Spencer Liff Will Direct China Debut Of SPRING AWAKENING

Shanghai Culture Square announced today the first professional production of the eight-time Tony Award®-winning Spring Awakening in China. This ground-breaking production will be directed and choreographed by Spencer Liff, with music supervision by West End's Fiz Shapur and associate direction by Xiaoyi Liu of The National Theatre of China. It will feature set, lighting, sound, and costume design by an all-Chinese creative team. The production will open in January 2020 for a limited engagement of 13 performances and a subsequent national tour, and will have dialogue in Chinese, with songs sung in English.

Liff says, "Spring Awakening was a ground-breaking piece on Broadway, not only because of its stunning pop-rock score, but the fact that it became a star-making machine and a phenomenon when it comes to attracting young audiences. I am looking forward to creating a brand-new production for the local audience that incorporates Chinese elements. After the auditions in New York and in Shanghai, I am very excited that our production might just present to the Chinese musical theatre market its next superstar."

This production marks the first-time partnership between Harmonia Holdings, Ltd. and SAIC•Shanghai Culture Square. The partnership establishes a model of cross-cultural production that marries industry resources, best practices, and market insights from Broadway and China across all stages of production. The production auditioned bilingual talent in both New York City and Shanghai. This cross-cultural collaboration will also serve as a training platform for emerging designers, technicians, and creatives in China.

"It is going to be a thrilling process to have top creatives from the East and the West shape this piece around emerging young talents in China," Sophie Qi, CEO and Founder of Harmonia says, "I am very excited to put forth this new iteration of Spring Awakening that would stand for world-class quality, yet is authentic to Chinese aesthetics in its artistic expression."

"Though originally written more than 100 years ago, the story of Spring Awakening resonates deeply with today's Chinese millennial audiences - the dominant musical theatre audiences in China." Deputy General Manager of SAIC·Shanghai Culture Square, Richard Fei says, "It's in our DNA to produce content that bonds audiences together emotionally and intellectually through the shared theatrical experience."

Led by Sophie Qi and Ken Dingledine with offices in New York and Shanghai, Harmonia Holdings is a global musical theatre presenter, producer, and theatrical licensor specializing in the Chinese market. As the world's premiere transpacific theatrical conduit, Harmonia connects Chinese audiences and artists, domestic and overseas, with the finest and most exciting theatrical offerings from Broadway and West End. Harmonia is currently a Broadway co-producer of Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Jagged Little Pill.

SAIC•Shanghai Culture Square is the preeminent musical theatre presenter and producer in Shanghai, China. Since the re-construction and re-opening in 2011, SAIC•Shanghai Culture Square venue has fully dedicated itself to curating and presenting diverse musical theatre productions, including The Phantom of The Opera, Kinky Boots and Titanic, and showcasing new works from all over Asia through its Spring for Original Musicals Festival. Its current producing credits include two highly successful long-running Mandarin-language musicals, Rachmaninoff and My Bucket List. SAIC•Shanghai Culture cultivates new musical theatre audiences by offering diverse enrichment and membership programs.