A poster of the musical Whereby I Love You

Xiao Ke sat on a 5-m-high lighting stack to gauge audience reactions to his musical, Whereby I Love You (Ping Shen Me Wo Ai Ni), at the Century Theater, Beijing.

China's first pop musical, with 17 pop songs by the A-list musician, caused a storm when it was first shown in 2007 and also had successful runs last year, in February and May.

"I was nervous and excited but what I felt most was a sense of self-achievement," Xiao Ke says, while sipping green tea at his studio on the east side of the city.

"I was not only looking at the actors but also the audience to see whether it was laughing or crying at certain points."

The plot revolves around a beautiful girl who falls in love with a singer, through one of his songs. Later, she finds he is a manufactured star and doesn't sing at all. His "voice" is that of another man, who sings from behind a curtain because he's not good looking.

"I told a story from real life, without exaggeration. The story is not sophisticated but touching," Xiao Ke says.

The music, mostly moody folk-rock and pop, is the chief novelty of the production, while the youthful cast members dress in cool contemporary clothes.

Xiao Ke

According to Xiao Ke, the process of composing the music and developing the storyline, in June 2007, went smoothly "because I put myself in the position of the audience. I asked myself, 'What kind of music do I want to hear while watching a love story?'"

As a music producer whose name is often linked to pop stars, Xiao Ke didn't feel a great pressure to produce his maiden musical. In fact, it was fun, he says.

"In musicals, you can convey many more feelings than you can through just pop music," he says, giving an example from the plot.

At one point the lead actor is walking around the house he has lived in since a child and where he experienced his first love. It is about to be demolished.

He sings: "What you are tearing down is not just a house but all of my memories when I was young," but the workers continue to do their jobs without emotion.