[INTERVIEW] ‚Swing Days‘ reimagines Korean independence movement with US composer’s touch

A scene from the musical „Swing Days: Code Title A“ depicts Yu Il-hyung, impressed by Yuhan Corp. founder New Il-han, getting into a celebration in Shanghai. Courtesy of All That Story and Firm Yeonjak

Korean musicals in regards to the independence motion throughout the 1910-45 Japanese colonial interval — a defining but deeply scarred chapter within the nation’s trendy historical past — are evolving. Shifting past conventional portrayals of heroic resistance fighters, new works are exploring extra multifaceted narratives about those that fought for his or her nation’s freedom.

Main this method is “Swing Days: Code Title A,” which pulls inspiration from the real-life top-secret NAPKO Mission devised in 1945 by the U.S. Workplace of Strategic Companies (OSS), the precursor to the CIA. Supposed to recruit and prepare Korean American operatives to infiltrate Japan, the plan was by no means carried out attributable to Japan’s give up. Nonetheless, many years later it emerged that New Il-han, founding father of the Korean pharmaceutical firm Yuhan Corp., had been concerned on this covert mission underneath the code identify A.

With particulars of the NAPKO Mission nonetheless sparse, the musical takes inventive liberties by incorporating about 15 to twenty p.c of actual occasions and the broad strokes of New’s life. The present’s protagonist Yu Il-hyung is portrayed as a conflicted entrepreneur who shifts from cautious neutrality to decided resistance, towards a backdrop of espionage, love and sacrifice.

Premiered final November, this manufacturing springs from an unlikely inventive partnership. Kim Hee-jai, finest identified for writing the 2003 field workplace hit “Silmido,” makes her stage writing debut and American composer Jason Howland, identified in Korea for orchestrating widespread exhibits comparable to “Jekyll and Hyde,” “Loss of life Observe” and “The Man Who Laughs,” attracts on his expertise because the composer of “Little Girls” and “The Nice Gatsby.”

Howland shared how he approached writing music for a Korean independence-themed musical in an electronic mail interview with The Korea Occasions.

Jason Howland, identified in Korea for orchestrating widespread exhibits comparable to “Jekyll and Hyde,” “Loss of life Observe” and “The Man Who Laughs,” makes his composer debut in Korea with „Swing Days: Code Title A.“ Courtesy of All That Story and Firm Yeonjak

Setting the tone

When Howland was invited to affix the undertaking reimagining the Yuhan Corp. founder’s position in Korea’s combat for independence, he was instantly drawn to “the ability of a narrative about how far an individual would go (and) how a lot of themselves and their life they’d surrender for the larger good.“

As a international composer, Howland acknowledged the necessity to deal with the present’s historic weight with sensitivity, but he discovered the present’s narrative to be universally resonant.

“Whereas the particular particulars of the story are distinctive to ‘Swing Days’ — the combat for Korean independence — the themes which are on the story’s core are common and are one of many causes I’m so excited to be part of it,” he mentioned.

“Common themes are what make musicals nice — the will for freedom, expressions of affection (and) preventing towards despair — all are ideas that every one individuals share and try for and ones that I discovered it very straightforward to narrate to.”

A scene from the musical „Swing Days: Code Title A“ / Courtesy of All That Story and Firm Yeonjak

Set within the Nineteen Thirties and ’40s throughout Korea, China and the U.S., the musical opens on a lavish social gathering in Shanghai, thrown by Il-hyung, a resourceful and charismatic Korean entrepreneur. His seemingly carefree world is upended when independence fighter Veronica bursts into the social gathering, fleeing from Japanese troopers. Though he initially makes an attempt to stay impartial, witnessing Veronica shot lifeless by the hands of his childhood good friend Yasuo, now Japan’s lieutenant, leaves Il-hyung deeply shaken.

Haunted by Veronica’s ghost and wrestling along with his personal heritage as a Korean, Il-hyung begins utilizing his pharmaceutical enterprise as a canopy to assist Korea’s independence motion even additional. The plot deepens as Il-hyung’s good intentions backfire when his drugs fall into the fallacious fingers, fueling kamikaze recruitment efforts.

