Actress Cha Ji-yeon from musical ′Seopyeonje,′ ＂Seopyeonje is result of glorious part of my life＂

Actress Cha Ji-yeon from musical 'Seopyeonje,' "Seopyeonje is result of glorious part of my life": Contribution / 연합뉴스 / 2022-09-06 17:49:56

▲This photo, provided by PAGE 1 shows, a scene from the musical 'Seopyeonje.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲This photo, provided by PAGE 1 shows, a photo of actress Cha Ji-yeon. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL September 6 (Yonhap) -- Musical actress Cha Ji-yeon who debuted with the musical “Lion King” in 2006 became a veteran musical actress representing South Korea with over 16 years of experience in the musical industry. Starting from the first ever season of musical “Seopyeonje” in 2010 actress Cha Ji-yeon participated in the production of the musical as the role of Song-hwa through 5 consecutive seasons.

Despite of her career, actress Cha Ji-yeon gets nervous before she perform “As you live on” the most well known track from the musical “Seopyeonje.” According to the actress she continues on swallowing her saliva behind stage before she performs the song.

Actress Cha Ji-yeon who participated in the interview held at a café in Gangnam District stated “However, I tend to enjoy that feeling of being nervous; it feels nice and I feel thankful to face my nervousness.”

“The fact that I get nervous of performing something shows that I have yet to compromise to myself or overly confident about myself. Therefore I am proud and thankful of such aspects.” stated actress Cha Ji-yeon during the interview.

Although she stacked up her career through well known musicals such as “Wicked,” “Bridge of Madison County,” Rebecca,” “Mata Hari,” “Red Book” and more throughout 16 years her relationship with “Seopyeonje” is much more special.

Musical “Seopyeonje” which was created in 2010 attracted a lot of audiences by using a unique topic and featuring Sorikkun, (Single Performer) Lee Ji-ram who acted out the female protagonist Song-hwa along with Cha Ji-yeon from the first season to its fifth season of the musical.

“Musical ‘Seopyeonje’ withholds all of my glorious memories from my 20s up until my 40s. ‘Seopyeonje’ is a work I have dedicated my 30s in. “ stated actress Cha Ji-yeon throughout the interview.

The actress continued on by stating “This was my first time participating in a project where I participated in every season for such a long period of time. I think what got me through was the love my fans showed me after noticing my effort.”

Musical “Seopyeonje” will be discontinued after the fifth season due to the expiration of the original contract related to copy rights of the original novel “Seopyeonje.”

Instead of feeling sad, actress Cha Ji-yoen was calmly preparing to say farewell to the musical “Seopyeonje.”

“Knowing when to say goodbye to your role and the project is a one of the virtues of a great actor or actress. Moreover, I was having thoughts on how long I could continue on with ‘Seopyeonje’ then I heard the fifth season will be the last season of the musical. Therefore I throughout it would be a great and beautiful way to say goodbye to ‘Seopyeonje.’” actress Cha Ji-yeon continued on throughout the interview conducted at a café in Gangnam Seoul.

Protagonist Song-hwa of the musical “Seopyeonje” is a blind Sorikkun who walks the lonely path of using her pain to generate unique sound. Actress Cha Ji-yeon stated that she felt similarities and connections to Song-hwa’s life because the career path she has walked to become a recognized actress instead of a star, showed a lot of similarities.

“’Why are you participating in such small projects, that is not the way to become a star, you are being stupid.’ These are some of the comments I have heard over and over again throughout 16 years of my career. However what I truly wanted to become was an actress instead of a star therefore I have tried hard and continued to study acting and tried out many different ways to sing, quietly and steadily walking on my own path. Therefore while performing throughout the fifth season I felt more connected to the protagonist Song-hwa.” actress Cha Ji-yeon shared little bit of her past throughout the interview.

Cha Ji-yeon who started her career at ensemble and then gradually developed her recognition by landing in bigger and more important roles in different projects until becoming one of the leading female actresses in musical industry, she participated in numerous auditions. About the unfortunate incident related to the casting of the musical “Elisabeth” and the industries sad truth on depending heavily on the “star actors and actresses” Cha Ji-yeon showed sadness.

“I was introduced to the idea of ‘ticket power’ much after the word was publically used. When I heard ‘ticket power’ comes from the public awareness, I tried my best in order to create my own ticket power by connecting with the audience base on the trust. As time passed on by, I started to get disappointed in the fact that everyone hates on one another transforming the atmosphere at the bottom of the industry as toxic as possible. I thought to myself that if there was someone who can cleans up the atmosphere. Although I am not perfect I am working my best to be someone that helps out with the atmosphere. I hope everyone participates on making the industry to be bit more clean and a proud place to be. “ stated actress Cha Ji-yeon throughout her interview.

Just like Cha Ji-yeon’s life where she strives toward a lonely path inorder to become a well known actress instead of a successful star, musical “Seopyeonje” is very different from other musicals which attract the audiences with flamboyant stage and addictive songs. Throughout the last season of the music “Seopyeonje” actress Cha Ji-yeon hopes to create a special connection between everyone who has seen the musical.

“Despite of not having any flamboyant and flashy stage work, I hope ‘Seopyeonje’ leaves a distinctive mark on every one who has been to the showing. I hoe it’s not the color that vibes together, instead I hope individual color produced by characters throughout the musical to synergize together and create a long lasting impression.” announced Cha Ji-yeon throughout the interview.