1. Overview

Dancing Shadows is a Korean-origin musical inspired by Sanbul (Forest Fire) by playwright Cha Bum-seok. With music and lyrics by Eric Woolfson (of The Alan Parsons Project) and book by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman (Death and the Maiden), it was produced by Seensee Musical Company and directed by British director Paul Garrington (Mamma Mia!, Dirty Dancing).

The work sought to reinterpret a Korean story through an international creative lens, unfolding as a poetic anti-war fable. Set in a remote village where all men have gone to war, the musical tells of a young woman who shelters a deserter, leading to a tragic entanglement of love and survival.

2. Development and Background

Commissioned in 1999, Dancing Shadows developed over several years as Seensee aimed to create a Korean musical capable of appealing to global audiences. Eric Woolfson drew inspiration from Korean traditional motifs and the Demilitarized Zone, while Ariel Dorfman transformed the original play into a universal allegory by replacing national references with symbolic elements — a war between the armies of the Moon and the Sun.

The first workshop was held in London in 2005, an unusual step for a Korean production at the time. Frank Dunlop directed the session with West End performers, marking one of the earliest English-language workshops for a Korean-developed musical. The final version premiered at Seoul Arts Center in 2007 after further revisions and additions.

3. Reception and Accolades

Upon its Seoul premiere, Dancing Shadows received attention for its ambitious scope and international collaboration. It won five awards at the 2007 Korean Musical Awards, including Best Musical, Best Ensemble, and Best Music Director. Critics praised the production’s visual design and large-scale staging but expressed mixed views on the overall cohesion of its music and storytelling.

Some reviewers noted that the fusion of Western orchestration and Korean gugak influences felt uneven, occasionally disrupting the musical flow. While not commercially or critically enduring, the production was recognized as a bold attempt to expand the creative boundaries of Korean musical theatre.

4. Themes and Significance

At its core, Dancing Shadows conveys an anti-war message through allegory and lyricism, emphasizing the senselessness of human conflict. Dorfman’s adaptation distills this theme into a symbolic struggle between celestial forces, suggesting that both light and darkness are essential to life.

Musically, Woolfson blended theatrical ballads with traces of Korean tonal color, reflecting an experimental cross-cultural approach. Though the mixture proved challenging, the attempt marked an important moment in the evolution of Korean musicals — an early exploration of how local stories could be reframed for international stages.

5. Legacy and Recordings

Before his passing in 2009, Eric Woolfson completed the score and lyrics for Dancing Shadows. His family later produced English demo recordings featuring Steve Balsamo, Anna-Jane Casey, and Jacqui Dankworth, with longtime collaborators Haydn Bendall and Austin Ince.

Several songs from the musical were included in Woolfson’s later albums: three in Somewhere in the Audience and two (“I Can See Round Corners” and “Along the Road Together”) in Eric Woolfson Sings The Alan Parsons Project That Never Was.

Though its stage run was limited, Dancing Shadows remains a significant case study in the early globalization of Korean musical theatre — a production that aspired to bridge East and West through collaboration, ambition, and creative experimentation.