Theater scene roars back to stage

Damai, a leading live entertainment company in China, started recruiting actors for the production in June.

In December, the new immersive production, which claims to be the first theater adaptation of the British dark comedy, will kick off at the Shanghai Grand Theatre as a resident program and feature "small, self-contained stories set in one location, and small casts," according to Shearsmith.

Also premiering in China in the coming months is a new Broadway production of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Adapted from a 70-page segment from Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace, this sung-through musical focuses on Natasha's romantic obsession for Anatole and Pierre's search for meaning in life.

Written by composer and lyricist Dave Malloy, the original production, which was directed by Rachel Chavkin, premiered on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in 2016. The show later received 12 nominations at the 2017 Tony Awards, and won two.

A Spanish-language production premiered in 2014, followed by a Portuguese production in Brazil, a Japanese production in 2019 and a Korean production in 2021.