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| ▲This photo shows preview of 'K-pop.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo shows casts of 'K-pop.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo show poster of Korean page of 'K-pop' on Playbill. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Yonhap) -- "나랑 결혼해줄래?" (Will you marry me?), "선생님 안녕하세요!" (Hi teacher!)
Korean lines and songs resonated in the Broadway Theater area, the center of American performing arts.
The musical "K-Pop" preview performance held at the Circle in the Square Theater near Times Square in New York City on Thursday and Friday (local time) was the reason.
During the preview performance, where audiences of various races filled almost all the seats, the actors, including former idols, said many of their lines alternately in English and Korean and many of the songs they sang had Korean lyrics.
In a scene where a foreign member of an idol group says "You need to learn Korean" because he cannot understand Korean properly was like watching a performance in Seoul, not New York.
In 'Playbill,' American monthly magazine for theatergoer in New york including Broadway, there was a page with the names of the production team and cast members written in Korean, and comments by the actors were written in Korean, such as "Mom, dad, brother, I love you."
Helen Park, who composed this musical, said at a press conference held at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on Friday, "I gained courage to overcome the language barrier after watching the movie 'Parasite,'" adding, "It got the courage that if we express Korean things more confidently in Korean, people with different culture will undersand us."
Park said, "That's why I wrote the lyrics in half Korean and half English, and included Korean in the lines," adding, "I think the power of K-pop lies here. Everyone can be welcomed beyond the language barriers."
The preview performance of this musical, which will officially begin on Nov. 27, is said to have een watched by not only fans who originally liked and know K-pop, but as well as Broadway audiences unfamiliar with K-pop culture.
At first, the reactions of K-pop fans and general musical fans were clearly different, but by the end of the performance, everyone was shaking their bodies and giving a standing ovation,"becoming one" said Park.
Kevin Woo, a former member of U-Kiss who appeared in the musical, said, "It is an honor to be able to promote K-pop and Korean culture at such a big stage Broadway," adding, "Since this is an unfamilar genre, there are audiences who have not yet had experienced K-pop. I will show power and passion of music that go beyond the language barrer."
In this Broadway version of the musical "K-Pop," which were all sold out when first began on the off Broadway stage in 2017, Kevin Woo and a number of idol actors will be on the stage.
The actors said in one voice that the various joys and sorrows they had experienced during their training days to after their debut were well described in the musical.
Luna, a member of the girl group fx, said, "Through my character, I overcame a lot of trauma from my past," adding, "I was only happy when I was on stage and the rest was so sad for over ten years. There was nobody to look out for me although I was so young," looking back to her time as being an idol.
She said, "I get a lot of comfort while doing this work. This musical is our story," adding, "I want to tell aspiring idols that they don't have to go too fast or too hardly."
Kim Bohyung, from the girl group Spica, could not continue her words saying, "I experienced a lot of things while training," and Lee Minyoung (Min), a member of Miss A, said, "I thought a lot about things I didn't know when I was young and they made me get emotional."
Composer Park, who directly recruited idol actors through social media and e-mail, said, "'K-Pop' is the only musical that has an original story and songs among new works on Broadway this season," adding, "I want to overcome the bias and share sincere K-pop music with Americans."
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Jiwon Woo.)
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