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SCMP Reporter

Teresa Teng is a legend. It has been said that wherever there are Chinese, her music lives on.

The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts is staging Forever Teresa Teng, the life story of the Taiwanese songbird who died following an asthma attack in 1995.

The show will run until August 25.

Tackling the starring roles are Canto-pop singer Cass Phang Ling, Mando-pop idol Li Sinje and 10-year-old Xiang Xiaoqiao, who play Teng at different ages.

The stage production covers Teng's love of music, her country, her family and her lovers.

'I think we've chosen the right actresses. They share Teng's temperament,' said producer Stephen Tsui Ching-hong.

Director Sam Lam Lap-sam said: 'All the actors and actresses were very professional. They rehearsed from 10am to 11pm every day without complaining.'

Lam said they were only able to include a limited number of the singer's songs in the two-and-a-half-hour production.

He also said it would have been better if there had been more time for the performers to rehearse.

Li has enjoyed the experience of being part of a star-studded production. 'I'm really happy to be in it. Drama is different from making films, I have to exaggerate more,' she said.

To satisfy diehard fans, over 40 of Teng's hits have been selected from her repertoire.

Teng was born in 1953, the only daughter in her family. She loved singing and her talent was spotted at an young age. The turning point came when she won a singing competition in 1963 with a song from the Chinese opera The Butterfly Lovers.



APA stages Teng tribute