Creating a musical version of what many consider the world's greatest tragedy requires a certain level of boldness and a willingness to take risks. Janek Ledecky´, the author of the original Czech version of the musical Hamlet, recalls that when he first started working on it, his friends told him it was a crazy idea and tried to dissuade him from going through with the project.

But his perseverance paid off. After a successful three-year run, Hamlet, the musical, has been brought back to the theater in a new incarnation: Rewritten in English, it's pitched at American audiences with the hope of eventually staging it on Broadway. Before that happens, musical enthusiasts have the opportunity to see the American version at Divadlo Kalich in Prague.

"It was a challenge," says Vincent Parillo, the American producer who first had the idea of bringing the Czech musical to the United States. "People tend to think of musicals as very light and fluffy. When they hear 'Hamlet, the musical,' they tend to assume it will be camp." But Parillo believes that a more serious, dramatic musical is just what American audiences need.

Parillo first saw Ledecky´'s Czech version when he was visiting Prague with his wife a few years ago. They were both so impressed with the music that they decided to bring it to a U.S. audience.

The transformation involved not only rewriting the libretto but also changing around some of the scenes, adding lighter moments and bringing the story line closer to the original Shakespearian version. "The result sounds American," says George Harvilla, the poet who worked on the English libretto. "It's not just a translation."

The biggest challenge, Harvilla says, was taking the various musical styles — which range from swing to rock to ballads to jazz — and making sure they were reflected in the lyrics. "Each style pretty much goes with [the character's] age," explains Robert Johanson, the director of the American version.

The young Hamlet, played by acclaimed Broadway actor Sebastian Arcelus, is the rock star. Wearing black leather pants, his long blond hair flowing, he paces the stage looking alternately brooding and petulant, lamenting his father's murder with a powerful tenor. Claudius' numbers, performed by Ledecky´, are darker and more menacing, his voice deeper and not quite as clear. The perfidious, bureaucratic Polonius, meanwhile, has most of the swing numbers. His style is much lighter.

Amid the dark, dramatic scenes, there are a few humorous moments — which, as Johnson points out, is a technique that Shakespeare also commonly used in his plays. One of those lighter moments is a jazzy number with Hamlet, Horatio and the gravedigger holding up skulls and clicking their teeth in unison.

Even Hamlet's descent into madness isn't without a few humorous touches. At one point, for instance, the chorus breaks into a lusty number that features the lyrics "He's crazy/He's a nut," with the actors tapping their heads to show just how insane Hamlet is.

"Writing madness into a song is one of the most difficult things," says Harvilla. "Madness is a very fractured state of mind."

These days, no one is accusing Ledecky´ of being mad. With enthusiastic audiences giving standing ovation after standing ovation, Hamlet, the musical, suddenly seems like a perfectly sane idea.