Show Must Go On: High-Quality Musicals, Plays in 2010
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
The year 2009 is nearing its end with the seasonal performances. But more diverse and masterful musicals and plays are awaiting fans for the New Year. Here are some tips for musicals and plays to watch next year.
Musicals
"Contact" will open the New Year on Jan. 8-17 at LG Arts Center and on Jan. 22-31 at Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Complex. Starring celebrated ballerina Kim Joo-won, the dance musical will be presented only through dances without songs.
"Mozart!" will premiere in Korea on Jan.19 to Feb. 22 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. The Austrian musical will be made into the local rendition with the starry casting of Xiah of TVXQ, Im Tae-kyung, Park Kun-hyung and Park Eun-tae who all will alternate playing Mozart.
"The Count of Monte Christo" composed by celebrated musician Frank Wildhorn renowned for "Jekyll and Hyde" will be shown in Korea for the first time. The Swiss musical is the newest one of Wildhorn's works. Based on the 1845 novel of the same name, the musical will be adapted into the Korean version on April 22 to June 13 at Universal Art Center.
Among others, "Billy Elliot" might be the most anticipated musical next year. Slated to run from August in 2010 to February in 2011 at LG Arts Center, the musical swept the 10 Tony Awards this year since it premiered last year on Broadway. The Korean production is now underway for searching for the best actors for the roles.
Also, "Tears of Heaven," the first original American commission for Korea, will make its debut next year and the exact date has not been decided. The original story takes place in Vietnam in 1968 and is a love triangle between a beautiful Vietnamese singer, a Korean private, and an American Colonel set against the backdrop of the days during the Vietnam War. The full production in Korea will feature dance, mask work, and other unique forms of puppetry, dance, and combat choreography. The score represents a combination of Asian, French, and pop genres.
For the revival productions, "Miss Saigon" (May 13-Sept. 12 at Chungmu Art Hall), "Jekyll and Hyde" (Nov.23-May 1 in 2011 at Charlotte Theater) and "Aida" (December at Seongnam Art Center) will be presented.
Plays
The year 2010 will see more high-quality and artistic plays including the Tony award-winning shows.
Former Czech president and playwright Vaclav Haveil's first play in nearly two decades, "Leaving" will be shown in Korea. Havel's return to theater has attracted huge international attention and won a standing ovation in May 2008, in Prague. Produced by Archa Theater from Czech Republic, the play was directed by David Radok, a well-known opera director. Havel's "Leaving" inspired by Shakespeare's "King Lear" and Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," tells the story of a former chancellor whose life collapse after he loses power. The play proves that Havel is still capable of producing an excellent absurd drama that has long been his trademark. Inevitably, the plot of the play is parallel to Havel's life, which gives an echo of the play. Havel's theatrical comeback will be undoubtedly one of the most important theater events in 2010. The play will be on stage on April 2-4 at LG Arts Center.
"Uncle Vanya" by Anton Chekhov will take to stage on May 5-8 at LG Arts Center. The world leading director, Lev Dodin and his Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg brings the play to Seoul, which is described as the most beautiful and crystalline of all Chekhov's plays, revealing love, loss, vanity and the life.
The legendary theater director Peter Brook's work "11 and 12" is coming to town for the first time. Brook has directed over 70 productions from theater and cinema to opera for the last 65 years as a director of Royal Shakespeare Company and the Bouffes du Nord Theatre in Paris. His masterpieces include "King Lear," "Marat/Sade," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Mahabharata," "Le Costume," "Hamlet" and "Fragments."
His new work "11 and 12" is developed from his 2004 production "Tierno Bokar" which is a story about a great Sufi (Islamic mysticism) master in Africa and struggle against hatred and violence. The play will be on stage on June 17-20 at LG Arts Center.
"The Sopalovic Traveling Theater" is a play portraying the conflict between a traveling performing troupe that wants to continue its performance and the villagers in a Nazi-occupied Serbian town in 1941. The play will be shown at Myeongdong Art Theater on March 5-28.
"God of Carnage" is the latest work written by French playwright Yasmina Reza. The play was nominated for six Tony Awards, Best Play, Best Direction of a play, and two each in the categories of Leading Actor and Leading Actress. "God of Carnage" confronts two couples meeting to discuss a fight between their children. Reza's plays are known for providing actors with meaty roles, a quality perhaps influenced by her own theatrical beginnings as an actor. The play will be on stage on April 4 to May 2 at Daehangno Arts Theater.