The Spirit of Crossing to the US by Raft, Creating 30 Years of History for 'Myeongseong Hwanghu'

"In 1997, he said he would go to the United States (Broadway) even if it meant riding a raft. I believe that spirit has continued, and that is why our musicals are spreading worldwide today."

On the 4th, Ahn Ho-sang, president of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, praised director Yoon Ho-jin, who created the original musical Myeongseong Hwanghu, at a reception commemorating the 30th anniversary of its premiere held at Sejong Center. Director Yoon Ho-jin founded the theater company ACOM in 1991 (and later established the musical-specialized company ACOM International in 1993), and after five years of preparation, he was the key figure who brought Myeongseong Hwanghu to the stage.

Myeongseong Hwanghu, the first Korean original musical to surpass one million cumulative audience members, achieve 1,000 performances, and perform on New York’s Broadway, has reached its 30th anniversary since its premiere. The commemorative performance for the 30th anniversary opened last month on the 21st at the Grand Theater of Sejong Center. Featuring Shin Young-sook, Kim So-hyun, Cha Ji-yeon, Kang Pil-seok, Son Jun-ho, Kim Joo-taek, Yang Jun-mo, Park Min-sung, and Baek Hyung-hoon, the show will run until the 30th.

Musical 'Myeongseong Hwanghu' 30th Anniversary Performance [Photo provided by Acom]

Myeongseong Hwanghu premiered on December 30, 1995, at the Seoul Arts Center. That year was Ahn Ho-sang’s first year as head of the performance department at the Arts Center. Ahn said, "Director Yoon Ho-jin insisted so strongly that the performance had to be in 1995 that he kept pestering me... Eventually, we cut the originally planned ballet The Nutcracker schedule to hold the first performance on December 30."

The reason for Director Yoon’s insistence was that 1995 marked the 100th anniversary of Empress Myeongseong’s assassination. Initially, Yoon planned to open the musical on October 8, the exact date of the assassination. At the reception, Director Yoon humorously explained that the reason for the delayed opening was "because of money," drawing laughter from the audience.

Director Yoon originally studied theater. He discovered musicals in 1982 while training in London, England, to study theater. That was the year the world-renowned musical master Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats premiered. Upon arriving in London, Yoon’s first experience was watching Cats at the New London Theatre, and he was deeply impressed by the overwhelming stage production. He said, "Watching Cats, I thought I wanted to create an original musical with that kind of popular appeal."

To commemorate the 30th anniversary, Director Yoon also published a book titled Myeongseong Hwanghu (Tree and Forest), documenting the history from the musical’s production to the 30th-anniversary performance. In the book, he wrote that Cats was the work that changed his life.

The theater company ACOM also involved novelist Lee Mun-yeol, who had been a childhood friend of the same age. Lee Mun-yeol wrote the original play Fox Hunting, which served as the source material for Myeongseong Hwanghu. At the reception, Lee Mun-yeol confessed that he was reluctant to write about the story of Empress Myeongseong but gave in to Director Yoon’s persistent urging over several years, which made the audience laugh.

Musical 'Myeongseong Hwanghu' 30th Anniversary Performance
[Photo by Acom]

Myeongseong Hwanghu was the first Korean musical to perform on Broadway on August 15, 1997. It ran 12 performances over ten days, and the second New York performance took place on the same stage on July 31 the following year. However, during the second New York performance, Korea was undergoing a national default and had received bailout funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). With the exchange rate soaring, Director Yoon suffered losses exceeding 2 billion won. He said it was so difficult at the time that he even contemplated death. He remarked, "Although Myeongseong Hwanghu is like a dutiful daughter to me, she was not a trouble-free one."

Thirty years ago, Korea was almost a barren land for musicals. The original musical Myeongseong Hwanghu seemed like a reckless challenge, but through Director Yoon Ho-jin’s perseverance and overcoming numerous hardships, it has become an indispensable work in the history of Korean musicals today.

Director Yoon said, "I never even thought we would perform for 30 years, but the 30th anniversary is just a passing point." However, he added, "I hope the 30-year journey of Myeongseong Hwanghu will become a beacon of hope for young people who share the same dreams as I do."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.