Performers of the Disney music drama"Lion King" pound an ice-made figure "100" to mark the drama's 101st show,the last one in its China tour, at the Shanghai Grand Theater in Shanghai,east China, on Oct. 8, 2006. About 160,000 people have watched the dramasince it was staged here on July 18.(Xinhua Photo)

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Performers of the Disney music drama"Lion King" pound an ice-made figure "100" to mark the drama's 101st show,the last one in its China tour, at the Shanghai Grand Theater in Shanghai,east China, on Oct. 8, 2006.(Xinhua Photo)

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BEIJING, Oct. 9 -- The curtain dropped on "The Lion King" last night, ending a record-breaking run of 101 shows at the Shanghai Grand Theater.

The musical took in 72 million yuan (US$9 million) from sales of about 160,000 tickets over the three-month run, taking the musical box-office record from "The Phantom of the Opera," which took in 65 million yuan during its 100-show run in Shanghai last year.

"Shanghai is a lively and beautiful city," said Tony Harbey, who plays Scar in the musical. "We appreciated it that the audiences loved our performance."

The local show included Chinese subtitles and some small changes to the script tailor made for Shanghai audiences.

Local resident Wang Hui went to the musical with her granddaughter.

"We were fascinated by the passionate scenes and the lively music," said Wang.

She said language wasn't a barrier to enjoy the show as the story is very well known.

"We hope to build Shanghai into an emerging center for musicals in Asia," said Fang Shizhong, president of the Shanghai Grand Theater. Fang noted the show attracted fans from all over China as well as Singapore, Japan and South Korea.

The theater plans to roll out its next musical "Mama Mia" sometime next year.

Since 2002 when "Les Miserables" became the first original Broadway musical performed in the city, the theater has staged "Cats," "The Sound of Music" and "The Phantom of the Opera."

(Source: Shanghai Daily)