Dramabeans » Theater/Musicals

Winter Sonata gets the musical treatment

javabeans — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:14:02 +0000

It’s been just under ten years since one of Hallyu’s biggest all-time hits, Winter Sonata, first premiered — January 14, 2012, will mark a decade since the first airing of the quintessential Korean romance/melodrama. And to commemorate the event, a musical version is in the works.

This is a popular move for lots of successful dramas and movies in Korea; it almost seems like anything attaining a measure of success gets a musical these days. (Some screen-to-stage versions include 200 Pound Beauty, Goong, Hello Franceska, Attic Cat, La Dolce Vita, and My Name Is Kim Samsoon. Sometimes the musical is a spinoff of the series rather than a direct adaptation, such as in Hwarang, inspired by Queen Seon-deok.)

Unlike those other productions, however, Winter Sonata’s musical will have its original PD, Yoon Suk-ho, onboard as one of its chief producers. PD Yoon is famed for his quartet of “Season Dramas” (also: Autumn Fairy Tale, Summer Scent, Spring Waltz), whose upcoming project will star Jang Geun-seok is its main star. He’s brought onboard a musical director with a number of hit productions under his belt, while the writer will be the same one who penned the Dae Jang Geum musical adaptation, so there are some seasoned (har har) producers at work here.

PD Yoon said, “January 14, 2012, is a date with deep meaning, marking ten years since Winter Sonata’s broadcast. As the tenth-anniversary project, I’ve assembled the best staff and am pouring my passion and effort into this musical, to make it into a memorable production. I hope it will become a valued memory to the people who have loved Winter Sonata, which will also touch hearts of musical lovers with a purity and lyricism on par with Winter Sonata.”

Birth secrets, first loves, silently noble heroes, plucky heroines, and amnesia — Winter Sonata had them all. Now watch them dance and sing about it!

The musical is set to open on September 27.

Via Mk.co.kr

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My Name Is Kim Samsoon gets adapted for the stage

girlfriday — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 13:44:39 +0000

Beloved hallmark rom-com My Name Is Kim Samsoon is being revived, six years after the drama aired on MBC back in 2005. If you’re anything like me, that drama embodies everything that a good k-drama is about: heart, humor, and a cracktastic romance between two endearing leads.

It’s the drama that garnered 50% ratings at a time when those sorts of numbers were a thing of the past, and besides catapulting Kim Sun-ah and Hyun Bin to massive fame, it was one of the early dramas in a wave that changed what the k-drama heroine could be. Suffice it to say, it’s near and dear to many fans’ hearts.

This year it will be adapted into a stage play, based on the original novel of the same name, by author Ji Soo-hyun. If you’re new to k-dramas and haven’t seen Samsoon, it’s about a pastry chef with a foul mouth who is turning 30, and struggles with some of the most basic things all women face: how to lose weight, how to meet the right guy, how to ditch the wrong guy, and how to survive in a flailing economy with your dreams intact. Kim Sun-ah famously gained weight for the role, and was pitch-perfect as the first k-drama heroine I didn’t want to hit over the head with a reason stick, but actually wanted to be.

The stage adaptation doesn’t boast any big stars, so it looks like a smaller production, but I’m happy to see Samsoon being revived, in whatever form. My Name Is Kim Samsoon will premiere January 21 at Sang Myung Art Hall in Seoul.

Now I’m all nostalgic. Time to break out my DVDs.

Via My Daily

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© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 86 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: My Name Is Kim Samsoon, theater

Bae Soo-bin gets into character for Yi Sang

javabeans — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 15:01:32 +0000

As previously mentioned, Bae Soo-bin (Brilliant Legacy, Dong Yi) is tackling
a stage play for his next project, and he’s been busy with rehearsals for Yi Sang December 12. The play will open later this month, and the following photos come from the production’s open set day on December 3, which took place in Seoul’s theater district, Daehakro.

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Read the rest of Bae Soo-bin gets into character for Yi Sang (174 words)

Song Chang-eui takes a bow for Werther

javabeans — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:58:59 +0000

TV, film, and musical actor Song Chang-eui has been busy lately, recently wrapping up a weekend drama in Life Is Beautiful, in which he was one-half of a much-talked-about gay couple, and now the curtain has also dropped on the Seoul run of Sorrows of Young Werther, his most recent musical role.

The production is based on the tragic, autobiographical Goethe novel in which Werther is a young man in love with a woman who is engaged to another man. Hence the sorrows. Hint: It does not end well for him, although the promotional stills below could probably tell you that. Second hint: Remember what Chekhov said about onstage guns.

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Lee Hyun-woo gets Footloose

javabeans — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:54:53 +0000

Child-actor-turned-budding-adolescent-actor Lee Hyun-woo is expanding his acting scope and taking to the stage for a musical production of Footloose, where he’ll play the leading role of Ren, famously played by Kevin Bacon in the original movie. The character’s a city boy who moves to a small town that has banned dancing and rock ‘n roll. Naturally, he shakes things up a little.

