VBW hit musicals 2025 & 2026 in China

Elisabeth Mozart in China 2025 © VBW

Following last year's huge success, two VBW hit musicals will once again be touring China in German this year: MOZART! and ELISABETH, both created by Michael Kunze & Sylvester Levay.

Starting in November 2025, the musicals will be staged in semi-staged productions with a large orchestra in a total of 67 performances at renowned Chinese partner theatres of VBW in cooperation with Nordic View Entertainment.

MOZART! will kick things off, celebrating its grand premiere in Shanghai on 27 November 2025 in an elaborate semi-staged version. The hit show will then tour Guangzhou, Beijing and Suzhou, with a total of 34 performances planned.

The tour of the second successful VBW musical will then begin in January 2026: on 7 January 2026, ELISABETH will premiere in Guangzhou, once again in the popular Schönbrunn version that already thrilled Chinese audiences last year. This musical will also be performed in Shanghai, Beijing and Suzhou, with a total of 33 performances.

Leading team and production company

Both productions will be staged by Gil Mehmert, who previously directed the ELISABETH concert in Schönbrunn. Christoph Bönecker and Ratan Jhaveri will be responsible for musical direction, Simon Eichenberger for choreography, Yan Tax for costume design and Michael Grundner for lighting design. Michael Balgavy has been brought on board for video design and Hendrik Maassen will be responsible for sound design. 

The VBW China Tour 2025/26 is being produced in cooperation with Nordic View Entertainment, a young, internationally oriented company with the aim of bringing European live entertainment to new markets such as China.
 

MOZART! dates

  • Shanghai: 27 November 2025 – 14 December 2025
  • Guangzhou: 17 December 2025 – 21 December 2025
  • Beijing: 25 December 2025 – 28 December 2025
  • Suzhou: 1 January 2026 – 3 January 2026

ELISABETH Dates

  • Guangzhou: 7 January 2026 – 11 January 2026
  • Shanghai: 14 January 2026 – 25 January 2026
  • Beijing: 28 January 2026 – 1 February 2026
  • Suzhou: 5 February 2026 – 8 February 2026

 

ELISABeth in China - CAST

 

ELISABETH - Kristine Emde
DER TOD - Lukas Mayer
LUIGI LUCHENI - Robin Reitsma
KAISER FRANZ JOSEPH - Dennis Henschel
ERZHERZOGIN SOPHIE - Masha Karell
ERZHERZOG RUDOLF - Nicolo Soller
LUDOVIKA / FRAU WOLF - Katja Berg
HERZOG MAX IN BAYERN - Claus Dam
RUDOLF - Kind vor Ort

 

Ensemble

Sophie Bauer * Paula Bresnik * Madleen Dederding * Vivienne Dejon * Oliver Floris * Gerrit Hericks * Holly Hylton * Börn Klein * Jakob Pinter * Lena Poppe * Nico Schweers * Frederik Stuhllemmer * Ariane Swoboda * Jan Ungar * Marie-Louise van Kisfeld * Carl van Wegberg

 

Swings

Felicitas Bauer * Jan Großfeld * Wolfgang Türks * Giulia Wegmüller

MOZART! in China - Cast

 

WOLFGANG MOZART - Samuel Jonathan Bertz
LEOPOLD MOZART - Felix Martin
HIERONYMUS COLLOREDO - Tim Saey
CONSTANZE WEBER/NISSEN - Kristin Backes
NANNERL MOZART - Danique Dusee
CÄCILIA WEBER - Maaike Schuurmans
BARONIN VON WALDSTÄTTEN - Isabel Dörfler
AMADÉ - Kind vor Ort

Ensemble

Kevin Arand * Rachel Bahler * Maciej Bittner * Ehab Eissa * Bjorn Geudens * Lea Gordin * Julia-Elena Heinrich * Tamara Köhn * Robert David Marx * Stefan Poslovski * Kim Reizevoort * Markus Störk * Vincent van Gorp * Janina Maria Wilhalm * Alida Will

Swings

Philipp Nowicki * Jo Lucy Rackham * Martijn Smids * Sarah Zippusch

Statements

  • The Chinese audience's enthusiasm for our musical productions is overwhelming. The fact that we are now able to go on tour again with two of our biggest musical successes is not only wonderful proof of the international appeal of VBW's own productions, but also an expression of the successful cultural cooperation with our partners in China.

    Wien Holding Managing Director Dr. Kurt Gollowitzer

  • I am delighted that our in-house musical productions have been receiving such enthusiastic responses worldwide for many years. The fact that MOZART! and ELISABETH, two icons of German-language musical theatre, are now once again touching audiences in China is much more than a cultural export: it is a living bridge between worlds. At the same time, it once again underlines Vienna's position as a creative hub and international musical metropolis of distinction.

    VBW Musical Director Christian Struppeck

  • Year after year, the musicals of the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien delight over 1.2 million visitors worldwide, especially in Asia. Following the great success of the REBECCA and ELISABETH tour in 2024, we are once again presenting two absolute VBW hit shows in China this year with MOZART! and ELISABETH. I would like to thank our Chinese partners for their excellent cooperation and we look forward to building on last year's success.

    VBW and VBW International Managing Director Prof. Dr. Franz Patay

The dramatic and moving story of the life, work and suffering of Empress Elisabeth has been thrilling audiences around the world since its premiere in 1992. With series of performances in 14 countries (Austria, Belgium, China, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Switzerland) in a total of ten languages, the play has captivated around 12.5 million visitors internationally to date. In 2024, the famous musical was performed for the fourth time as a large open-air concert in the courtyard of Schönbrunn Palace, attracting a total of over 100,000 spectators there alone. From there, the production moved to China in the same year and then went on a major tour of Germany and Switzerland, where it can be seen until the end of August 2025 – in 11 cities and over 260 performances. ELISABETH's return to China in January 2026 continues this success story.

© Zheng Tianran
© VBW / Deen van Meer

MOZART!, penned by the successful team of Michael Kunze (book and lyrics) and Sylvester Levay (music and orchestration), shines a light on Mozart, the world-renowned musician, historical figure and icon of classical music. Based on the biography of the world-famous Austrian composer, the show casts a new light on a legend. Far from the usual clichés, MOZART! shows the brilliant artist as a complex and ambivalent person, haunted by his own genius and struggling with the cruel challenges of life. Since its world premiere in Vienna, this musical has thrilled over 3.2 million people in ten countries.

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