Chinese producer Li Dun's latest musical is inspired by a heart-wrenching television news item he saw two years ago.

The news was about a Chinese student who allegedly stabbed his mother after a quarrel about tuition fees for his overseas study.

"I was shocked. Where is the most basic human conscience? A son stabbed a mother, it's the most horrible thing I've ever heard," he says.

The incident got him thinking about doing something to raise public awareness about love between mother and children.

It gives birth to Mum, Love Me Once Again, a musical scheduled to kick off its national tour on April 21 from Beijing.

Adapted from the classic Taiwan film My Beloved, a tear-jerking drama about mother and son, the musical adds plots from the TV news.

The mother in the musical is a salsa dancer, who lives with her son. But, having lived with the grandmother when he was young, the son feels estranged from his mother.

She works hard to give her son a good education and sends him to Japan to further his studies. And like the TV news, the son stabs his mother after a fight over tuition fees. To depict the wonder of motherly love, she forgives her son.

"Even though her son made her suffer, she still loves and forgives him," says Li. "Today, people have become numb to many things, which is wrong and sad. I hope the musical reminds people of the simplest but greatest love between a mother and her child."

Li harbors regrets in his own relationship with his mother, who passed away in 2007. "I've been too busy working and did not spend enough time with her. When she passed away, I felt so terrible. I hope people will express their love for their mothers every day. Don't wait until it's too late," he says.

Sharing his sentiments are his friends who are involved in the musical: Hong Kong composer Peter Kam, lyricist Liang Mang, and Broadway choreographer Seaon Bristol, who is the musical's dance instructor.

The veteran musical producer has been a great influence in fostering the popularity of musicals in China. One of his early works, Butterflies, which is considered a trailblazer in the world of China-produced musicals, has been staged in more than 20 cities around the world.

Li says he has produced various musicals. But he considers his latest musical dedicated to mothers as his most thorough work ever as the theme resonates with audiences.

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/14/2013 page15)