French musical makes Don Juan fall in love

Don Juan, one of the most popular French musicals, made its China debut on Jan 25 in Shanghai and will visit six other cities this year, the 20th anniversary of its premiere.

Written by French composer Felix Gray in 2003 and brought to the stage in 2004 by director Gilles Maheu, who also directed musical Notre Dame de Paris, this celebrated musical has been staged with great success in France, Canada and South Korea. In 2016, a Japanese version was staged by the Takarazuka Revue. Over the past two decades, it has been seen by 600,000 people around the world.

Don Juan is the legendary libertine and seducer of Spanish folklore, an aristocratic playboy known for his flirtatious behavior. Over the centuries, around 1,000 works of art have been made about him in forms ranging from poetry, to music and films, turning the fictional character into an icon of Western culture.