Chinese version of Korean musical 'Brothers Karamazov' to be staged at Shanghai Grand Theater

”The Brothers Karamazov,” an original musical produced by a South Korean production company, will hit a major theater in Shanghai in June, Orchard Musical Co. said Tuesday.

The Korean musical is the first original musical licensed to take the stage at the Shanghai Grand Theater.

“The Brothers Karamazov” is a small-budget musical that is based on Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel of the same title. The show premiered in 2018 in South Korea and has returned twice, in 2020 and 2021. Set in 19th-century Russia, it is a story of conflict among the four sons of Fyodor Karamazov -- Dmitri from the first wife, Ivan and Alyosha from his second wife, all of whom were abandoned, and Smerdyakov, an allegedly illegitimate son who lived with Fyodor. When Fyodor is murdered, the four sons begin to suspect one another.

Oh Se-hyuck, a producer of the musical, will participate in the production process, including auditions in China and scaling up the production to fit the stage of the Shanghai Grand Theater, one of the largest and best-equipped automatic stages in the world, the company said.

Meanwhile, the 100-minute musical will be shown on Naver TV on Monday.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)