At sixteen,
Min Ja-young became an empress,
And The Last Empress became a masterpiece.

Arts Communications International, much praised in Broadway for their production of the musical Hero, proudly hosts the musical The Last Empress at Chungmu Art Hall in Seoul, from Saturday October 29th to Sunday November 20th, 2011. A key musical representing Korea, The Last Empress commemorates the 116th anniversary of the birth of The Last Empress this fall.
Attracting much attention since the first performance in 1995, The Last Empress was the first Korean musical to be performed in New York’s Broadway in 1997-1998 and London’s West End in 2002. It celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2005, and has since made new astonishing records, being reinvented as a large-scale original musical in 2007 and recording 1 million audiences who viewed the musical, and hitting over 1000 performances in 2009. This year, the musical intends to present an unparalleled inspiration of a seasoned masterpiece with 16 years of history, among other foreign license works. This will be the first year for Lee Sang-eun, who has played Empress Myeongseong for 9 years, to be featured exclusively as the empress. Lee has established herself as empress Myeongseong since 2003, and has been recognized s the most beautiful interpretation of the empress Myeongseong to date. She emits the cold but beautiful charms of the graceful empress. The charismatic Suh Young-joo is back as Emperor Gojong, and Lee Hee-jeong radiates an air of solemnity as Prince Daewon. The veteran musical actor Kim Sung-gi and sharp-faced Kim Sun-dong will play Miura, and performing Hong Gye-hoon will be Ji Hye-geun, an actor celebrated for his looks and powerful aria. In particular, this year’s musical is a good opportunity to observe new talented actors Kim Soon-taek (Emperor Gojong) and Kim Tae-hyeong (Hong Gye-hoon), who are acknowledged through their various previous works.
The Last Empress is receiving the highlight recently in Broadway, along with the much-celebrated musical Hero, which deals with the story of Ahn Joong-geun. The two musicals are closely related because Hero is based on the historical fact of Ahn Joong-geun claiming the assassination of Empress Myeongseong as the top crime in Japanese court. The ties between the two musicals are deepened by the fact that the actor who plays Seolhee in Hero also plays the court lady who witnesses the assassination of the empress in the musical.
The musical presents a good opportunity for the modern audience, who live a reality of endless wars and terrorism, to realize the meaning and value of history.