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It's official: China has a middle class, and it's getting bigger.  A recent article in the New York Times (which was commented on Broadwayworld.com, where it came to my attention) reports on the growing market for Western arts in China, where there is an increasing number growing sector of wealthy and middle class to offer entertainment to.

There is the small problem that after years of state sponsored art patrons are not used to paying for their tickets, so the government is looking to the private sector to sponsor both foreign and domestic performers. However, since the economics of art are way beyond my capacity, that's not why the article caught my eye...

In the summer of 2000 (a time when Western business was beginning to see the potential for big bucks in China, and were opening pointless offices in the country's capital) I was lucky enough to be invited over to China as part of a cross-cultural initiative to get Western pop music fused with traditional Chinese folk songs.  I spent a week in Beijing talking meeting people who seemed to be simultaneously working for a socialist government and involved in private enterprise.  

One of the most frustrating aspects of the experience was the wildly different attitudes in culture: the Chinese wanted to talk everything over, chew the fat, generally take things at a very zen pace.  I just wanted to get the damn song recorded.

China are also well known for their censorship values, and perhaps less well known for their propensity to generate red tape by the bucketload for even the simplest task.

My point (and yes, I was always getting there) is that musicals, with their complex inner workings of set, lights, music, lyrics, dialogue, choreography, costumes, direction, et al, are a beast to produce even in an environment with fairly liberal attitudes. (Yes, Texas is liberal compared to China).  Regardless of the economics, bringing a musical over to the third largest country in the world is a recipe for bureaucratic headaches, endless paperwork and guaranteed messing-with-ones-work.  If a State official decided the set design reminded them too much of Tiananmen Sqaure circa 1989, it would need changing.  And chances are, they'd let you know after the production arrived in the country, so the designer would be limited to local set availability.  Conveniently, said State official would possibly own a company that provided set materials...

But I digress.  Essentially, if musicals are among the works being present over in China, will they suffer as a result of government bureaucracy?   Will they end up as watered-down versions of their former selves?  Yes, Cats toured, Phantom toured, the Really Useful Group will make 40% of their profits this year from the Asian market (but that does include Japan, South Korea and, um, Australia...), whatever.  But those shows don't challenge in the way that say, Parade does.  Or show semi-nakedness in the way that Rock of Ages does. Perhaps they do, I've never seen Cats....

How far will producers go to get work staged in China?  Will the authors come under pressure to allow changes to their work simply because it's a new and possibly burgeoning market?

If you've read this far, congratulations!  I've run out of steam, but I hope my point is clear.  If someone feels the need to censor Google, you probably don't want them messing with your work.