Although Howland composed the rating, the songs are carried out in Korean by Korean actors. To take care of coherence and emotional integrity, he labored carefully with Korean lyricist Park Hae-rim and a translator.

“I’d have a full script and a primary draft of a lyric and scene translated for me and use that as inspiration to seek out the backbone of a tune or musical second. Then I’d write a primary cross of the music, ship it to the crew after which collaborate on the revisions.”

Shin Sung-rok performs Yu Il-hyung within the musical „Swing Days: Code Title A,“ portraying his journey from a assured businessman to an lively independence fighter. Courtesy of All That Story and Firm Yeonjak

Multifaceted characters

The present charts Il-hyung’s development from a assured businessman to an lively independence fighter, a task shared by Yu Jun-sang, Min Woo-hyuk and Shin Sung-rok on alternating schedules.

“I labored exhausting to have Il-hyung’s character transfer from brash and overly assured to introspective and empathic,” Howland defined. “Once we first meet him, he’s assured and barely boastful and the music in songs like ‘Mr. Gambler’ matches that tone and power. By the conclusion of the story, he sings ‘The Highway I Ought to Take,’ a considerate melody that captures — I hope — the complexity of the transformation that he has undergone.”

One of many musical’s strengths lies in its multidimensional characters, who defy conventional hero and villain archetypes, and Howland intentionally used a variety of musical types to focus on their complexity, from playful spy motifs to lush romantic duets.

“I wished the tougher characters to have an actual vocabulary in order that we may actually hear their wants, needs and conflicts contained in the dissonance of their music. Particularly, for each of the characters Gondo (Yasuo’s father) and Yasuo, there’s quite a lot of chromaticism, in order that their melodic content material feels prefer it has extra sharp edges and rigidity.”

Independence fighter Veronica, performed by Jeon Na-young, in scene from the musical „Swing Days: Code Title A“ / Courtesy of All That Story and Firm Yeonjak

One other noteworthy determine is Veronica, who leaves a robust impression early within the present and lingers all through as a ghostly type, embodying Il-hyung’s conscience and guilt.

“I had Veronica’s first tune be in an advanced meter, 5/4 (time signature), with edges of dissonance in her melody, in order that every little thing about her introduction felt on edge and harmful and exhausting to discover a middle on — in order that she would have the utmost influence on the story,” he mentioned. “Because the story progresses, there was alternative for her character’s musical voice to develop on the identical time that Il-hyung — who was imagining her — was rising in his sense of responsibility and empathy.”

In the meantime, Il-hyung’s budding romance with Mary, a Chinese language doctor who aids his pharmaceutical ventures, brings moments of tenderness to the extraordinary drama.

“Inside each nice musical is a love story and I actually loved writing these moments which are an expression of that for Il-hyung and Mary — a real trendy couple. Each of them are good, intuitive and compassionate and an excellent associate to the opposite,” the composer mentioned. “I liked discovering their ‘meet cute’ in ‘The Good Duet’ and much more in how they specific their love within the teasing but shifting tune ‘I Will Be Wonderful’ the place each faux that the separation they face will likely be ‘straightforward’ (as Il-hyung decides to affix the NAPKO Mission).”

Howland additionally embraced the chance to infuse the rating with massive band jazz, capturing the spirit of the period.

“This musical is ready within the Nineteen Thirties and early 40s which meant I may actually lean into the swing nature of the music now and again — massive band swing music is one thing I actually love. Specifically, the quantity ‘Swing Dance’ (within the second act), which has a really basic Gene Krupa really feel on the drums, matched with a Paul Whiteman Orchestra massive band type association.”

Past „Swing Days,“ Howland will reconnect with Korean audiences later this yr by means of the Korean premiere of his Broadway musical „The Great Gatsby.“

“I’m so excited to convey ‘The Nice Gatsby’ to the Korean viewers and I actually hope that I get requested to put in writing extra musicals for this thrilling and thrilling market,” he mentioned, desperate to deepen his inventive ties with Korea’s theater scene. “I discover the artists in Korea to be extremely proficient and provoking and I hope I get to collaborate extra. I’ve a number of concepts.”

„Swing Days: Code Title A“ runs by means of Feb. 9 at Chungmu Artwork Heart in central Seoul.