Musical Life of Pi Korean Premiere...It's a wonder that only live performances can feel
Aug 07, 2025
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'Life of Pi' was a box office hit with its West End premiere in 2021 and Broadway premiere in 2023, while winning nine Olivier Award nominations, the most awards in five, and three Tony Award nominations shook the world of performance. As part of a tour of major cities around the world that began in 2024, the work will open at the GS Art Center on December 2 and perform until March 2, 2026.
"It's breathtakingly beautiful" (The Times), "Extraordinary journey, it's a piece that should never be missed." (The Guardian), 'A Wonderful View that Only Enmires' (The Daily Mail),"Puppet art is not the beauty of this world!" Works that exceeded high expectations, such as (Mail on Sunday), received a perfect score of five stars and unanimous reviews from the audience and the media. The Broadway premiere was also a success and became the star of the major Broadway awards that year. It was selected as NT Live (National Theater Company Live) in 2023, and the video first released 'Life of Pi' made a big splash. After the success of the West End and Broadway, Pi's journey to the world began with the North American tour and the UK&Ireland tour, which began in 2024. In 2024, tours were held in nine cities in mainland China, including Shanghai and Beijing, as well as in Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan, following Toronto, Canada, Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Mumbai, India.
'Life of Pi' is a rare work that has achieved both commercial and artistic achievements in all fields of culture and art, from books, movies, and stages. Author Jan Martel's 『Pie Stories』, about 227 days of emotion and hope of a boy named Pie and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker left on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, won the Man Booker Prize about a year after its publication, and is published in 50 languages worldwide, selling more than 15 million copies, and is considered a modern classic representing the 21st century beyond the British-American literary world.
Director Ian, the master of 'Wahoho Jangryong' and 'Color, Gye', then turned it into a film in 2012 and embodied exciting narratives and philosophical messages in depth with a grand visual beauty supported by CG technology. It won the most awards in the year with four categories: Academy Award for Best Director, Music, Cinematography, and Visual Effects, and won and nominated at major awards such as the Golden Globe and Grammy Awards, recording more than $609 million in box office hits worldwide.
With the collaboration of creatives, which the contemporary performing arts world is paying attention to, it has been completed with stage art supported by innovative technology and imagination. It overwhelms the audience by providing immersion through stage design, lighting, video, music, and sound design of natural wonders such as a huge storm that devours everything and a vast night sky that touches the horizon. On top of that, the art of Puppets, which breathes life into animals such as Bengal tigers Richard Parker and orangutans, only admires.
The Korean production is performed in a replica method that produces the original creative team's direction as it is. The project, which drew attention from all over the world from the planning stage, collaborated with creators who were active in the UK and the United States and attracted attention from all genres of culture and art, including plays, musicals, operas, and movies.
I vividly remember the shock and emotion of the day I first encountered 'Life of Pi"Producer Shin Dong-won, head of the production company S&CO, has been preparing for the day when he will introduce the phenomenal stage to Korean audiences. I am confident that this stage, which will be presented with the opening of the GS Art Center, will provide another fresh experience of performing arts and will be a historical moment for a new genre to be born in Korea," he said ahead of the production of the Korean premiere.
Original producer Simon Friend is more than happy to present "'Life of Pi' to Korean audiences. This work moved and inspired countless people with amazing stage art and in-depth messages on stages around the world. Every scene on the stage is the result of the endless passion and amazing skills of our creative team, and we deeply appreciate those who have been with us on this whole journey. I hope Korean audiences will also discover wonders that only live performances can create in this special world where the magic of the stage touches the essential questions of life."
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
