The popularity of foreign productions has resulted in an influx of investments in China's theater scene, which has in turn helped local production houses to generate their own original content.

“It is actually the music, rather than the story, that is at the very center of a musical. Musicians need to take the lead in the production of a musical. They must be afforded greater creative freedom,” said Fei.

But China’s musical theater scene is not yet doomed. Help has arrived, albeit from a rather unlikely source.

While urbanization has often been blamed for the demise of culture and tradition, China’s musical theater scene might actually stand to benefit from it. Fei noted that the need to generate new and original content is now greater than ever, seeing as to how a plethora of performances are needed to fill the countless new theaters that are sprouting as part of societal progress in major cities across China.

“A lot of the classical pieces are no longer suitable for today’s Chinese market. We now need to provide the audience with quality modern content,” said Fei.

He believes that production houses in China will naturally rise to the challenge as theater professionals all acknowledge that a continued dearth in local content will render China’s theater industry obsolete even before audiences can cultivate the habit of attending such performances.

Fei said that China’s theater industry is currently trying to address the problem by following the methods used in European countries and Asian ones such as Japan and South Korea where the musical theater scenes are well-established.

The plan is to first establish an audience base by importing quality foreign productions that can draw the crowds. After that has been accomplished, local production houses can gradually roll out their own original content.