娱乐英语新闻:Translating ABBA into Chinese

BEIJING, June 5 -- In the summer of 2007, a sunny Greek island, a romantic love story, and ABBA's timeless songs all came to Beijing with the worldwide hit musical Mamma Mia!.

Now, three years after it presented the English language production of Mamma Mia! in China, China Arts and Entertainment Group (CAEG) will collaborate with Littlestar Ltd from London's West End to produce a Chinese language version of the show.

It will be the 14th language the musical has been performed in.

The worldwide hit musical Mamma Mia! is going to have a Chinese version, a co-production of CAEG and Littlestar Ltd from London's West End.

"In 2007, the fantastic audience response to Mamma Mia! in both Beijing and Shanghai convinced us the show had a future in China and that a Chinese-language production could be successful," says Judy Craymer, producer of the London production of Mamma Mia!.

"For the past three years we've been carefully considering how best to produce the show in China and who should be our Chinese production partner. I believe CAEG is a right choice," Craymer says.

Zhang Yu, president of CAEG and Andrew Treagus, director of Littlestar and international executive producer of Mamma Mia!, signed a five-year licensing agreement for the Chinese language production on Wednesday afternoon in Beijing. The show is scheduled to open in Beijing next June.

Littlestar will help to select a local creative team, including the director, choreographers, technical staff and will also assist in auditioning and training the all-Chinese cast.

A three-round audition process will take place in August, November and January 2011. Applicants can log on to the website http://mamma-mia.caeg.cn to enroll for the auditions.