'Jo-dwig' sells out in 7 minutes
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Cho Seung-woo, a rising icon of the country's entertainment industry, once again excited his loyal fans Monday as he announced his return to the rock musical "Hedwig".
The musical has built up a cult-like status in Korea thanks to the strong popularity of Jo, who played transsexual rock singer 'Hedwig' at the first series of the rock musical in 2005. Jo has been nicknamed 'Jo-dwig', a compound of his surname and Hedwig, by fans who praised the inimitable charisma he injected into the role of a self-tortured transsexual rock star.
The return of 'Jo-dwig' was quite powerful; all 7,000 tickets for his 25 performances were sold out in just 7 minutes after ticketing websites started sales at 5 p.m. Monday.
Shownote Musical Company, which produces a Korean version of the off-Broadway musical, stressed Jo's dedication toward the musical, saying it is one of his favorite shows.
"There is no doubt that Cho Seung-woo loves to play Hedwig. When we finished staging the first series of 'Hedwig' in 2005, the original cast, including Jo, talked about returning to the show in the future. And Jo kept his promise", said Choi Na-mi, publicist of the company.
The company declined to comment on how much money he would get for the show, but said that it won't be as much as he received from his previous musical "Jekyll and Hyde".
Recently, the 26-year-old Jo has become the country's top-earning musical actor as he signed a contract to play the title role of "Jekyll and Hyde" about 30 times for 400 million won. ($420,000)
Jo's choice to stay at the Daehangno stage, rather than going back to the local movie industry, seems to have been affected by his personal life. Jo recently admitted to breaking up with actress Kang Hye-jung two weeks ago, citing tight schedules that didn't go along with each other.
The breakup of the star celebrity couple was confirmed as Kang didn't appear to see Jo's performance in the musical "Rent" earlier this year.
Rock musical "Hedwig" is currently on at SH Club in Daehangno and runs through May 13. The 2006 version of the musical has been hitting the stage at Daehangno since last October, featuring new stars Lee Seok-jun and Song Yong-jin as Hedwig. The show recently celebrated its 500th performance. Jo is to perform 'Hedwig' four times a week starting on March 30 until the last show on May 13. For further information, call (02) 3485-8700 or visit http://www.hedwig.co.kr
By Jo Chung-un
The musical has built up a cult-like status in Korea thanks to the strong popularity of Jo, who played transsexual rock singer 'Hedwig' at the first series of the rock musical in 2005. Jo has been nicknamed 'Jo-dwig', a compound of his surname and Hedwig, by fans who praised the inimitable charisma he injected into the role of a self-tortured transsexual rock star.
The return of 'Jo-dwig' was quite powerful; all 7,000 tickets for his 25 performances were sold out in just 7 minutes after ticketing websites started sales at 5 p.m. Monday.
Shownote Musical Company, which produces a Korean version of the off-Broadway musical, stressed Jo's dedication toward the musical, saying it is one of his favorite shows.
"There is no doubt that Cho Seung-woo loves to play Hedwig. When we finished staging the first series of 'Hedwig' in 2005, the original cast, including Jo, talked about returning to the show in the future. And Jo kept his promise", said Choi Na-mi, publicist of the company.
The company declined to comment on how much money he would get for the show, but said that it won't be as much as he received from his previous musical "Jekyll and Hyde".
Recently, the 26-year-old Jo has become the country's top-earning musical actor as he signed a contract to play the title role of "Jekyll and Hyde" about 30 times for 400 million won. ($420,000)
Jo's choice to stay at the Daehangno stage, rather than going back to the local movie industry, seems to have been affected by his personal life. Jo recently admitted to breaking up with actress Kang Hye-jung two weeks ago, citing tight schedules that didn't go along with each other.
The breakup of the star celebrity couple was confirmed as Kang didn't appear to see Jo's performance in the musical "Rent" earlier this year.
Rock musical "Hedwig" is currently on at SH Club in Daehangno and runs through May 13. The 2006 version of the musical has been hitting the stage at Daehangno since last October, featuring new stars Lee Seok-jun and Song Yong-jin as Hedwig. The show recently celebrated its 500th performance. Jo is to perform 'Hedwig' four times a week starting on March 30 until the last show on May 13. For further information, call (02) 3485-8700 or visit http://www.hedwig.co.kr
By Jo Chung-un
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