Musical "A Story of Pyonggang, Princess Mirror" will be staged at CGV Apkujong, a movie theater in southern Seoul.
Movie theaters have started a transformation. They are presenting live performances in screening rooms.
CJ CGV, one of the nation's two leading multiplex cinemas, presented veteran actress Seong Byeong-sook's mono-drama "Outrageous Widow" (Palchikhan Mimangin) as morning shows at its Mok-dong branch from March to April, and ran magic shows at Kangbyon CGV, eastern Seoul, for five days around Valentine's Day.
They were CGV's pilot programs in establishing a new dual identity _ movie theatre/performing arts center. The company will also present the a capella-based musical "A Story of Pyonggang, Princess Mirror" (Koul Kongju Pyonggang Iyagi) at a 450-seat hall of its Apkujong branch multiplex, southern Seoul, Aug. 11-Sept.10.
Other movie theaters and multiplexes have similar plans to host hot-selling plays and performances.
Cinecore in Chongno, central Seoul, is remodeling one of its five screening rooms into a 370-seat hall for performing arts. From September, the nonverbal martial art-based comedy "Jump" will be staged there.
Cinema Oz in southern Seoul, moreover, has recently gained a whole new identity as an art hall of 270 seats. Under the new name, Dongyang Art Hall, it started last Thursday welcoming people for its first play "Liar(T)", Korean rendition of Rain Cooney's play, "Run for Your Wife".
"It is hard to deny that the cinema's transformation is closely related to the recent boom in musicals", said Ahn Ji-sun, assistant manager at the corporate strategy and planning of CJ CGV, multiplex franchise giant with 36 branches.
"Although the target markets for musicals and movies seem to vary, we assume that there are musical goers among the film lovers. We hope to contribute to making a bigger pie of the live entertainment business and bite it with the new project", Ahn added.
The trend is spreading out from Seoul to other large cities. Papa Production, producer of Liar, said it is negotiating with movie theater owners in Pusan and Taegu to stage the comic drama. It added the show will be presented at some 300-seat small screening rooms in Taegu from November at the earliest and in Pusan next year.
While CJ is promoting the plan based on the idea that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", individual cinematheques have chosen the project to reverse their declining income due to harsh competition from market-dominant franchises.
"Although CJ CGV, as the market frontier, has enjoyed its multiplex franchise business for the last 10 years, the franchise business is a sort of declining industry in the West, where many regional multiplexes overpower large-scale franchises", Ahn at CGV said. "We are preparing for the future".
Ahn said her company initiated the plan as part of CGV's evolution to become a multicultural center. She said the move is a growing global trend, citing Cinecitta Multiplexkino in Germany as a good example. With 5,000 seats in total, the German multiplex comprises 17 general screening rooms, one IMAX screen, a live performance hall-cum-screening hall, three restaurants and more.
CJ CGV plans to take advantage of theatrical contents, especially musicals, developed by its sister company CJ Entertainment, such as "A Story of Pyonggang", and hopes for a synergistic effect.
Local troupes are also receptive to the new wave as they have a hard time securing a decent venue with 1,000 seats for staging original Korean musicals. They have no reason to object to new venues of 300-500 cushiony seats that allow a long performance run.
"It can be a good optional way for musicals to secure a long-term stage lease", said Eric Song, producer and director of Shownote, the company that produced a Korean rendition of the musical "Hedwig".
However, it is not all rosy. Simply presenting live performances at movie theaters without renovations and proper theater facilities may not result in success.
Cinematheques' facilities such as lighting and acoustics fall far short of the standards needed for live performances and the theaters lack revolving stages, which can disappoint the audiences.
"It is not a market that you reap profits from the beginning. As a new business, it demands considerable investment at an early stage", Ahn said. "The local performing art business itself is also still an unstable industry, which is another negative factor for the plan".
Myungbo Theater in central Seoul recently delayed its plan of total conversion to a musical theater for that reason. "As the renewal doesn't guarantee immediate returns, the plan has been postponed", a theater official said.
Song at Shownote said movie theaters have to design a long-term plan, including building real stages, if they want to take advantage of the new project.
"At this point, we are just staging the shows in screening rooms", Ahn said. "But, in the long run, we plan to establish a stage solely for performing arts in branch multiplexes, although we don't have any detailed plans of how many live performance halls we will have", Ahn said.
For the coming two to three years, CGV will focus on promoting its new identity that includes live performances at its multiplexes, she added.
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