of their own.

The most successful Chinese edition of a Broadway musical so far is Mamma Mia. In the past three years, more than 400 shows have been staged. United Asia Entertainment is the new production company founded for the production of Mamma Mia in Chinese, with investment from China Arts and Entertainment Group (CAEG), Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and CJ E&M, a company of live entertainment from South Korea.

The company also produced the Chinese edition of Cats, which has had more than 200 shows in two seasons. Neither Mamma Mia nor Cats are being shown at the moment, and United Asia is now recruiting actors for the Chinese edition of Lion King, which will be presented at the Walt Disney theater in Shanghai's Disneyland Park, which is scheduled to open in spring 2016.