SYNOPSIS

Gold is discovered along the Sacramento River, setting off the California Gold Rush. People flock to San Francisco, a city named after Saint Francis, who welcomed people from all walks of life. Twenty years later, the gold is running out, and the city faces growing social tensions.

A man appears in the city and declares himself Norton I, the first Emperor of the United States. When people tell him that the country is ruled by a president, he claims that he appointed the president himself. He also hands out million-dollar bills bearing his own portrait.

One day, Norton eats dumplings in Chinatown and tries to leave without paying. The shop owner, Li Wanhei, stops him. This encounter brings Norton close to Wanhei and her daughter, Li Peiyen. He calls Peiyen a princess and becomes a regular visitor to the shop, where he enjoys free dumplings.

Arthur Clive has been an apprentice reporter for seven years. He is looking for a major story that will impress Maurice Belfort, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Chronicle. Arthur begins writing about Norton, and his articles attract public attention. He calls himself Norton's officer and continues to follow him around the city.

Norton believes that San Francisco is like an island, even though it is connected to the mainland. He issues an imperial decree to build a large, strong bridge. He wants everyone to return home safely. The bridge must be red and strong enough to withstand powerful winds.

Marta Cortez has lived in San Francisco since it was called Yerba Buena. Yet she is treated as an outsider because she is Mexican, not an American citizen. She works as a proofreader at the newspaper. She corrects not only spelling mistakes but also errors in the articles. This sometimes brings her into conflict with Belfort.

Meanwhile, Killian O'Neill is an ambitious police officer who dislikes Norton and his strange behavior. O'Neill wants political power. He encourages social conflict and uses public fear to gain support. He also knows about Belfort's corruption and uses this information to threaten him. He wants the newspaper to shape public opinion in his favor.

Norton and O'Neill both claim that they want to protect the citizens. Yet they offer opposite solutions. Norton wants to build a bridge to connect people. O'Neill wants to build a wall to separate them.

Near Chinatown, dockworkers go on strike and demand better working conditions. O'Neill encourages the unrest and plans to use it for his political campaign.

A fire breaks out in a building in Chinatown, trapping Peiyen inside. While everyone stands helplessly outside, Norton rushes through the flames and rescues her. In the confusion, O'Neill pushes Norton aside and takes Peiyen into his arms. He announces that he has saved her.

Wanhei, Marta, and Arthur all witness what really happened. Yet the public praises O'Neill as a hero. O'Neill separates Peiyen from her mother and uses the girl in his election campaign.

O'Neill gives Belfort a forged military document. It claims that Norton was an officer during the American Civil War and had blown up a bridge, killing 87 of his own men.

Arthur is shocked. However, he believes that reporting the facts is his duty as a journalist. He writes an article based on the document. The story earns him a promotion to a full reporter.

Norton is confined to a psychiatric hospital. There, he meets four patients and appoints them as members of his imperial court. Together, they plan to escape. Mordred proposes using the guards' shift change to reach an exit leading to the sea.

The plan works, and the patients jump into the water one after another. But when Norton hears that only one minute remains, he suddenly freezes.

During the Civil War, Norton had been an officer guarding a bridge. His superior ordered him to destroy it because enemy soldiers were only one minute away. Norton refused because his men were still on the bridge. His superior pressed the detonator himself, killing many of the soldiers. Norton has never escaped the memory of that day.

Meanwhile, O'Neill takes Peiyen to his campaign events to gain public support. He also exposes scandals involving two rival mayoral candidates, removing them from the race. Arthur writes articles about these scandals.

Arthur suggests investigating O'Neill as well. Belfort reveals his true intentions and warns Arthur to be careful about whom he investigates.

Wanhei and Marta confront Arthur. They call him a traitor and remind him that he saw Norton rescue Peiyen. Arthur begins to question his own decisions.

Arthur visits Norton, who is still confined to the hospital. Norton is withdrawn and confused. He mistakes Arthur for one of his dead soldiers and thanks him for being alive.

Arthur tries to bring back Norton's memories. He reminds Norton of the million-dollar bill he received and of his role as the Emperor's officer. Norton gradually remembers his imperial decree.

Norton again orders the construction of a red suspension bridge. He wants everyone to return home safely, without losing their lives. Arthur takes Norton's coat, hat, and cane and leaves the hospital.

O'Neill wins the mayoral election and becomes the new mayor of San Francisco. His inauguration approaches.

Peiyen escapes from O'Neill and reunites with Wanhei and Marta. The three decide to reveal the truth. Arthur joins them. They obtain evidence that Belfort has been carrying with him, but they have no printing press.

Peiyen suggests that the people of Chinatown copy the article by hand throughout the night. With enough people working together, they can produce thousands of copies, perhaps as many as ten thousand. The community begins copying and distributing the article.

O'Neill and Belfort prepare for the mayoral inauguration.

A man dressed as Norton appears at the ceremony and declares that he was the one who rescued Peiyen. The police arrest him, only to discover that he is Arthur in disguise.

Just as the officers are about to take Arthur away, the real Norton arrives with his companions from the psychiatric hospital.

Arthur reveals that O'Neill used a forged military document to spread false accusations against Norton. The citizens become angry. Even the police turn against O'Neill and drag him away.

The crowd welcomes the return of Norton I, Emperor of the United States. Someone declares that all Americans are celebrating his return. Marta points out that she is Mexican. Norton responds by declaring himself Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

He then issues another decree to build a strong red bridge so that everyone can return home safely. When Arthur asks what the bridge should be called, Norton announces its name: the Golden Gate Bridge, a gateway for gold to enter the city.


