Multimedia

Immortality: Glimpsing into the ancient Shu Capital

Directed and composed by the renowned avant-garde artist San Bao, the musical Jinsha (also known as Immortality), a blockbuster in the Third Beijing International Season, made its debut in Beijing's Poly Theatre on April 8, and performed until April 10, with Sha Baoliang, a famous singer from Taiwan, as the leading actor in the April 9 performance.

The musical Jinsha is inspired by the Jinsha Relics Site, which was unearthed in 2001 in Chengdu of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, and is themed on the ancient Shu culture represented by the Jinsha Site in Chengdu. With an investment of 16 million yuan (about US$1.9 million), the musical mainly tells about the love story between Jin and Sha, the leading actor and actress. Spiced up by 22 songs composed by San Bao, the musical also vividly represents the scenes of mysterious sacrificial ceremonies, the wars, and the grand banquet among flowers, which happened thousands of years ago.

Talking about his experience as a director, San Bao, the chief director and composer, said, "I have been on the edge ever since last April, and now I feel much relaxed, thanks to the assistants, who have seen me through all the difficulties. The most important thing about a musical is its music, and the major responsibility of the chief director is to direct and annotate music, which I was trained to do as a student."

San Bao's symphony style lingers in the musical, and apart from the lyrics, he has also created some musical scores based on the specific circumstances of the musical, saying, "I choose the form of musical to elaborate on the theme because I want to represent the ancient culture in a popular art form so that more people can better understand the past. It is not meant to be a perfect artistic creation, as my major concern is to make a classy entertainment piece pleasant to the eyes and ears."