Mata Hari (Wildhorn musical)

The musical tells the story of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was executed in France following a conviction of espionage during World War I.^[5] The musical's official website describes the plot as:

"The year 1917.

Paris, once the glamorous city of light, is suffering amidst the chaos that is World War I. France, Great Britain and Russia (the allies) are fighting against Germany and the Austrian-Hungarian empire (the enemy). To heal the wounds of war, a beautiful dancer Mata Hari captivates all of Europe, her mysterious dance putting her at the centre of attention within high society.

Mata Hari's status as a celebrity allows her to travel between the warring countries making her a valuable asset to the French army and one day a visit from George Ladoux of the French military intelligence changes her life forever.

Meanwhile she begins a relationship with a young French pilot, Armand Gilot, but all is not as it seems...."^[6]

In 2012, Frank Wildhorn suggested a musical about the life and death of Mata Hari to South Korean producer Hong Hyun Eum. Ivan Menchell, Wildhorn's writing partner, completed the first draft of the script in 2013.^[6]

The first reading of Mata Hari took place in New York at the Manhattan Pearl Studio.^[6] During this time, Wildhorn also helped to produce Ock Joo Hyun's Gold album that predominantly featured her singing his songs. One of the songs, "내 마음을 조심해 Be careful with my heart", was from the development stages of Mata Hari. It was remixed to be more upbeat and jazzy than how the song was written.^[7] Ock Joo Hyun was the inspiration for Mata Hari and Wildhorn wrote the part to match her voice.^[8]

"There is a recording and it's a video on YouTube that she made of a song from Monte Cristo called "Back When The World Was Mine" that many of the actress, best actresses, in New York listen to all the time and really are blown away by it... It's a magical, magical moment this particular video on YouTube. And every time I listened to it I always get inspired that this was a voice I really wanted to write for."
- Frank Wildhorn, Mata Hari press conference^[8]

As the production took shape, Oh Pil Young was brought in to create the set design.^[9] The show took on a meta perspective wherein it was set on a stage in the Moulin Rouge. Mata Hari, a dancer and entertainer, is introduced by the Emcee who purposefully addresses the audience as spectators in the Moulin Rouge.^[10][11]

In 2015, another workshop was held, this time in Seoul at the Namsan Creative Center. Sophie Kim, Lee Ji Hoon, Lim Hyun Soo and Kim Soo Yong participated in the workshop as the Korean lyrics and dialogue was tried out for the first time.^[6] Then on 25 January 2016, the cast and creatives performed a Music Showcase of the key numbers. Menchell and Wildhorn were both there to introduce, give context to and play the songs that they had been developing. This was the first that the press were able to see the music numbers.^[12] The whole showcase was broadcast on Naver Live TV and clips recorded by other musical news outlets such as PlayDB have been uploaded to YouTube.

The show officially opened on 29 March 2016 at Blue Square Interpark Hall in Seoul. Previews were held from 25 to 27 March, with a two-day break before the opening as the directors were still negotiating the cast schedule.^[12] EMK Musical Company reported that they had $4.5 million of pre-opening ticket sales and over 100,000 audience members attended the show in their limited eight-week run.^[6]

During 29 January to 3 February, the cast recorded a highlights album that featured six tracks.^[12] This was then released together as a package with a Photo Book and DVD of the behind the scenes.^[13]

The productions premiere had received much criticism for the lack of substance in the show's plot but was critically acclaimed in its production design.^[9] As a result, the show was revised to be more "realistic" and showed more focus on the effect of war on both Mata Hari's relationships as well as the citizens of Paris.

A main draw in the first production was that it was performed on the stage of the Moulin Rouge where the audience member was treated as a patron of the cabaret. The opening of the show featured Mata being shot by a firing squad and is reenacted in the closing scene as well. The 2017 production, however, opens with the citizens of Paris panicking as an air raid goes off. It then transitions into Mata's dressing room and the show resumes almost the same plot for the rest of the act as the premiere.

There were changes to the characters but for the most part the three leads (Mata Hari, Armand and Ladoux) characterisations stayed the same. The role of Emcee was removed to get rid of the "show" and "performance" aspect of the premiere to better show the realism of the War. Katherine's role as a minor antagonist also decreased and her song was subsequently cut. Von Bissing had a larger part as his character was expanded upon to reveal more of the spy aspect to Mata's character.

The 2nd production of Mata Hari premiered at Charlotte Theatre in Seoul on May 28, 2022. Ock Joo-hyun returned in the role of Mata Hari, alongside Mamamoo's Solar in her musical theatre debut. Armand was played by FT Island's Lee Hong-ki, BTOB's Lee Chang-sub, Phantom Singer's and Letteamor's Kim Seong-sik, and Yoon So-ho. Ladoux was played by RabidAnce's Kim Paul and Choi Min-cheol.^[14]

The 2017 Korean production has seen major revisions since its premiere. Majority of the main songs have remained the same however songs have been renamed, added and removed.

Source; Mata Hari Official Production Site (In Korean) (In English)

• Mata Hari Japanese Official Website