"Believe and you will see

Seek and you will find

Walk against the wind and you'll go far

Fly against the wind and you'll fly high"

So go the lyrics during the emotional grand finale of Taiwan's homegrown musical version of "Mulan." The audience, which has followed the entire performance with constant laughter and amusement, suddenly grows silent.

The creators of this original musical, a smash hit in Taiwan last year, are not even thirty yet. Mulan's script and music blend Eastern and Western elements, classical and modern influences. It was originally only performed on university campuses. But word of mouth created an Internet buzz that catapulted the musical onto the big stage – the National Theater in Taipei.

Flying against the wind enabled Pao-chang Tsai and Owen Wang to soar to a climax of creativity in Chinese-language musical production.

Tsai, the musical's playwright and the artistic director of the Tainan-based theater group Tainaner Ensemble, originally had no intention to study drama. But his interest in theater production was stirred when he participated in a performance of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard" by the Department of Drama and Theater of National Taiwan University.

Wang, Mulan's musical director and head of Studio M, wasn't a musical prodigy – he graduated from the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University. Before he was 16, he had no musical training, but did learn to play the guitar when studying at NTNU's Affiliated Senior High School. Upon graduating from university Wang first worked as a foreign currency trader at Citibank Taiwan. During the day Wang observed the forex markets, but at night he practiced the piano. Eventually he quit his day job to pursue a fulltime career as composer and arranger.

Four years ago Tsai and Wang collaborated for the first time, on the play "K24," a long experimental piece in six episodes. That's when they discovered that their musical tastes were very much alike. Two years later they teamed up again for "Mulan" with Tsai as the playwright and Wang as the composer. Tsai recalls how he and Wang used Skype to discuss the production every day with stage director Lu Bo-shen, who was the only one living in Taiwan at the time. Tsai was studying drama at the University of London, while Wang was across the Atlantic studying film scoring at New York University. The three were trying to figure out how to use music to tell the classic Chinese legend of Mulan, which was to be staged in period costumes.

Giving Broadway a Run for Its Money

They reinterpreted the story of Mulan, which is well known among the Chinese community around the world. Mulan is forced to join the army in place of her elderly father. For years she lives the life of a warrior until she realizes that she needs to spread her wings and pursue her own dream. Tsai used a humorous and creative script to supplement the ancient legend with modern social issues such as Taiwan's military culture, gender identity and having children outside of wedlock. Wang, for his part, blended rock, jazz, blues, classical and Chinese folk music into catchy orchestral songs.

Wang Shih, a veteran film promoter, had always thought that Asians were not able to write movie soundtracks that could compete with Disney standards. But after seeing the Taiwanese stage production of "Mulan," he completely changed his mind.

"I really believe these two youngsters can do it," proclaims Wang, who is marketing director of Activator Marketing Co. Ltd. The duo's creativity and talent will encourage more young people to get involved in making musicals and dramas, he believes.

The greatest ambition of Tsai and Wang is to create classic musicals that will run non-stop for years, just like those on Broadway. Having come a long way against the wind, the pair is just about to spread their wings and fly high.

Translated from the Chinese by Susanne Ganz