Hong Kong musical The Impossible Trial’s new run sells out in hours after mainland success

The second local re-run of The Impossible Trial, a home-grown Hong Kong musical, sparked a ticket-buying frenzy after its return from a sold-out tour in Shanghai and Beijing. On July 30, the official ticketing platform Popticket saw as many as 52,000 users joining the virtual queue. They were going after the 8,000 tickets released at 10am for 10 additional performances from August 31 to September 10, which sold out within hours, apart from a small number of tickets for wheelchair users. The 20 original performances also sold out quickly during the early-bird sale on May 30 and the first public sale on June 9. According to the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA), which commissioned The Impossible Trial, news of the musical’s positive reception in mainland China in June and July spurred demand for the additional shows. “It was phenomenal,” said Paul Tam, executive director of performing arts at WKCDA, on July 31. “While we are extremely thrilled with the public response to the show, the result yesterday was not unexpected … The overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to the shows in the two mainland cities, which manifested in 23 sold-out shows and viral acclaims on such platforms as RedNote, helped create a bigger-than-ever buzz for the third and final release of tickets,” he added. The queue suggested that seven to 13 times more people were interested in the show compared with the response to earlier sales. The heavy demand is striking, since this is the third time it will be performed in Hong Kong, following its 2022 premiere and first re-run in 2023. The WKCDA said 80 per cent of the additional tickets sold on July 30 are believed to have been bought from the mainland. “It’s crucial to expand our audience market in order to develop long-run musicals in Hong Kong and we are thrilled to see that a show commissioned and produced locally can be well-received by a mainland audience,” Tam said. The performances will begin on August 14 at the Xiqu Centre in West Kowloon, and feature a mix of old and new cast members. In particular, Leung Chung-hang, best known for his role in the film Zero to Hero (2021), film and TV actress Sheena Chan, and other rising stars are going to share the stage with original cast members such as Jordan Cheng in some of the additional shows. Despite the general decline in discretionary spending, a number of recent Cantonese-language stage productions in Hong Kong have also been received enthusiastically. Dayo Wong Tze-wah and Carina Lau Ka-ling’s The Truth About Lying extended an original 40-show run to 58 performances in December 2024 after audiences snapped up tickets costing as much as HK$1,280 (US$160) each. Cantopop stars and screen actors Eric Kot Man-fai and Jan Lamb Hoi-fung’s upcoming Let Me Entertain You, which will premiere on August 8, also sold all tickets for its 50 shows. Sadly, news of actor Will Or Wai-lam’s illness has cast a shadow over the production. Our Journal of Springtime, the first long-running original Hong Kong musical, is also still going strong in its third year at a dedicated venue in Kwai Hing. The Impossible Trial stands out for the enthusiastic reception that it generated in Chinese cities outside the Cantonese-speaking region of Guangdong, Tam pointed out. In Shanghai and Beijing, surtitles in simplified Chinese were provided and the 23 sold-out shows attracted 35,000 audience members, a record number for a Hong Kong musical on the mainland. The three-hour musical – performed entirely in Cantonese – is set in the 19th century and follows a notorious and corrupt barrister seeking redemption after being visited by the ghost of a childhood friend. It was created by composer Leon Ko, lyricist Chris Sham and scriptwriter Cheung Fei-fan, and co-presented by WKCD and the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre. “The Impossible Trial – a musical”, Grand Theatre, Xiqu Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District, Aug 14-Sep 10.

Hong Kong musical The Impossible Trial’s new run sells out in hours after mainland success

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Buzz from The Impossible Trial’s sold-out Shanghai and Beijing runs sparked a ticket frenzy for 10 additional shows in its Hong Kong return

Buzz from The Impossible Trial’s sold-out Shanghai and Beijing runs sparked a ticket frenzy for 10 additional shows in its Hong Kong return