Acom Productions announced Tuesday that the English version of the musical "The Last Empress" makes its West End debut from February 1 to 16 at the Hammersmith Apollo Theater, London. Yun Ho-jin, the producer of the acclaimed musical, said that while "The Last Empress" has been staged over 370 times in Korea and worldwide, he felt that the show need to be performed in English to appeal to local residents of London, and to achieve true globalization of the Korean musical.

The 40-member cast has been practicing songs and lines from the English-version script for some 70 days since November 13 last year, with help from a British instructor to perfect accent and pronunciation. British composer Georgina St. George has arranged six of 59 songs to better suit English lyrics.

Yi Tae-won will star in the title role of Empress Myeongseong in the historical epic drama, along with Jo Seong-ryong as Emperor Gojong and Lee Hui-jeong as Regent Heungseon. Yi is a familiar actress to UK musical fans as she has been starring as Lady Thiang in the London production of "The King and I" for over one year. Acom showed confidence in the success of the W1.7 billion project, as Britain's top-class musical set designers Stephen Coleman and John Rigby have joined the West End production. The troupe will return to Seoul on February 18 and perform the English version from March 15.

(Kim Myeong-hwan, mhkim@chosun.com )