Kim Da-hyeon (김다현)

Summer Big Bang for Musicals

2008/07/03 | Source | Permalink |

The Korean musical market is literally witnessing a "big bang" this summer.

Korean musical-goers will have a rare opportunity this summer to enjoy both critically-acclaimed and commercially successful Broadway musicals such as "Man of La Mancha", "Cats", "Chicago", "Gambler", "Hedwig", and "Thrill Me". We enlisted musical critics to offer their evaluations of the musicals based on five criteria –entertainment, music, cast, stage, and story.

Cats

"Cats" feeds the audience's eyes with splendid dances and extraordinary stage settings. Since May, the Broadway world tour team has been performing here in Seoul and the Korean team will launch its first licensed performance in September. It received low marks for the story, but high marks for entertainment. Musical critic Won Jong-won said, "The attraction of Cats is the performers' facial expressions and detailed body movements which make audiences feel as though they are looking at real cats. Follow every movement of the performers,...| More

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'Hedwig' returns freestyle

2008/05/27 | Source | Permalink |

Mega-hit rock musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" will run for a fourth season starting late June, production company Shownote announced.

But there will be a twist this season: Six different actors will take on the title role, each for three to six weeks at a time. All the Hedwigs will be completely different from the others, with outfits, make-up, and even lights personalized to fit and reinforce each Hedwig, the production company said.

Shownote added that five of the Hedwigs will be from past performances. Auditions will be held for the last actor.

Starting off "Hedwig-Freestyle" are two former Hedwigs: Kim Da-hyeon, lead vocalist of rock band Yada and dubbed the "prettiest" Hedwig; and Song Yong-jin, lead vocalist of the band Cuba, who is regarded as the most provocative and passionate Hedwig.

Since its Korean premiere in 2005, the musical, whose protagonist is a transgender singer, has been a huge success, contrary to naysayers who thought that Koreans would find the s...| More

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Hedwig

2007/05/24 | Source | Permalink |

John Cameron Mitchell wrote the text, directed the film, and played the main character in "Hedwig", a musical theater production and film. He visited Korea to participate in a "Hedwig" concert to be held at Jamsil Stadium on May 27 and 29.

Oh Man-seok, who gained the nickname "Oh-dwig" when the musical premiered in Korea two years ago, has been waiting for the opportunity to meet Mitchell since the dates for Mitchell's visit were decided. Oh talked with Mitchell in English without an interpreter for one and half hours.

Mitchell's response to "Oh-dwig", after watching a video recording of Oh's performance was, "What a voice! Your Hedwig is prettier than mine". Oh said, "I have seen the movie 'Hedwig' more than ten times. Every time I admired it, wondering 'Who made such a fine movie?'"

Mitchell recalled that his performance was so consuming emotionally and physically that he did not have strength even to remove his make-up after the show. Oh responded, "Exactly. I used to sit a...| More

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