London has its West End; and New York City its Broadway. Soon Beijing's theatergoers will find their favorite musicals performed all year round in Haidian district where Asia's biggest base for the production of musicals will be built in five years.

"Creative Beijing" will be home to a complex of 32 theaters for musicals in the capital's northwestern suburbs. Local media have already dubbed it "China's Broadway".

The area is home to 87 of the nation's leading colleges and the capital's top talent and varied tastes, said Xu Feng, assistant to the chairman of Beijing Nederlander New Century International Theater Management Co, which is jointly developing "Creative Beijing".

Xu's company, which brought the Broadway hit 42nd Street to China last year, has chosen Beijing because "the capital is a traditional cultural center, with the biggest audiences and the best performing talents", he said.

With an investment of 4.7 billion yuan ($686 million), the main theater will seat 2,000 people, with the others accommodating audiences of between 300 and 500.

The complex will become "a 'Chinese Broadway' for composers, writers, performers and actors in training", Xu said.

The Nederlander Organization - one of the largest and most experienced operators of live theater in the United States - will be responsible for the development of the base, said Li Yanping, marketing director of Beijing Shibo Real Estate, the project's developer.

The theaters aim to stage more than 100 musicals a year, he added.

The new cluster of theaters is expected to rival Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts in terms of ticket sales.

"Unlike the center, we want to make a profit through developing and marketing musical-related products, souvenirs and running talent agencies," Li said.

Western-style musicals are increasingly popular in China's big cities, with productions of Hair Spray, Aida and The Lion King attracting huge crowds in Beijing last year.

However, the domestic musical industry remains in its infancy, with rather basic production, marketing and management values, said Li.

Musicals in China are often project-based, being staged twice or three times at random theaters.