OD Company to produce 'The Great Gatsby' musical, sights set on Broadway

Local musical producer OD Company is producing the musical “The Great Gatsby” with the intent of debuting the show on Broadway. The musical “The Great Gatsby” is based on the 1925 novel of the same title by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald...

Chief producer of OD Company Shin Chun-soo speaks to the press on Thursday at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. [OD COMPANY]

Local musical producer OD Company is producing the musical “The Great Gatsby” with the intent of debuting the show on Broadway.

The musical “The Great Gatsby” is based on the 1925 novel of the same title by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, which follows the story of a man named Gatsby who strives to achieve the American Dream.

Chief producer of OD Company, Shin Chun-soo, told the local press on Thursday that the musical is planned to make a world premiere at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey this October.

The musical is written by Kait Kerrigan and directed by Marc Bruni.

Shin’s goal is to carry the show over to Broadway by sometime next year.

Poster for the upcoming musical "The Great Gatsby" produced by OD Company [OD COMPANY]

“‘The Great Gatsby’ is such an iconic American book, so I imagine that there will be lots of attention drawn to the show once it is staged,” Shin said. “I also think it is a story worth telling as a musical because the temptation of money and power is still very relevant.”

The musical’s score, written by Jason Howland, is a mixture of '20s jazz music with modern-day pop.

OD Company is also in the process of producing another musical, “Il Tenore.” Its music and book was written by creative duo Hue Park and Will Aronson, best known for their work on the local-hit musical “Maybe Happy Ending” (2016).

Set in the 1930s in Korea, “Il Tenore” is a tragedy following characters Lee-sun, who dreams of directing and starring in Korea’s first-ever opera, independence activist Jin-yeon, and Soo-han, who has a crush on Jin-yeon. The musical’s score incorporates operatic styles of music.

Poster for the upcoming musical "Il Tenore" produced by OD Company [OD COMPANY]

“Both ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Il Tenore’ are about the dreams and goals of people,” Shin said. “I expect that both will be artistic works that will appeal to and be loved by many around the world.”

Founded in 2001, OD Company is behind dozens of local musicals, including original shows “Assassin” (2009) and “Titanic” (2007) and licensed productions “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (1979), “Dracula, the Musical” (2001) and “Jekyll & Hyde” (1990).

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]