Acom's 'Franz & Marie' reaches London stage after 18 years

South Korean production company Acom has opened "Franz & Marie" at Charing Cross Theatre in London — the culmination of an 18-year journey that began with a cold commission in 2007 and survived a pandemic, a composer's death, and repeated rejections from West End producers.

Acom artistic director Yun Ho-jin, best known for creating the landmark South Korean musical "The Last Empress (1995)," commissioned the musical adaptation of Georg Buchner's "Woyzeck" in 2007, bringing on Chris Broderick, who wrote the book and lyrics, and Rob Shepherd, both members of the British band The Singing Loins.

A staged reading in 2008 and a workshop in London in 2011 generated interest, but producers repeatedly passed on the project, citing its dark themes. A 2014 Seoul production at LG Arts Center also drew a lukewarm audience response, in part for the same reason.

Broderick’s death from leukemia in 2022 renewed the team’s determination to bring the project to life. “We have to do this in England, if only to honor him,” Yun said at the time, according to Jung Myung-joo, a producer who has worked on the show since its inception, told The Korea Herald.

Directed by Michael Oakley, the current version is adapted by Teresa Howard from Broderick’s book and lyrics, with music by Broderick and Rob Shepherd, and carries substantial revisions shaped by the intervening years. Howard, whom Jung has known for nearly two decades through a London musical theater workshop, rewrote Marie, transforming her from a woman who has an affair into a victim of false rumor and attempted assault.

The change was deliberate. "The female audience couldn't sympathize with her," Jung said. "We needed them to understand her."

The title was also changed on the advice of the theater’s artistic director, who noted that few people in Britain outside drama courses know how to pronounce “Woyzeck.”

The production also introduced an actor-musician format — cast members play their own instruments throughout — a concept Jung said was chosen to give the otherwise dark material visual appeal after early UK readings were rejected as "too gloomy."

Franz, a 19th-century soldier, sells himself as a test subject to a sadistic army doctor to support Marie and their newborn son. As the experiments and war trauma take hold, a drum major’s lies about Marie push him toward violence.

“Franz & Marie” is not the only Korean-backed musical to test London. OD Company took its Broadway production of “The Great Gatsby” to the London Coliseum in 2025, and Seensee Company will stage a tryout of “Nero,” by “Spring Awakening” creators Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, at Southwark Playhouse Elephant from Nov. 2 to Dec. 5.

All three are built on Western source material rather than Korean stories. Jung said Acom learned that lesson after taking “The Last Empress” and “Hero” to the US and Britain, where Korean expatriates came, but local audiences did not. So Yun picked a Western classic he loved and hired British writers.

“Franz & Marie” runs at the 265-seat venue until Nov. 15. A West End transfer or touring offer would represent the best outcome, Jung said — after which the production could return to Korea.