🎭 Preview (Based on 2026 Press Announcements)

Will be updated upon release of full press kit.

The 2026 revival of Arang (몽유도원, 夢遊桃源 — “Dreaming of Paradise”) reimagines the 2002 musical with a newly expanded narrative, revised score, and staging built around East Asian visual and musical aesthetics. The production draws on Choi In-ho’s novella 몽유도원도 (夢遊桃源圖 — “Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land”), reframing its themes of desire, illusion, and unattainable paradise through a contemporary theatrical language.

According to early production materials, the staging will evoke the visual spirit of a traditional ink-and-brush painting, emphasizing negative space, stillness, and symbolic gesture rather than historical realism. The music incorporates elements of jeongga, pansori, and Korean vocal ornamentation, blending traditional color with modern musical-theatre composition.

Following its Seoul run at the Haeoreum Grand Theater (National Theater of Korea), the production is scheduled to move to the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York. This marks the third Korean original musical to appear at the venue, following The Last Empress (1997) and Hero (2011).

Casting and full creative credits will be added when officially announced.


📜 Archival Synopsis (2002 Version)

The 2026 adaptation is a new revision; final plot details may differ.

The story begins with Yeogyeong, the young king of Baekje, wounded on a battlefield. As he drifts into unconsciousness, he dreams of a woman descending from the sky and holding him in her arms. Her name is Arang. When he awakens, the dream lingers, and desire turns to obsession. He orders his attendant Hyangsil to paint her likeness and distribute it throughout the kingdom in search of her.

Arang is eventually found living peacefully in a rural village, already engaged to Domi, a respected community leader. Yeogyeong invites Domi to a GO match, first losing intentionally, then proposing a wager: if Domi wins the rematch, the village will be granted independence; if Yeogyeong wins, Arang becomes his. Domi loses, but believes Arang will never accept the king.

To protect her, Arang’s maid Bia secretly takes her place and spends the night with Yeogyeong. Believing he has claimed Arang’s love, Yeogyeong soon discovers the truth and spirals into rage and self-destruction.

Meanwhile, believing Domi has died, Arang wanders into Cheonseongdo, an impoverished but idealized utopia. There she mourns, scars her face, and veils herself. Domi is later revealed to be alive but blinded. The two are reunited, choosing each other despite ruin and loss.

Yeogyeong, still pursuing the dream version of Arang, kills Hyangsil for allowing her escape and marches with his army. When he finally reaches the lovers, Arang removes her veil and reveals her scarred face. The king’s illusion collapses; he lets them go. At the same moment, Baekje falls to invading forces, and Yeogyeong ends his life, defeated not in war but in longing.

In the final scene, Arang and Domi depart by boat, moving toward a horizon that may be death, exile, or peace. The battlefield fades. Yeogyeong’s dream dissolves into silence.


📅 Production History & Context

2002: Seoul Arts Center (World premiere, title 몽유도원도)
2002–2003: Domestic tour
2026: National Theater of Korea (Revised version, title 몽유도원)
2026: Domestic tour
2026 (planned): Lincoln Center, David H. Koch Theater (Third Korean original musical presented at this venue, after The Last Empress and Hero)


📚 About the Source Material

Arang is based on Choi In-ho’s novella 몽유도원도, a work that blends historical imagination with dream allegory. Choi’s fiction is known for themes of alienation, moral ambivalence, and the tension between desire and reality. The 2026 production shifts the title from “Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land Painting” to simply “Dreaming of Paradise,” signaling a move from depiction to immersion.

🔜 To Be Updated

Cast (2026)
Music director & choreographer
Press photos, rehearsal clips, and creative interviews
Full review after attending 2026 production
Page currently preserves historical information and preview details. Final production elements will be added upon release.