. For years, Shanghai residents have heard rumors about the creation of a Broadway-style theater district adjacent to the posh expat neighborhood Xintiandi. And while China erects skyscrapers at breakneck speed and transforms old Chinese communities into modernized neighborhoods overnight, a theater district in Puxi is still years away. Instead, Shanghai has experimented in recent years with hosting international tours of Broadway shows such as Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and last year, The Lion King. Currently, Shanghai's Grand Theatre is housing the most improbable Chinese cultural attraction - Mamma Mia!, a three-hour English-language musical based on the songs of the Swedish pop group ABBA. The Shanghai run of Mamma Mia! got off to a rocky start. The show, which won the 2002 Tony for Best Musical, began its four-week run at the Grand Theatre in the People's Square on July 6. Like previous runs of Broadway shows in Shanghai, tickets to the initial performances Mamma Mia! sold at a rate befitting an ABBA concert in Stockholm circa 1976. In fact, before the curtains went up on the first performance, all of the 200-yuan tickets, the cheapest seats available, were sold out for the entire four weeks, while the 700-yuan seats were wide open. This fact illuminates the paradox of theater in China - while the Chinese have shown an interest in Broadway theater, often ticket prices to theatrical imports do not reflect China's standard of living. Then disaster struck. After a strong Friday night opening, Mamma Mia! was forced to cancel six performances when the show's leading actress, Katie Brayben who plays "Sophie," fell ill. But in an "only in China" turn of events, Brayben's two understudies also got sick. Perhaps they dipped their chopsticks in the wrong plate of Kung Pao Chicken. The production flew in a new "Sophie," however, and performances resumed the following Thursday.