Victor Wong and Valen Hsu play lovers destined to be together. Photo: Zhang Yu

By Xu Liuliu

The illustrated story A Chance of Sunshine by Taiwanese writer Jimmy Liao was first published in 1999, and has since gone on to become widely popular in China. It was adapted into a film of the same name, and even spawned its own Chinese TV series.

The author plans to take his successful tale in the form of a musical to the Beijing Exhibition Hall Theater in September. He told the Global Times that the production would feature Taiwanese diva Valen Hsu and singer Victor Wang.

"It will be different from the illustrated book, and will have as many as 20 songs," Liao said. "And the two leading roles should be good at singing. [Characters] Xu and Pin are very renowned singers and were born to take the lead."

A Chance of Sunshine (also known as Turn Left, Turn Right) tells the story of two characters living in the same apartment building on the outskirts of a metropolitan city, only one turns left when walking out the building and the other turns right.

They seem perfect for one another, but fate keeps them apart. They finally bump into one another, but a sudden rainstorm washes away their phone numbers they had written down and given to each other. They later reunite, and the story ends happily.

"[A Chance of Sunshine] as a musical should not be missed by lovers," Liao added. "The same goes for couples living in the same city, destined to come to know one another."

Liao has published several other illustrated books since releasing the book that made him famous in China, and he said this theater adaptation marks an attempt to bring the tale back into contemporary popular culture.

He even invited pop musician Chen Jianqi and band Sodagreen to create the production's upbeat soundtrack. Sodagreen singer Qing Feng said they had written enough material for the musical to make an entire album.

"The musical's plot and stage setup will be very close to the original illustrated book," said director Michael Li, who helped launch Liao's personal brand and directed a film adaptation of one of Liao's other books.

Li added that the musical's stage crew had taken painstaking efforts to make stage look exactly like the book, and that an array of multimedia equipment would be used to draw the audience's attention amid scenes that include a sea of umbrellas, a city covered in snow and a quiet café on a busy city street corner, or what Li called "an oasis of love in the city."