In late December, as dusk settled, a thousand spectators held their breath inside the Beijing Tianqiao Art Center, collectively awaiting the first notes of the German original musical "Mozart!". Xiao Xiao, who works in Beijing, has a particular fondness for musicals and has lost count of how many times she has entered a theater this year. "When the stage lights up and the actors begin to sing, I immediately feel it's worth every penny," she remarked with emotion.
The popularity of musical theater has been steadily rising in recent years. In 2025, the number of musical performances nationwide reached 19,700, generating a box office revenue exceeding 1.8 billion yuan. As a key debut location for many major international original productions, Beijing has attracted a large audience willing to pay for high-quality musicals, contributing approximately 10% of the national performance count and about 18% of the total box office share for musicals. Throughout the year, countless evenings in Beijing resonated with the captivating rhythms of musicals, as the city's identity as a "capital of performing arts" grew robustly amidst a symphony of classic and innovative works.
Original musicals have ignited a wave of audience enthusiasm. The original musical "The Message," produced by the Beijing Performing Arts Group, recently concluded a successful run at the Beijing Poly Theater. Since its premiere in September, the production has generated significant buzz, with all 50 scheduled performances selling out. The Beijing Tianqiao Art Center has similarly been teeming with audiences. In recent years, Beijing has consistently adhered to a people-centered creative direction, vigorously implementing cultural excellence projects, and has launched a number of literary and artistic works that are profound in thought, exquisite in artistry, and superior in production quality, which includes notable musical productions.
As a representative of the national-level cultural and artistic "first team," the China Oriental Performing Arts Group has continued to deepen its engagement in the musical theater sector. Its new production, "Looking for Li Ergou," with its deep humanistic concern and artistic appeal, became the first musical to win the Wenhua Program Award. The National Centre for the Performing Arts also ventured into musicals for the first time, debuting its inaugural original work "War and Peace." With its grand narrative and masterful artistic presentation, the production expanded the boundaries of musical creation, offering audiences a visually and audibly stunning feast. Private institutions, exemplified by Beijing's "Happy Mahua," have gradually become a significant force in the field of original musicals. Their youthful perspectives, innovative expressions, and diverse artistic styles have enriched the content supply of Beijing's musical market, providing audiences with a wider array of choices.
Jing Junmei, Deputy Director of the Cultural Research Institute at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the successive emergence of works like "The Message," "In the Distance," and "Southern Confucius" demonstrates Beijing's original creative strength and spirit of collaboration.
Performance venues are becoming increasingly diverse. Located on the central south axis of Beijing, the Beijing Tianqiao Art Center, leveraging its unique geographical and cultural advantages, has become the "first port of call" for high-quality foreign musicals arriving in the capital. Since its completion in 2015, the Tianqiao Art Center has witnessed a decade of vigorous development for Beijing's musical theater scene. As of November 2025, the center has staged 185 different musicals across 1,318 performances, attracting 1.33 million audience members and achieving a remarkable box office revenue of 654 million yuan, with foreign original productions accounting for 44% of this total.
Jia Nan, a Beijing resident and musical enthusiast, stated that he visits a theater at least once or twice a month to enjoy the stagecraft and storytelling of musicals. He shared his experience watching "The Phantom of the Opera" at the Tianqiao Art Center the previous month: "The entire show was incredibly satisfying. The actors' performances were very powerful and completely immersive."
While traditional musical venues continue to exert their influence, new performance spaces like the Huguang Guild Hall are attracting younger audiences with smaller-scale musicals, collectively forming a diverse musical performance ecosystem. Furthermore, an increasing number of musical theater actors are stepping out of traditional theaters and into shopping malls and parks, offering citizens unexpected artistic encounters.
As the national cultural center, Beijing not only concentrates rich cultural resources but also supports the cultivation of musical theater talent by leveraging its unique advantage of hosting a cluster of prestigious art academies. Institutions such as the Central Academy of Drama, Communication University of China, Beijing Dance Academy, and Beijing Film Academy have all established musical theater programs, nurturing a cohort of mid-career and emerging musical actors who are now active on stage.
Jing Junmei explained that in cultivating musical theater talent, Beijing has established a virtuous cycle of teaching, practice, and feedback. This approach not only trains performing artists but also incubates versatile creative talents such as directors and stage designers, thereby solidifying the foundation for the sustainable development of the industry.
Simultaneously, multi-faceted support systems like the "New Era Capital Script Incubation Project" and the "Great Plays See Beijing" literary and artistic creation platform provide comprehensive creative support for young talents across various art forms, including musical theater. From offering financial grants to connecting with mentor teams, and from organizing cross-disciplinary art seminars to arranging exchange and research trips, these initiatives help young talents transform their ideas into stage masterpieces.
In December of this year, the Tianqiao Art Center joined forces with the Communication University of China, Central Academy of Drama, Beijing Dance Academy, and Shanghai Conservatory of Music to establish the "Musical Theater University Alliance." This initiative aims to break down barriers between universities and the market by strengthening the deep integration of artistic works with market demands, creating a "testing ground" and "incubator" for original works and professional talent.
Beijing is vigorously promoting the construction of itself as a "capital of performing arts," providing diversified financial support and policy guidance for various performing arts works and events, including musical theater. Over the past three years, the Beijing Culture and Arts Fund has supported the creation, production, and performance of nearly 30 musical projects. The introduction of the "Beijing Measures to Support High-Quality Development of Performing Arts" represents a coordinated set of policies focused on supporting high-quality productions performing in Beijing, promoting innovation and development among performing arts enterprises, and encouraging the integrated development of new performance spaces. These measures effectively reduce costs and stimulate market vitality. The annual "Great Plays See Beijing" performance season, held every autumn, features musical theater as one of its most important and popular art categories. During this year's season, international classic productions competed on the same stage as local original works, with many shows selling out immediately upon ticket release, reflecting the high enthusiasm of theater fans.
"Beijing's stages are inclusive and broad-minded, accommodating a rich and diverse range of artistic genres," stated Zhang Xiaoqun, a professor in the Musical Theater Department of the Beijing Dance Academy. From packed houses for world-class international original productions to the sensational success of meticulously crafted local dialect works, the development of Beijing as a "capital of performing arts" is demonstrating a vigorous and powerful growth trajectory.
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