''The Last Empress'' (
Hangul
The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...
: 뮤지컬 명성황후) is a Korean musical about the
Empress Myeongseong
Empress Myeongseong or Empress Myungsung (명성황후 민씨; 17 November 1851 – 8 October 1895In lunar calendar, the Empress was born on 25 September 1851 and died on 20 August 1895), informally known as Empress Min, was the official wife ...
of
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, based on a historical novel by author
Yi Mun-yol
Yi Mun-yol (born May 18, 1948) is a South Korean writer. Yi's given name at birth was Yol; the character, Mun (which translates as "writer"), was added after he took up a writing career. His works include novels, short stories and Korean adap ...
. It debuted in 1995 as
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
's first original musical.
The musical had Peter Casey as orchestrator and was composed by Kim Hee-gap, with lyrics by Yang In-ja (translated by Georgina St. George), and directed by Yun Ho-jin. The musical was produced by the
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
-based Arts Communication (A-Com).
The original production at the Seoul Performing Arts Center was expected to reach one million ticket sales by March 2007.
It played at the
New York State Theater
The David H. Koch Theater is a theater for ballet, modern and other forms of dance, part of the Lincoln Center, at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Originally ...
,
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...
, in 1997 and 1998, to favorable reviews. It also played in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
's
West End in 2002, the
Kodak Theatre in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
in 2003,
and at Toronto's
Hummingbird Centre
Meridian Hall is a major performing arts venue in Toronto, Ontario, and it is the country's largest soft-seat theatre. The facility was constructed for the City of Toronto municipal government and is currently managed by TO Live, an arms-len ...
in 2004.
See also
*
Empress Myeongseong
Empress Myeongseong or Empress Myungsung (명성황후 민씨; 17 November 1851 – 8 October 1895In lunar calendar, the Empress was born on 25 September 1851 and died on 20 August 1895), informally known as Empress Min, was the official wife ...
(Historical figure)
*
Empress Myeongseong (TV series)
''Empress Myeongseong'' () is a 2001 and 2002 South Korean television series that aired on KBS2.
Historical connection
Empress Myeongseong was considered as the last empress of Korea because of the Eulmi Incident (also called Operation Fox Hunt) ...
References
External links
'Last Empress,' Musical Echo of Korea's Historyby Don Kirk, International Herald Tribune (March 27, 1998)
by Ricardo Saludo, Asia Week (December 18, 1998)
*
ttp://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=980DE4DC173EF932A1575BC0A961958260 New York Times review 1997LA Weekly review
South Korean musicals
1997 musicals
Musicals based on novels
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