Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment on Wednesday agreed to manage and produce a live show in a specially built $65 million theater in central China that will celebrate the world famous Terra Cotta Warriors, a high-profile step for America’s live theater giant into the world’s most promising consumer market.

The heads of Nederlander group and the Shaanxi Qinhuang Grand Theater Performing Arts Company signed the contract at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway as two actors in elaborate costumes for the show looked on. The show is expected to begin performances next spring.

Called “The Legend of Emperor Qin,” the show will feature music and dance in a high-tech 2,000-seat theater. The 70-minute show will play daily in the Xian complex that has grown around the ongoing excavation of the Terra Cotta Warriors sculpted during the Qin Dynasty. Organizers hope they can increase performances to two per day and, later, tour a stripped-down version around the world.

The show will be the brainchild of some of the members from the creative team behind the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games — composer Klaus Badelt, writer Sun Haohui and director Zhao Ming. They will be able to use a 600-square-meter LED screen — one of the largest — in China.

Continue reading in The New York Times