Check out “Prince Song” Kim Joon (Boys Before Flowers) in this new photo spread bearing the title “The Man” for fashion mag Marie Claire’s 200th issue.
The photo collection was organized to raise money for the Join Together Society, which works to wipe out child hunger throughout Asia. There are a total of 46 celebrities who are participating, including names like Park Yong-ha, So Si-sub, Lee Min-ho, Lee Beom-soo, Lee Seon-kyun, and Cha Seung-won.
We’ve already seen the power of actor Kim Joon’s name in selling musical tickets (when Kim Joon began appearing two weeks into the musical’s run, ticket sales shot up 30%). Here are more scenes from his theater debut in Youth March [젊음의 행진]. These photos come from a press call on August 12, held at the Coex Artium theater in Seoul where the musical is currently running.
T-Max rapper and Boys Before Flowers actor Kim Joon isn’t the lead role in his musical debut, but no matter: his name still drew flocks of fans to the Coex Artium on his first night onstage.
The musical Youth March [aka March of Youth, 젊음의 행진] began running on July 18, but the 29th marked Kim Joon’s first performance (which is double-cast between him and another actor). Lest you doubt the pull of his name, the audience fill rate rose 30% on that night from previous nights, nearly selling out the theater completely. According to Kim’s management, this is due not only to the attendance of his domestic fans, but even that of fans who’d come from other parts of Asia, such as Taiwan.
Boys Before Flowers star Kim Joon (or Kim Jun), also known as the rapper of three-member pop group T-Max, is about to launch his first solo song. On July 7, he released the teaser video for his upcoming single, “준비 OK” — the title literally translates to “Ready OK” but is also a play on his own name, reading “Jun Be OK.”
The video shows Kim Joon putting on a tougher face than he showed as his gentle, friendly Woo-bin character in Boys Before Flowers, and also features BBF buddy Kim Hyun-joon.
T-Max rapper and Boys Before Flowers actor Kim Joon is making his theater debut: He’s taking on a role in the musical Youthful March [젊음의 행진]
He doesn’t have the lead role, but I’m curious about this nonetheless. Kim Joon’s got experience in the pop-music world but he’s a rapper, not a singer, so perhaps the transition is more of a leap than when other pop vocalists make the jump to musical theater. (Such as: Ok Joo-hyun, Lee Ji-hoon.)
The lead role will alternate between actor-singers Lee Ji-hoon (You’re My Destiny) and Lee Sung-jin (from the musical version of Singles), while the female lead role is double-cast between musical actresses Kim Ji-woo and Lee Jung-mi. Kim Joon plays a student teacher.
The musical Youthful March debuted in 2007 and is described as a “jukebox musical” that mixes the popular 1990s manhwa “Yongshimi” with the ’80s music variety program “Youthful March.” (I’m not familiar with either program so I can only speculate, but it seems like the musical is meant to evoke a pleasant sense of nostalgia while updating itself for the modern watcher.)
The plot features the now-33-year-old Yongshimi preparing for a concert, when she runs into her old schoolmate and flashes back to 1991 — and the musical therefore features such old pop hits as Lee Seung-chul’s “Last Concert” (Love this song! Listen below), Kim Gun-mo’s “Excuse” (핑계) , and others.
The musical runs from July 18 through October 25 at Seoul’s Coex Artium.
Lee Seung-chul – “마지막 콘서트” (Last Concert). If the musical is supposed to evoke the sort of fond nostalgia I get when listening to songs like this from those good ol’ days of yore, I TOTALLY GET IT. Ahh, I remember first hearing this song and falling for it way back when. [ Download ]
