'Lost Garden' emerges as sleeper hit
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“The Lost Garden,” a musical adaptation of the Oscar Wilde short story “The Selfish Giant,” runs through Feb. 16 at Poeun Art Hall in Yongin, south of Seoul. / Courtesy of Yongin Cultural Foundation
French actor Collet shines in Oscar Wilde musical
French actor Jerome Collet plays the Giant in “The Lost Garden”
By Baek Byung-yeul
There are critics who lament that Korea’s boom in musical theater has come at the cost of creativity. The imported, big-budget extravaganzas that dictate the market have reduced local playwrights to translators, actors to puppets, and killed any room for experimentation, they say.
But every now and then, a more interesting, unexpected work will come out of nowhere and become a sleeper hit. The latest such success is "The Lost Garden," Soh June-young’s theatrical adaptation of an Oscar Wilde short story, "The Selfish Giant," which has been holding its own in the early-year theater scene headlined by "Mamma Mia!" "Carmen" and "Wicked."
Just two weeks into its staging, The Lost Garden has sold more than 11,000 tickets at Yongin Poeun Art Hall on the outskirts of Seoul, forcing itself into media conversation. The musical, written and directed by Soh and involving a multinational team of artists, was first staged in Shanghai last year to moderate success. Soh says he is excited about the reception the musical has been getting in his home country.
"This is undoubtedly a bright start. The pace of ticket sales has been faster than expected," said Soh, a veteran thespian who also directed the first Korean staging of Notre-Dame de Paris in 2007.
"The actors, crew and everyone involved with the show have been working hard and it seems to be paying off. It’s a great story by Oscar Wilde and our musical has to be a respectable extension of it. We have had serious discussions about text, how to interpret and express it on stage, and it’s encouraging that the viewers seem to like our end product."
Soh worked on The Lost Garden for more than five years before the Shanghai premiere, reworking a story about a grumpy giant who chases children out of his walled garden, only for it to become locked and kept in perennial winter.
Wilde’s children’s story has inspired other adaptations. Among these is a Clio Barnard movie of the same name that converts the story into a bleak, realist fable about growing up in contemporary Britain, an achievement many regard as one of the best cinematic works of 2013.
Soh seems less interested in social commentary than converting Wilde’s words into a magical journey. His musical, set in a mystical environment that has elements of early-modern Asia, is an obvious attempt at pleasing the eyes and ears. While his text isn’t as imaginative, there is something earnest and honest about it that provides just enough intelligence to justify the visual feast on the stage.
Soh has been helped by a talented team of international artists. American producer Jack Lee and Japanese artist Norihito Sumitomo collaborated on the music and the choreography is credited to Italian Elisa Petrolo. Tom Lee, another American thespian, was responsible for stage design.
Soh also has a charismatic leading man in Jerome Collet, a veteran French actor who built his reputation playing Quasimodo in hundreds of Notre Dame productions staged around the world in past years.
In The Lost Garden, Collet was double cast with Korean pop singer Kim Tae-woo in the role of the giant. Kim is the famous ticket magnet with big pipes, but it’s unmistakable that the presence of Collet lifts the musical into a different level when takes the stage.
"I loved the character, an ill-tempered recluse who gets to go out into the world," said Collet, who with Notre Dame has toured many times in Asia.
"Being a member of a creative, global project that involved the talents of many different countries was also a good experience for me. This was a challenge for me and I was stimulated by it."
Boram, of K-pop girl group T-ara, and actress Kim Bo-ra alternate as Mercy, the girl who eventually brings spring to the walled garden.
After finishing its run at the Yongin Poeun Art Hall, the musical will be featured at the Daegu International Musical Festival in June. Soh says he will continue to look for international markets.
“The Lost Garden” will be staged through Feb. 16 at the Yongin Poeun Art Hall in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Located near exit 1 of Jukjeon Station, subway Bundang line. Tickets cost 50,000 to 120,000 won. For more information, call (031) 260-3353 or visit www.thelostgarden.co.kr.