Have you ever imagined watching a Korean version of a musical based on British literature in South Korea?
That was my experience watching Frankenstein the musical in Seoul this summer. 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the musical’s premiere in 2014, and any such work of art must contain unique artistic aspects and cultural strategies to be able to keep impressing domestic audiences for a decade. With an appreciation for the original narrative, smooth linguistic and script adaptation, and the solid effects of the cast’s performance and stage settings, Frankenstein demonstrates a successful case of cultural adaptation that reveals the essence of its original source while spreading inspirations of modern South Korea.
Cultural adaptation is never a facile task to accomplish. Obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the original artwork takes a significant amount of time and effort, and establishing connections with another culture is equally challenging. Thus, the trap of cultural appropriation sneaks in; people who relish and show fondness for the original culture fail to properly acknowledge it while creating their own work, or instead express their recognition in an improper, disrespectful, and sometimes offensive way. Certain colonialist mindsets may also be present through cultural appropriation. Appropriators may consider the culture they are borrowing from to be less developed and powerful than their own, and therefore assume that appropriation is no longer an issue. Ultimately, because of the issue of cultural appropriation, respectful and effective intercultural references and communication can be extremely difficult to accomplish.
As a result, cultural appropriation should be consciously avoided when creating an adaptation, but that alone is not enough. A meaningful case of cultural adaptation involves the appreciation for the original culture, the integration of the domestic culture, and variations to that effect. Frankenstein the musical follows the initial plot points of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, in which a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, creates a sentient creature through his scientific experiments in 19th-century Europe. The musical keeps Victor Frankenstein as the protagonist and follows the narrative of scientific invention. Instead of generating a creature, however, Victor’s goal in the musical is to create an immortal, transcendent soldier, given the background of the Napoleonic War. The second male lead then shows up as a human figure on stage, rather than as a monster, whose name appears to be Henri Dupre. Additionally, Elizabeth, Victor’s fiancée in the book, is named Julia in the musical and is murdered in the end by Henri. The entire musical is sung in Korean instead of English.
Transcending the narrative from the book to stage demands the Korean show crew to make a lot of adjustments, which all end up being reasonable in the theater setting. The biggest change is turning the monster into the human Henri, leading to more efficient interactions between characters on stage and more aesthetically pleasing visual illustrations. In addition, the production also takes the diversity of the cast into consideration, adding more female characters such as Victor’s sister Ellen, multiple villagers, and two children. These movements all enrich the effects of live theater performances and provide audiences with more vivid experiences of the narrative.
The outstanding performances of the musical actors further support the artistic adjustments. The cast is split into multiple rotating sets, with four different actors cast as Victor Frankenstein and four cast as Henri Dupre, while other characters such as Julia, Ellen, and young Victor are played by two to three different actors. The cast on the day I saw the musical featured Kyuhyun, a member of K-Pop band SUPER JUNIOR, as Victor, and Kai, a professional singer and musical theater actor, as Henri. Their dazzling vocal skills allowed them to master songs under various styles and plots and to effectively convey their characters’ emotions. Their most memorable scene is the ending, where Victor falls into a fierce fight with Henri on his way to the North Pole after Henri has just killed Julia. Kai sings Henri’s arbitrary feeling of making Victor feel the sadness of being alone in the world, a vocal performance enhanced by simultaneous, intense physical movement. On the other hand, Kyuhyun, following the death of Henri whom he had shot, immediately shifts to a desperate vocal demonstration as Henri says he finishes the revenge but has nothing left in the world right before he dies. Sitting on the top of a slope that gradually ramps up on stage, Frankenstein holds the corpse of Henri until the end, leaving the last image to be his lonely form. Kyuhyun and Kai’s extraordinary vocal and acting performances conclude the musical in a dramatic way. Throughout the play, the high-quality vocals, harmonies, and supporting cast also contribute to the multi-layered stage effects and storyline, allowing this culturally adapted artwork to be presented at an equally solid level as the original piece while demonstrating the strength of domestic artists.
In addition, the technology crew successfully adapts to British literature art by applying a series of modern theater techniques that reveal the typical features of the modern musical industry in Korea. While there are many fashionable stage properties, the technology crew also applies a wide variety of visual effects and surround sound effects to coordinate different scenes. For example, there is a scene in which two characters sit by a pond outpouring vividly ringing ripples and the sounds of flowing water, making the audience feel that they are next to a real pond. These effects create even stronger sensory strikes to the audience than traditional theater methods and deliver the core messages of the musical in a more compelling way. Such level of stage technology reveals South Korea’s expertise in the musical and entertainment industry, which always features aesthetic innovation.
Dominant in the Korean musical market for a decade, Frankenstein is an artistic accomplishment and a successful cultural adaptation because of its proper absorption of the original literature, adjustments and adaptations, and high-quality performances and stage effects. Such a masterpiece showcases the charisma of modern Korean musical theater actors and technology crew, enriching Korea’s artistic life and spiritual world. Indeed, Frankenstein the musical serves as a respectful and meaningful model of cultural adaptation and symbolizes the significance of appropriate intercultural communication.
Wendi Wang is a junior in the SFS studying International Economics and minoring in Philosophy and Music.