Das doppelte Lottchen (The Double Lottie), is a novel by German writer Erich Kastner that was published around 1950. Also known as Lisa and Lottie, the novel follows a pair of twins who didn't know each other and lived in their own separate worlds until they met in a summer camp. They decided to play a role-replacement game, trying to reunite their families.
The heartwarming novel has become a classic since it was published and has been adapted into six movies in different languages, including The Parent Trap, a 1998 family comedy directed by Nancy Meyers. It was also turned into a TV drama and a cartoon movie. In 1971, Japan's Shiki Theatre Company adapted it into a musical, which has been staged for nearly 1,000 times in Japan.
In 2021, while celebrating the musical's 50th anniversary, the Japanese theater company and its Chinese partners decided to adapt the musical into a Chinese version, titled Two Times Lotte, which will be premiered in Beijing in June. After its premiere, the musical will tour the Chinese cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jinan and Suzhou through the year.
"Kastner is known for his children's books and the musical has proved to be a lasting appeal to families in Japan," says Wang Xiangqian, who translated the script of the Japanese musical into Chinese and also works as the producer for the Chinese version of the musical.
"I've watched the musical in Japan and though the ending is predictable, I still felt attracted to the story and touched by the happy ending, like many others," Wang says, adding that as a mother of three children, she shares the emotions among family members portrayed in the story, which, she believes, will be shared by more Chinese audiences.
Wang has been a bridge between China and Shiki Theatre, which was founded in 1953 in Japan by the late Japanese dramatist Asari Keita.
Wang gained her master's degree in theater from the University of Tokyo in 1996, and in 2014, she became the CEO of Seasons of Songs Culture & Art Co Ltd, a Beijing-based company, which brings theater productions of Shiki Theatre to China.