Lee Hyun-woo has been building up his resume playing child roles in a number of large-scale productions over the past several years, such as Legend, Great King Sejong, Return of Iljimae, and Queen Seon-deok. But you may remember him best as the cute and loyal Chan-doo in God of Study, where he showed some of his dance skills — which’ll no doubt serve him well in Footloose — as well as a warm, empathetic appeal.

Although just 17, Lee has been making more of an impression with every role, and I have found him adorable AND charismatic in his roles. A deadly combination for the noonas. He’s one to watch in the future, for sure.

Lee will also be seen in the baseball movie G-Love, which I mentioned in the past when it cast Kim Hye-sung alongside Jung Jae-yong.

Footloose will run from December 10 through February 6.

Via TV Daily

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I Am Legend’s Hong Ji-min in musical

girlfriday — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:42:57 +0000

…called…wait for it…NUNSENSATION. I kid you not. Really, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

It’s Nunsense! No, it’s NunsenSATION! A sequel to the original Broadway musical Nunsense (1985) about a group of nuns who put on a show, Nunsensation is the Las Vegas-based sequel that sends the group of singing and dancing nuns to…headline a cabaret show? Okay, clearly I haven’t seen this, so I might be missing that crucial logical link that gets us from the convent to the casinos. Just a thought. Either way, sounds totally wacky. To top it off, apparently one of the sisters hits the jackpot (are nuns allowed to gamble?) and hijinks ensue.

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Bae Soo-bin’s next role takes him to the stage

javabeans — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 23:59:01 +0000

It’s been a busy year for Bae Soo-bin, who has played a face-swapping cuckolded husband on a revenge mission, a devoted guard to a royal concubine, and a loser with a penchant for racy comic books. Now he travels back nearly a century to play a famed writer in a stage play, Yi Sang December 12.

Yi Sang, the pen name for the man born Kim Hae-kyung, is a celebrated writer and leading figure in Korean literary modernism and surrealism. He is considered experimental in the bridging of literary forms and styles, writing in the 1930s when Korea was under Japanese imperial rule. He died at the young age of 27 after being imprisoned by the Japanese for political reasons, in 1937. The play is being produced to commemorate his birthday 100 years ago.

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Read the rest of Bae Soo-bin’s next role takes him to the stage (268 words)

Jung Il-woo gives theater production a try

javabeans — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 13:22:46 +0000

Jung Il-woo has been making a concerted effort to get serious about his acting, whether it’s from immersion in in-depth character analysis or broadening his horizons with theater work. He took on a role in a stage play earlier this year portraying a gay man with AIDS in Beautiful Sunday, and is taking another step into the theater biz as producer/planner for an upcoming stage play.

The project is Hanyang University Theater and Film department’s 50-year anniversary production as they put on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and Jung will be in charge of administrative and production for the first half. He matriculated at the school in 2008, and will be joined by fellow celebs and students/alums Yang Mi-ra (Three Sisters) and Ji Sung (Swallow the Sun).

A rep from Jung’s management company, N.O.A Entertainment, explained, “After acting in the stage play Beautiful Sunday in March, Jung has developed a lot of interest in theater. He has taken on a leading role in an event that is important to the school. Jung Il-woo was in the 2006 entrance class of Seoul Arts University, and is a latecomer to Hanyang University. Because of that, he is taking an even more active role in school affairs.”

The production of Hamlet will run from November 23 to 26, and will be open to the public.

Well, I’d rather see the Jung Il-woo in front of the curtain (so pretty, in an elegant sort of way, and that’s not even counting his bygone Mane of Glory) rather than behind the scenes, but I do have a major noona-crush on him, so I’ll take what I can get. Now to get crackin’ with the hoodoo incantations to bring him back to dramaland…

Via IS Plus

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Jo Seung-woo makes stealthy exit from military service

javabeans — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 12:35:33 +0000

Two years ago, Jo Seung-woo made a quiet entry into military service, and he made an equally quiet discharge on October 22. In fact, he took particular pains to effect a stealth exit, as he was initially scheduled to make his official discharge the next day. However, he was able to use unclaimed leave days to move up his discharge by a day.

A rep from his side explained his reasoning for the move, saying that it’s because “He feels that he hasn’t done anything special in going to the army because it’s something all men must do. He wanted to do it as others do.” To make up for his secret departure, he will hold a press conference on the 25th, where he’ll answer questions about his service and acting comeback plans.

Speaking of which, Jo has announced that his comeback project will be in the stage musical Jekyll and Hyde, which is a role he has played before, to great acclaim. (Watch the video clip of his performance, singing the production’s most popular number. He really does have a remarkable singing voice.) He has also acted in stage productions of Hedwig and Rent.

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 30 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: army duty, Jo Seung-woo, musicals

Kang Ji-hwan raises a glass to Cafe In’s first show

javabeans — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 22:55:11 +0000

I’ve been mentioning Kang Ji-hwan‘s musical for a while, and Cafe In has finally lifted the curtain on its Tokyo Globe Theater run with its opening show on October 16.

The following are photos taken from that first performance, which features Kang in a comic-melo performance playing two roles: as a playboy sommelier, and as a friendly date coach. Kang received a standing ovation for his performance, and gave fans a little something extra with a prepared encore number.

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Read the rest of Kang Ji-hwan raises a glass to Cafe In’s first show (86 words)