tvN’s ‘Vincenzo’ to make jump to Japanese musical stage

Cable channel tvN’s smash-hit crime series “Vincenzo” will be adapted into a Japanese musical.

According to Studio Dragon, the production company behind the 2021 television series, the stage musical is scheduled to premiere on Aug. 11 at AiiA 2.5 Theater in Kobe, Japan.

The musical will run through Aug. 13.

The show will then travel to Tokyo where it will be staged at Nippon Seinenkan Hall, starting from Aug. 18 to 21. The last shows of the musical tour will be in Osaka at Sankei Hall Breeze from Aug. 25 to 27.

Japanese actor Masanari Wada will take the lead role as Vincenzo Cassano, a lawyer and mafia leader. Veteran lawyer Hong Cha-young, who plots revenge against Vincenzo, will be played by J-pop singer and actor Suzuka Tomita.

Studio Dragon licensed its IP for the Japanese musical to Aves Pictures -- the Japanese entertainment firm leading the upcoming musical adaption of “Vincenzo.”

The two companies also signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, aimed at expanding the production studio’s popular intellectual properties in Japan’s creative content market.

“Vincenzo” revolves around Vincenzo, who with veteran lawyer Hong takes on villains who have escaped the clutches of the law by being more evil than the criminals.

The 20-part series came to an end with a 18.4 percent viewership rating in May 2021, topping the viewership ratings among all TV shows in the same time slot.

The drama series also hit the top five on Netflix’s global chart of TV shows.