Daegu to Host 1st Int’l Musical Festival
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Daegu, the nation's third largest city, is emerging as an aspiring destination second only to Seoul for musical buffs.
The city boasts seven large performance theaters with more than 1,000 seats and more than 46 musical-related departments at 27 universities in the region.
With 11 opera troupes of 2,500 members, the city has the second largest ticket sales for musicals after Seoul.
Major blockbuster musicals, such as ``Miss Saigon,'' ``Jekyll and Hyde,'' and ``Saturday Night Fever,'' have rushed to the city after scoring big successes in Seoul.
With this favorable infrastructure, the city is planning to hold the first Daegu International Musical Festival from May 20 to July 2.
As a trial run, the city held a pre-festival lasting 58 days last year for the festival this year.
``The city is aiming high on the international stage as being a representative city for musicals, as the Daegu International Musical Festival is the first of its kind in Asia,'' Lee Pil-dong, head of the festival organization, said.
Lee said that about 120,000 citizens of the city attend musicals every year. ``We're trying to help the city become Asia's Broadway,'' he said.
``Wild Jujubes" by China's Shanxi Huajin Dance Drama Ensemble, which is based on a touching love story set in the Ching Dynasty of China, will open the festival and continue its run from May 20-22.
Five homegrown musicals, which were selected by a screening committee, will be premiered with financial assistance at the festival.
As part of the events, members of the foreign tour team for ``Cats'' will perform at Daegu Opera House on May 31, kicking off its tour to Korea.
In addition, five other well-known works _ "Wild Jujubes," a Chinese musical, "Bakdaljae Pass," a Korean musical drama, "Cheong," a Korean traditional musical, "Country Boy Scat," a concert-type musical and "the Wizard of Oz," a musical for children _ will be invited.
``Moon,'' a non-verbal martial art performance, will represent the dynamic movements of Taekwondo, or Korean marital arts, into a lyrical black and white drawing under moonlight.
The non-verbal performance will be staged on June 16 and 17 at the Citizens' Hall, while ``The Ascension of Hanne,'' a traditional Korean musical, featuring traditional Korean melodies, will be performed on June 30 and July 1 at the same venue.
``Country Boy Scat,'' a concert-type musical, will feature the YMC Band, a real Indie band, who will perform the music. This will be performed from June 9 to 10 at the Suseong Artpia, a newly opened performance hall.
Lee Pil-dong, chairman of the festival organization, said that the organization committee is offering tickets at the price of 30,000 won except for ``Cats.''
For more information, call (053) 622-1945 or visit www.dimf.or.kr.