Musical 'tick, tick...BOOM!' to open in Korea in November

Jonathan Larson's musical "tick, tick... BOOM!" is set to open in November with an eight-person cast, according to the local production company Seensee on Tuesday.

Poster of the musical ″tick, tick...BOOM!″ set to open in Coex Artium in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Nov. 18. [SEENSEE COMPANY]

Jonathan Larson's musical "tick, tick... BOOM!" is set to open in November with an eight-person cast, according to the local production company Seensee on Tuesday.

Though commonly staged with just three actors, the upcoming Korean production will showcase an ensemble of five along with the main characters Jon, Susan and Michael. A similar production with a smaller ensemble was staged earlier this year at The Kennedy Center in Washington, directed by Neil Patrick Harris.

In Korea, actors Bae Doo-hoon, Jang Ji-hoo and Lee Hae-jun alternate Jon; Bang Min-ah and Kim Soo-ha alternate Susan; and Kim Dae-woong and Yang Hee-jun alternate Michael. The ensemble is comprised of actors Hong Dong-ha, Seo Jung, Baek Joong-hoon, Kwon Soo-jung and Kwon Lily.

It is directed by Lee Ji-young, who made her solo directorial debut earlier this year with "Last Five Years." Hwang Seok-hee, one of Korea's top translators, best known for subtitling the "Deadpool" (2016-) movie series, translated the book for "tick, tick...BOOM!"

"tick, tick...BOOM!" is a semi-autobiographical rock musical that follows Larson as an aspiring composer in New York City in 1990, just ahead of his 30th birthday. Around him is his girlfriend Susan who wants to get married and move out of the city and his best friend Michael who is becoming a financially successful, white-collar salaryman.

Larson is best known for writing and composing the musical "Rent," which received numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and three Tony Awards. The show opened on Broadway in 1996, shortly after Larson's sudden death at the age of 35. "tick, tick...BOOM!" is Larson's only other work that has been officially published.

It was first staged as a one-man show, or a rock monologue, by Larson in 1990. After his death, it was recast as a three-person show by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn. The musical premiered off Broadway in 2001 and went on to tour the United States in 2003 and West End in 2009. So far, there have been about a dozen other productions around the world.

A film adaptation under the same name was released on Netflix in 2021, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and starring Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp and Vannessa Hudgens.

"tick, tick...BOOM!" in Korea is slated to open on Nov. 18 with previews from Nov. 16 and will run through Feb. 2 at COEX Artium in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

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