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Mio Fratello
미오 프라텔로
Official English Title
Other Titles: Santa Lucia; Little Casino
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SOURCE
original
SETTING
Foreign
BOOK
original
A noir casino in 1930s Manhattan
Korean Premiere
2014
Korean Premiere Theatre
Daehakro Art One Theater
Further Korean run reference:
https://namu.wiki/w/%EB%AF%B8%EC%98%A4%20%ED%94%84%EB%9D%BC%ED%85%94%EB%A1%9C
The Musical search cue — “미오 프라텔로”
Summary
A Korean original musical set in a 1930s Manhattan mafia world, blending noir storytelling with jazz-inflected music and a three-actor multi-role format.
Origin & Development
The musical premiered in 2014, written by Lee Hee-joon with music by Park Hyun-sook and originally produced by MJStarfish. It was later acquired and revived by Contents Planning, which developed continued stagings and branding after 2020. The title translates from Italian as “My Brother,” and the show is often called “Mio” in Korea. It is loosely connected to Mia Familia and Apollonia as part of an unofficial “mafia trilogy,” sharing characters and motifs while differing in tone and dramatic structure.
Its signature device is the use of only three performers who play more than twenty characters across shifting memories and timelines. 2014 premiere – MJStarfish; 2020 revival, 2022 revival, 2024–2025 revival by Contents Planning.
Partial Synopsis
Inside the clandestine casino Santa Lucia, Stevie is ordered to write the hagiographic biography of mafia boss Sonny Boy ahead of his political ascent. The sudden reappearance of Chichi, the long-presumed-dead son of the former boss, forces the narrative to move between past and present, exposing buried loyalties, betrayal, and grief. Through noir humor, jazz-driven numbers, and a fractured memory structure, the musical explores brotherhood, myth-making, and the rewriting of personal history. Although built on dark material, the tone balances melancholy with stylized theatricality and absurdist comedy.
桑塔露琪亚 (Santa Lucia)
2021
2021-04-30
to
Open Ended Run
Country:
China
City:
Shanghai
Production Type:
Licensed
Language:
Chinese
Venue:
Star Space, Asia Building
Produced by Yitai Haoxi (FocusStage) and directed by Gao Ruijia, with a localized book by Jin Qi and Zhao Yang, the production was staged as an environmental casino-style musical in which actors circulate through the audience and play multiple roles in real time. Marketed as a prequel to Apollonia, it established a long-term residency model in keeping with the Korean version's intimate scale.
The resident run passed 400 performances within two years, marked the fifth anniversary of its opening in April 2026, and was still running in autumn 2026, with casts including Zhu Jiapeng, Wang Haonan, and Zhu Liang. Its success led to a proscenium edition for Beijing and a national tour, and to a second resident venue in Guangzhou.
桑塔露琪亚 (Santa Lucia)
2022
2022-10-01
to
2022-10-07
Country:
China
City:
Beijing
Production Type:
Licensed
Language:
Chinese
Venue:
West End Theatre
The proscenium (镜框版) edition premiered during the National Day holiday, presented by Yitai Haoxi's Beijing company. Moving the show from its immersive casino setting to a frontal stage, it kept the Chinese script and score while favoring narrative clarity, and marked the work's first run outside Shanghai.
桑塔露琪亚 (Santa Lucia)
2023
2023-07-27
to
2023-09-17
Country:
China
City:
Multiple Cities
Production Type:
Licensed
Language:
Chinese
Venue:
Multiple Venues
Following its Beijing premiere, the proscenium (镜框版) edition went on a national tour presented by Yitai Haoxi (FocusStage). The set retained elements of Apollonia's design and recreated the Santa Lucia casino beneath the Apollonia bar, framed by yellow roses and handwritten lettering; the 13-character story was promoted as a standalone prequel that required no knowledge of Apollonia.
The tour played Changsha (Fangcun Theatre, Hunan Opera Performance Center, July 27–30), Shenyang (Shengjing Grand Theatre, August 4–5), Xi'an (Chanba Poly Grand Theatre, August 10), Changshu (Changshu Grand Theatre, August 24), Nanjing (Nanjing Youth Palace Youth Theatre, September 2), and Guangzhou (Guangdong Friendship Theatre, September 15–17).
桑塔露琪亚 (Santa Lucia)
2024
2024-09-22
to
Open Ended Run
Country:
China
City:
Guangzhou
Production Type:
Licensed
Language:
Chinese
Venue:
Tianhe City
The Guangzhou resident edition opened at Tianhe City on Beijing Road, part of a cluster of small-theatre resident productions alongside Apollonia, which had run in Guangzhou since February 2022. The set recreated the 1930s New York underground casino that audiences nicknamed the 'little casino', bringing the Shanghai immersive format to South China; a new ticketing round opened in June 2025.
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