Composer of many hits embraces musicals as he stages a return, Chen Nan reports.

Composer San Bao and his wife, Wan Qianhui, at a theater in Beijing. Concerts will be held, featuring songs he composed for nine Chinese musicals during the past two decades, in Beijing and Shanghai. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

San Bao used to be synonymous with the music of Chinese movies and TV dramas. The composer has written soundtracks for top Chinese filmmakers, such as Feng Xiaogang's movie Be There or Be Square in 1998 and Zhang Yimou's movie The Road Home in 1999, as well as some of the highest-rated TV dramas, such as Love Story in Shanghai directed by Zhao Baogang in 2001 and The Story of a Noble Family directed by Li Dawei in 2003.

But despite a life of acclaim from critics and fans, he switched his focus to composing songs for original Chinese musicals. Since 1998, San Bao has been devoted to the art form.

Everybody knows San Bao for his songs ... but those songs only show a very small part of his talent. Musicals really show his power as a songwriter.

Sha Baoliang, pop star

This month, the composer will have concerts－Shanghai on Friday and Saturday, and Beijing on July 27 and 28－featuring songs he composed for nine Chinese musicals during the past two decades.

"Creating music is what makes me happy. The decision I made (about shifting away from composing for movies and TV dramas) might seem odd to some people because it once brought me fame and a decent income, but everyone is different and for me this (writing songs for musicals) is the thing I want to do," says San Bao. "I can only focus on one thing. Once I decided not to compose for movies and TV dramas anymore, I just stopped."

When the 54-year-old composer appeared recently in a studio in Beijing, he said that he had long been away from the limelight and hadn't done interviews for years.

"It feels like reviewing my own life during the past two decades. It's very personal and emotional," he says.

With each concert, San Bao will invite singers who once performed in his musicals, as well as his pop star friends. Each concert will feature more than 30 songs he has written, which will be performed by a live band gathering symphonic, electronic and folk musicians, as well as a chorus under the baton of San Bao.

San Bao will take the baton to perform during the concerts. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

One of the singers San Bao has invited to perform in the upcoming concerts is pop star Sha Baoliang, who performed the leading role in the Chinese musical Jinsha. Premiered in 2005, the musical, with a script by Guan Shan, was inspired by the archaeological site of Jinsha, which is located near Chengdu, Sichuan province. Sha, along with other singers, such as Tan Weiwei and Yao Beina, performed in the musical's premiere. Besides writing songs, San Bao was also the director of the musical.

"Sha was not my first choice to perform the leading role. I love his voice since he sang some of my pop songs, so I invited him to record demos of the songs for the musical," recalls San Bao.

A week before the musical's premiere, the actor who was supposed to play the leading role lost his voice. Sha stepped in at the last moment for the actor and earned warm feedback from the audiences.

"It was an unforgettable experience for both of us," adds San Bao.

In 2007, San Bao composed songs for a Chinese musical, titled Butterflies, which was directed by Li Dun. Based on the romantic tragedy of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, a Chinese folk tale, known as the "Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet", the musical won widespread acclaim and is regarded as a breakthrough for homegrown musicals. Some of the songs in the musical are still performed by singers during reality TV shows.

Liu Yan, a musical actor, who played in Butterflies, will return to perform in San Bao's upcoming concerts.

"Liu Yan was in his early 20s but he trained himself to play the role, that of a man in his 40s. Now, he has grown into one of the most popular musical actors in China. When he performs the songs again, he will give the songs a new life with his own life experiences," San Bao says.

Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen is a Chinese musical premiered in 2014 and based on a supernatural love story between a female ghost, Nie, and a young scholar, Ning. San Bao's wife, Wan Qianhui, a musical singer, will perform songs from the musical during the concerts.

Wan, now an entrepreneur involved in livestreaming, has been away from the stage after becoming a mother in 2018. A mother of two now, she used to be an actress with roles in Chinese plays and musicals, such as The Cherry Orchard and King Lear, both directed by Li Liuyi.

"I've been longing for the theater and it will be the first time that I will share the stage with my husband," says Wan, 29, who graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 2011.

According to Wan, who is also the producer of San Bao's concerts, the idea of highlighting the composer's pieces written for musicals came from a concert he had in 2021 in Shanghai, along with musical director Li Dun.

The concert, titled Flying Apsaras, was inspired by Li's visit to murals in Dunhuang, Northwest China's Gansu province. With a live band and a 60-member chorus, as well as musical singers, such as Liu Yan and Ayanga, San Bao premiered 14 new songs.

"When I prepared the song list for the concerts, it was very difficult," says San Bao. For audiences who have watched his musicals, the composer selected songs for them that would instantly bring them back to the particular musicals they've watched. For those who never watched his musicals or any musical, he hopes that the concerts will offer them a glimpse of musicals, "an art form which is still at its infancy" in China.

San Bao and Wan during a recent interview in Beijing. (FANG FEI / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Born in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, into an ethnic Mongolian family, San Bao learned to play the violin and piano as a child. His mother, Xin Huguang, was also a composer, who was known for her symphonic poem, Gada Meiren, which, released in 1956, was inspired by a well-known Mongolian folk song with the same name.

At 13, he came to Beijing to study violin at the middle school affiliated to the Minzu University of China. In 1986, San Bao was enrolled for conducting at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where the classically trained musician fell in love with composition and started to write pop songs. He has written hits for pop singers, such as Liu Huan, Mao Amin, Sun Nan and Na Ying during the 1990s.

"Everybody knows San Bao for his songs, largely thanks to the songs he wrote for pop singers, but those songs only show a very small part of his talent. Musicals really show his power as a songwriter," says Sha.

He says when he composes for musicals, he starts by reading the scripts over and over again because there are four tones in Mandarin, which make each line rhythmic even without music.

"It usually takes me a very long time to read the scripts and understand the rhythm of each word before I actually start to compose," says San Bao. "Once I am done with the preparation, which is like a warmup, I compose songs very efficiently. It is all music. I work from noontime till midnight without having any food or distraction.

"Of course, for musicals, a good story is the most important thing. That's what gets my compositional ideas flowing," he adds.

In 1995, the Beijing-based Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Dance Academy both launched musical majors. This was the first time that Chinese universities trained professional musical performers. The fledgling industry saw rising popularity among the country's young audiences with classic Western musical productions touring Chinese cities, such as Cats and The Phantom of the Opera.

From Chinese producers staging Mandarin productions of popular Western shows to creating original Chinese musicals, the country's appetite for musicals has been growing.

However, San Bao laments that, although the country's musical market is growing, with several musical actors rising to fame and gaining a large fan base, the market still needs young talent.

"Three core elements－acting, singing and dancing－make a musical successful. But it's not easy to find all-around performers. It still takes a long time (to find and train good performers)," he says.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn