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The poster for “Contact,” which will go on stage at LG Arts Center in Seoul from Jan. 8 to 17 and from Jan. 22 to 31 at Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Complex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province |
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
The Broadway dance play "Contact" will take the stage early next year for the first time in Korea.
"Contact," which was written by John Weidman and choreographed by Susan Stroman, is a musical fused with ballet. The characters don't sing, but instead dance their way through three thematically linked short stories.
The fusion of genres is becoming a hot trend in the international musical scene, drawing positive responses from both critics and audience. The so-called "crossover" has created a new format by combining ballet with musicals.
The Korean musical industry is also beginning to showcase experimental works that blend genres.
Kim Joo-won, celebrated ballerina of the Korea National Ballet Company, will star in “Contact,” a dance play. |
Kim Joo-won, celebrated ballerina of the Korea National Ballet Company, will star in the Korean rendition.
Kim will play the role of a girl in a yellow dress that has been coveted by actresses in the world. The show consists of three separate dance episodes ― "Swinging," "Did You Move" and "Contact" ― each set to prerecorded music.
The first story, "Swinging," is based on an 18th century painting by Jean-Honore Fragonard set in a bucolic forest clearing where a beautiful young woman rides on a swing while two men ― a servant and his master ― watch. They are trying to woo the young lady. They dance to the Rodgers & Hart's song "My Heart Stood Still" recorded by jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.
The second episode takes place in 1954 at an Italian restaurant in Queens, New York. The female protagonist lives in a loveless marriage and tries to escape her verbally abusive husband through a series of romantic and comic fantasies. Imagining herself as a prima ballerina, she dances with the headwaiter, busboys and customers of the restaurant to melodies of Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Bizet.
The final story, "Contact," portrays Michael Wiley, a wildly successful advertiser in his 40s living in present-day New York. He is mysteriously attracted to an after-hours club in Manhattan's meat-packing district. He tries to engage a beautiful young woman in a yellow dress, who appears and then disappears into the crowd of people swing-dancing to the music of Benny Goodman, the Beach Boys, Robert Palmer, Dion and Squirrel Nut Zippers.
"Contact" premiered at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in New York in September 1999, then moved to Broadway's Vivian Beaumont Theatre on March 30, 2000.
The show received critical acclaim and won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical.
"Contact" will be on stage from Jan. 8 to 17 at LG Arts Center in southern Seoul and on Jan. 22 to 31 at Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Complex in Gyeonggi Province.
chungay@koreatimes.co.kr |
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