Karen Mok
Cover Karen Mok

The Hong Kong-born actress and singer wants to create a local musical

Tatler 500 lister Karen Mok is on the road this summer performing her final concert tour, but she’s not planning to step out of the spotlight anytime soon.

In an interview with Reuters, the Hong Kong actress and singer said she wants to bring Broadway-style musicals to China.

“It doesn’t mean that I’m retiring or anything...I could never quit the stage but I just feel that it’s a good time to call it a day where pop concerts are concerned,” she told Reuters in London. She was promoting her “Ultimate Karen Mok Show,” which started in Shanghai in June 2018 and features shows in Taipei, Beijing and Singapore.

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Mok has collected numerous accolades throughout her 25-year career. She has received five Golden Melody Awards, has released 20 solo albums and starred in 40 films, including Wong Kar Wai’s “Fallen Angels” and Keanu Reeves’ “Man of Tai Chi.”

But now she wants to focus on her “one true love”: musicals and musical theatre. In 2005 and 2006, she starred in the Broadway musical “Rent.” She wants China to have a theatre industry that’s equivalent to London’s West End.

“My next big mission in my career is to create, from scratch, a musical for the Chinese audience,” she said. “I really love musicals because they allow you to simultaneously act, dance, sing and play music and getting to do it live every evening is just amazing...We should have our own original musicals.”

Before she starts her musical ambitions, she’ll be touring in Paris on September 12 and the London Palladium on September 15.

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