42nd Street to Play Chinese Tour, Beginning in Sept.

Variety reports that a tour of the Broadway hit 42nd Street will shuffle into China for engagements in seven Chinese cities. 

Kicking off on September 3rd, the tour will "be staged 70 times in the cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Hefei, Wuhan and the capital Beijing," according to the article.  Some of the show's ticket revenues will be given to the Soong Ching Ling Music Fund, which offers an exchange program became American and Chinese young people.  Nederlander, Troika Entertainment and Broadway Asia Entertainment will produce, with Beijing Time New Century Entertainment and Shanghai Media Entertainment Group among the musical's Chinese partners.

Based on the classic Busby Berkeley film from 1933, 42nd Street - as directed and choreographed by Gower Champion - won the 1981 Tony Award for Best Musical.  It featured a score by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble (with some "lead-ins and crossovers" by Bradford Ropes, who wrote the novel on which the '30s film was based).  42nd Street starred Jerry Orbach and Tammy Grimes, among others, and also received a hit Broadway revival from 2001 through 2005.