PRODUCED BY PMC PRODUCTION

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Song, Seung-Whan
BOOK & LYRICS Lee, Ji-Hyun
COMPOSER & ARRANGEMENT Hwang, Mee-Na
DIRECTOR Kim, Dong-Yeon
MUSIC DIRECTOR Chae, Han-Nul
CHOREOGRAPHER Song, Hee-Jin
SCENIC DESIGNER Park, Sung-Min
PROJECTION DESIGNER Song, Seung-Kyu
LIGHTING DESIGNER Lee, Seung-Ju
SOUND DESIGNER Kwon, Ji-Hwi
COSTUME DESIGNER Kim, Eun-Young
WIG & MAKEUP DESIGNER Kim, Sung-Hye
PROPS DESIGNER Cho, Yoon-Hyung

The musical ‘Dwarfs’ brings earthy humor to the Korean musical market where comedies haven’t been notable. The performance, which could be called a male version of ‘Cinderella’, depicts human desires in an uninhibited way with familiar fairy tale characters: Cinderella, Snow White and the little mermaid.

Charlie lives in dwarfs’ village in a fairy tale country. He despairs as he can’t get out of the suffocating reality even if he does his best to make money. One day, he hears of an upcoming ball where a guy and girl who fall in love and kiss will become characters of a new fairy tale. Convinced that it will be an opportunity to change his life completely, Charlie begs an old dwarf called Big to help him meet the old wizard lady who made Cinderalla a princess. The wizard tells Charlie, “Gone are the days when a black hen layed white eggs. Magic spells don’t work anymore.” Nevertheless, Charlie doesn’t give up and decides to go and see Snow White in her palace. Big, who is now an old man waiting for his death, also heads to the palace with Charlie and their adventure begins.

In this musical, Cinderalla is greedy and Snow White has strong sexual desire. Such a distortion of the existing characters isn’t something very new. However, ‘Dwarfs’ wins the audience’s empathy by satirizing today’s people who are unable to be free from socioeconmic conditions. The performance also makes them laugh without any restriction by boldly telling tabooed sexual jokes. The performers’ somewhat exaggerated acting also makes the musical a great comedy. The musical’s numbers have melodies that remind the audience of animated films and lyrics that catch everyone off balance. Such numbers add to the uniqueness of ‘Dwarfs’. In particular, “In Groups” sung by princes has become the musical’s representative number thanks to its catchy refrain, satiric lyrics (“People gather in groups”) and gentle but comic choreography. The musical started when the writer Lee Ji-hyun and composer Hwang Mi-na presented it as their graduation performance at Korea National University of Arts. After going through multiple processes of development, the musical premiered in 2015. Since then, it has been staged ceaselessly, thus becoming one of the representative performances of PMC Production’s repertoire.

REVIEW

The pleasure of talking behind somebody’s back and complaining about anything you didn’t say out loud... Such a pleasure has the power to add vigor to the princess’ reality. From beginning to end, ‘Dwarfs’ stays focused on laughter in an amazing way. Nothing is more serious than self-esteem, which can be as light as a feather.
- Jeong Su-yeon, critic of The Musical

The essence of ‘Dwarfs’ consists in its paradox and twists. The performance laughs at the happy ending of fairy tales but it tells another fairy tale which is as great as a miracle. What is left with its happy ending is not money but truthfulness. That is why the musical rings true even more.
- Jeon Ji-hyun, reporter of Maeil Business Newspaper

This performance is a “musical for adults” because it explicitly satirizes today’s world. The musical offers earthy humor by cheerfully pointing out modern people’s illusions: the Cinderella complex, a black hen failing to lay white eggs and the nouveau riche.
- Ku Hee-eon, reporter of Weekly DongA

About the Production Company

PMC Production was founded in 1992 as Whan Performance, a theater company specializing in planning performances. Since the establishment of its corporate body in December 1996, PMC Production has developed various types of cultural content. Song Seung-whan, who has been an actor since his childhood, is the company’s CEO and artistic director. ‘Nanta’, which premiered in 1997, was presented for over 30 years, promoting Korea’s own non-verbal performance around the globe. Staging its representative performance ‘Nanta’, PMC has also added to its repertoire creative musicals with Korean sentiment as well as a musical series of fairy tale classics and experience-based exhibitions for young audiences. The company’s representative performances include ‘Nanta’ (1997), ‘March of Youth’ (2007), ‘The Brothers Were Brave’ (2008) and ‘Dwarfs’ (2015).