The multimedia musical Amber (2006) will run at the Beijing Poly Theatre from July 20 to 30.  Produced by the National Theatre Company of China, directed by the influential Meng Jinghui, and with actor Liu Ye and actress Yuan Quan, the play is guaranteed to be a hit.

Amber premiered in Hong Kong in March 2005, receving both critical and commercial success. After that, the drama gave tour performances in Beijing, Shenzhen, Singapore.  Within a year, Amber has been performed 33 times in seven Asian regions, with a box office take of 11 million RMB.

The Plot

Amber was written by Liao Yimei, the wife of Meng Jinghui, when she was pregnant. A man dies in an accident and his heart is transplanted into the body of a rogue living a decadent life. The girlfriend of the deceased believes she can help the rogue redeem his soul…Amber is a fable on love within a background of contemporary China, about a woman struggles to pursue her love in a city full of desires.

The Director - Meng Jinghui

Meng Jinghui has attracted much attention for his role in developing contemporary drama in China drawing on quintessential Chinese images and style. Whether reproducing old dramas or creating a new one, Meng's dramas easily get popular in the public and always win good box office, with Rhinoceros in Love and Accidental Death of an Anarchist being the representatives.

And this time, Amber, joined by famous stars, has also brought huge profits. It seems like that the drama has been planned for commercial benefits. For this, Meng stated his own attitude: "The commercial success is not a bad thing for a drama. But commerce is an insulting word for a drama director like me. It is wrong to take a drama which is joined by stars and loved by the audience as a commercial drama…" And Meng compared his own creation to the process of giving birth, "I would be happy if my baby happens to be beautiful in other people's view; but I would never get married with a cold-blooded beauty just in order to have a beautiful baby."

The Leading Stars - Liu Ye and Yuan Quan

As Liu Ye and Yuan Quan had a very busy schedule,  Amber was only staged ten performances in Beijing last year. But now it is set to return with its original cast. Liu Ye is the winner of Golden Horse Award for Best Actor for the film Lan Yu in 2001 and winner of Golden Rooster Award for Best Actor for The Foliage in 2004. He is now the most popular actor in China's mainland. Talking about Amber, Liu was very exited and said: "Drama is full of challenge just like a torrential river, sometimes deep sometimes shallow, sometimes dangerous and sometimes pleasing… in the river every performer can find something belonging to him. And after I cross the river of Amber, I find my soul full of power. And I still think that if you don't go to watch Amber, you'll regret."

Yuan Quan is a well-known actress in China. She won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film Pretty Big Feet in 2002 and is praised as the princess of Asian drama. Returning to Amber makes her very happy. She said: "It has been too long a time since I departed from Xiao You (the heroine of Amber). I have been missing her all the time, about the words she said and the song she sang. I tell my friends about her mysterious story… every time I went to the Poly Theatre I can't help stepping into the backstage. Amber has become an important issue in my life. And I hope everyone could come to watch Amber."

As a precursor of China's contemporary drama, the multimedia musical sensation Amber will be represented to the audience with new drama stance and grand aesthetic impression. After many times' experiments, Meng Jinghui is going to raise a new surge of drama creation in China.