Zhang Yuan, CEO of the Kalavinka company, which invested in the musical, agreed with Badelt's decision.

"Original Tibetan music is like a fine cooking ingredient. What we need to do now is to simply fry it and decorate the plate with symphony and some modern elements to make it look nicer," Zhang said. "The music is so beautiful and touching that it seems disrespectful to make any kind of change."

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was invited to partake in the musical, marking the first time a renowned orchestra has played Tibetan music.

As for the dancing, Yin Mei, department head and tenured professor of Queens College of The City University of New York, was invited to help choreograph.

"It's my first time seeing Tibetan dance, it is nothing like any of the dances I've learned and known before," Yin said. "There's something so pure and so true to life that cannot be described through language and techniques. I feel like I'm just a student."

Twenty-one untrained dancers from Baingoin county have been selected to dance in the musical.

Ngodrup, a young man who has lived his whole life on the grassland in Baingoin, arrived in Beijing with the rest of local dancers in July for rehearsal.

He said dancing and singing are the happiest things in his life. He promised to bring his best performance and help more people appreciate original Tibetan music.

The musical is adopted from a real story. It's about a photographer who was saved from a snowstorm by Tibetans and repaid them by helping a sick Tibetan girl seek care. The opening of Qinghai-Tibet railway finally made it possible for the girl to be treated inland.

The musical will be performed in Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts in October.