REVIEW

This musical made me think that a strong central character with a clear personality and story must make writing a musical easier. Norton may not have been the only person to call himself Emperor of the United States. However, the people of San Francisco accepted his strange behavior with good humor and treated him as a source of entertainment. Perhaps that is why he became part of history.

Historically, Norton was a merchant who went bankrupt. In the musical, he is portrayed as a former officer in the American Civil War, possibly discharged in disgrace. The writers created an incident in which his men died in a bridge explosion. This gives a convincing reason for his dream of building a bridge that will allow everyone to return home safely. I thought this was an effective dramatic device.

Um Kijoon gave an excellent performance. His voice sounded quite different from his usual speaking voice. He added a slightly nasal tone and delivered imperial orders and decrees with complete confidence, as if everything he said were perfectly normal. He even sang in the same voice. When he began powerful belting, some of his natural voice came through. I found that amusing.

When Korean actors play characters from other countries, the audience often has to learn their nationalities or ethnic backgrounds through dialogue. In this musical, some characters are Chinese immigrants or Mexican, but they are all played by Korean actors. Their costumes are different, yet the audience must rely largely on the dialogue to understand their backgrounds. Norton is different. His unusual uniform, hairstyle, and beard closely resemble those of the historical figure. This made it easier to accept him as Norton.

The stage was also well designed. A large curved screen divided the circular stage and opened at the beginning of the performance. It looked beautiful. The sets were relatively simple, with stairs and a study, but they had many interesting details. An entrance between the structures on the upper level was another effective feature. It was later used as the exit through which the hospital patients escaped into the sea.

Act 1 was fairly well structured. Still, I think the conflict between Norton and Killian O'Neill could have been introduced earlier. That would have created more dramatic tension.

The production materials describe O'Neill as an ambitious police officer. However, he controls other officers and runs for mayor. I thought he was called a police inspector during the performance, but the official description simply calls him a police officer. I wondered how someone in that position could arrange a forged military court document, threaten a newspaper editor, and run for mayor. His authority could have been explained more clearly. Making him a more threatening opponent from the beginning might also have strengthened the conflict.

O'Neill encourages the dockworkers' strike and uses the unrest for political gain. He also feeds scandals about rival candidates to the newspaper and removes them from the election. During the Chinatown fire, he takes credit for rescuing Peiyen and uses her in his campaign.

I wished the fire scene had used lighting more actively to show the flames and the danger. It might have made Norton's rescue more dramatic.

There is a scene in which Norton and O'Neill sing at the same time about protecting the citizens. Norton wants to build a bridge, while O'Neill wants to build a wall. They claim to have the same goal but offer opposite solutions. I liked this clear contrast between connection and separation.

Whenever Belfort, Arthur, and Marta appeared together at the newspaper, I was reminded of Newsies. The feeling became even stronger when the characters began talking about the lack of a printing press near the end.

Act 2 became less focused during the psychiatric hospital scenes. The four patients were given considerable attention. Kang Sung-jin and Kim Soo-ro played two of them. Perhaps their roles were expanded because of their participation, or perhaps the scenes were intended as a special attraction for the tryout audience.

The scenes were not excessively long, but the patients' unusual behavior became a repeated source of comedy. As a result, Act 2 felt too much like a comedy.

The hospital escape scene serves an important purpose. Norton freezes when he hears that only one minute remains, bringing back his trauma from the Civil War. However, while the hospital characters receive considerable attention, other important events are barely shown.

We do not see how Peiyen escapes from O'Neill, who has practically kept her captive and used her in his campaign. Norton's later return is also handled very quickly. The conflicts built up in Act 1 are resolved in Act 2 without enough preparation.

The climax is probably the scene in which Arthur, Marta, Wanhei, and Peiyen distribute handwritten copies of the truth about Norton and O'Neill, supposedly prepared overnight by the people of Chinatown because they have no printing press. This reminded me of Newsies again.

Yet O'Neill, who has already won the mayoral election, is removed almost immediately when the citizens turn against him. Even the police drag him away. The resolution felt too easy. Events moved so quickly that they reminded me of a Charlie Chaplin silent comedy.

I was also puzzled when Norton named the Golden Gate Bridge at the end. The bridge connecting San Francisco to the eastern shore is the Bay Bridge. The historical Norton actually issued decrees proposing a bridge along a similar route.

I thought his dream of building a strong bridge so that everyone could return home safely was enough. Was it really necessary to name the Golden Gate Bridge? The bridge and the wall had already made the musical's message clear.

The theater has 935 seats and is the largest in Daehakro. A nine-piece orchestra played in the pit. Many songs featured powerful, grand belting, much like those in large-scale musicals. I would have liked more variety in tempo and musical styles. The lighting, however, worked very well with the scenes and sets.

The English title is ‘Majesty!‘, but the Korean title is written as ‘마제스티!‘. I thought ‘매저스티!‘ might have made the original English meaning easier to recognize.

The real-life story of a man who declared himself emperor in a democratic country, yet was loved by its citizens, is fascinating material for a musical. I also liked the contrast between the bridge and the wall as symbols of connection and separation.

Still, the comedy and familiar dramatic devices sometimes covered up the musical's central message. Since this is a tryout production, I hope the conflicts between the characters and the way they are resolved can be refined before a future production.