Preview — Arang (몽유도원, 夢遊桃源) · 2026 Production

Arang (몽유도원, 夢遊桃源 — “Dreaming of Paradise”) is a Korean original musical inspired by Choi In-ho’s novella 몽유도원도 (夢遊桃源圖 — “Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land”). Drawing on the folktale of Domi and Arang from Samguk sagi, the work explores the fragile boundary between dream and reality, and the conflicts that arise from pure love, buried desire, and humanity’s endless yearning for an unattainable ideal.

Rather than presenting the narrative as a strictly historical romance, the musical emphasizes its mythic and psychological dimensions. It dwells in the suspended space between illusion and waking life, revealing how longing can elevate and corrode the human spirit at the same time. Through restrained staging and symbolic gesture, the production approaches the story as a meditation on desire itself—beautiful, sorrowful, and irreversible.

At the center of the story stands Yeogyeong, the Baekje king. Yeogyeong will be portrayed by Julian Jootaek Kim as one of the dual cast. Inspired by the figure of King Gaeru, Yeogyeong is a ruler consumed by his longing for a love he can never fully possess. He has survived by maintaining cold restraint in order to protect his authority, yet remains deeply unsettled by the anxiety and desire awakened by a woman who first appears in his dreams. His character embodies both royal power and profound vulnerability.

Rather than framing Yeogyeong through clear moral judgment, the production presents him as a layered and inward figure—one shaped by obsession, illusion, and the belief that destiny can be seized. His journey is not defined by conquest, but by yearning, and by the quiet unraveling that follows when desire outweighs restraint. In this production, Yeogyeong emerges less as a transgressive ruler than as a tragic human figure whose inner conflict permeates the stage.