This summer, musical fans will be grooving with ABBA's greatest hits and rave about Jo Seung-woo's amazing impersonation of the well-mannered Dr. Jekyll and the violent, hideous Mr. Hyde.
Wait, haven't they already seen all these? It's true, but judging by the strong ticket sales, the same old shows still seem to be what they want the most from the musical stage.
Interwoven with 22 hit songs of the 1970s pop legend ABBA, "Mamma Mia" (Seoul Arts Center Opera House, June 15 to July 17) attracted more than 200,000 domestic and foreign viewers when it was first performed in the country two years ago. Premiered at West End in London in 1999, the musical has swept some 130 cities across the world, including those in the United States, Germany and Japan.
"Mamma Mia"
The stage is set on a small island in Greece, where 20-year-old Sophie and her single mom Donna run a motel. In her quest to find her biological father, Sophie invites to her wedding three men she found out about in her mother'S Diary, where the days of her youth are kept. Park, Hae-mi who played Donna for the local premiere of the musical will do it once again, while young, rising actress Lee Jeong-mi will play Sophie for the first time. Tickets are 30,000 to 130,000 won. For more information, call (02) 580-1301.
"Jekyll and Hyde", a musical thriller that has sold over 90 percent of its tickets since its local premiere in 2004, will make its way onto the Theater Sun stage of the National Theater of Korea, downtown Seoul, on July 24, with a wonderful array of star entertainers in its cast, including Cho and pop diva Sonya.
"Miss Saigon"
Adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson's classical story "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", the musical was originally produced in 1990 at Houston's Tony Award-winning Alley Theater, and brought to Broadway after seven years of both minor and major modifications. In Broadway, the musical often dubbed "the most beautiful thriller in Broadway's history" performed 1,587 sell-out shows during its initial four-year run. The show best remembered for its mostly dark yet beautiful songs including "This Is the Moment" and "Once upon a Dream" fascinated many local musical stars.
Like the original novel, the musical version tells of a doctor named Jekyll who experiments on himself with chemicals and drugs while searching for a cure for his ailing father. This triggers his transformation into his alter-ego, the villainous Hyde, who seeks revenge on those who wouldn't fund his research.
"Jekyll and Hyde" will be performed through Aug. 15. Tickets are 40,000 to 120,000 won. For more information, call (02) 556-8556.
"Jekyll and Hyde"
Competing with the two biggest shows on the performing arts circuit is "Miss Saigon", which will be performed for the first time in the country, featuring a Korean cast, at Seongnam Arts Center from June 28 to Aug. 20. The musical was premiered at the Theater Royal Drury Lane in London back in 1989, and has been performed in 18 countries around the world since then. Up until now, the musical has attracted a total of 31 million viewers worldwide, earning 950 million pounds ($1.7 billion) in profits.
The musicals were staged in 240 cities around the globe in 11 languages, garnering three Tony awards. Reflecting the popularity of the show, more than 1,100 applicants competed in the audition for the Korean cast held between Nov. 11 last year and March 2.
In "Miss Saigon", Chris (Michael Lee), an American Marine serving as an embassy guard in Saigon during the Vietnam War, meets Kim (Kim A-sun/ Kim Bo-kyeong), a young Vietnamese woman forced to work in a Saigon night club, to fall in love with her. Separated from Kim in the chaos of the American evacuation, Chris is forced to return to his country and they both struggle to deal with the emotional aftermath of their affair.
After the performances in Seongnam Art Center, the musical will be staged at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul from Aug. 31 through Oct. 1. Tickets are 50,000 to 100,000 won. For more information, call (02) 518-7343.
By Lee Yong-sung
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