‘Special Letter’ peppers military service with humor

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Stories of serving in the military, playing sports and both of them together are three taboo topics during dates as they generally make women bored. Breaking this idea is the musical “Special Letter,” staged at SM Art Hall in Daehangno, Seoul. In the plot, six soldiers play soccer and it makes the females in the audience as well as the males go wild.

Park In-seon, director of the show, said “Special Letter” came from an idea to create a show full of handsome male actors. “The idea of a military musical struck me,” he said at an interview with The Korea Times.

Park actually did not serve in the army but as a conscripted policeman instead. “Most of the ideas came from stories I heard from friends. I personally did not know much about the military service and I think it helped me create the show for a general audience.”

“Special Letter” refers to two kinds of letters in the musical — the draft notice to report for mandatory military service and the letters of encouragement sent to military personnel.

The musical revolves around Eun-hui, a 27-year-old man who gets his draft notice, and Sun-gyu, a woman who likes him.

The musical is a synthesis of military stories people might have heard from friends or read on the Internet with such characters as a young sergeant and an old private, almost deified girl bands, extremely slow passages of time and the exchange of mail.

The highlight of the musical is “Gundaesliga,” a nickname of the soccer games played in military which stems from Bundesliga. The choreography cleverly incorporates athletic movements into the musical and presents a soccer game onstage.

“When making the show, the first thing I had in mind was to make it fun. I wanted to make the audience sympathize with and laugh about irrational experiences in the military,” the director said.

Park wrote the script for the musical and directed it as well. “I think I find directing the script I wrote more fulfilling,” he said. “Writing a play is lonely work since I have to write by myself for months. However, when it comes to direction, it is more of a human relationship as I have to accept, arbitrate and fine-tune opinions from various staff members.”

“Special Letter” premiered as a school workshop at the Korea National University of Arts and won the Best Homegrown Musical at Daegu International Musical Festival in 2009. It was invited to the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2010 and was performed six times there.

About half of the seats were filled by foreigners at the 230-seat theater.

“I was worried that the foreign audience might not understand the musical as it involves Korea’s mandatory draft system and many of the lines are puns,” he said.

However, foreigners understood the situation and context very well, Park said. “There is a scene where an audience member participates in the show as a division commander. During the New York performance, a blonde woman was enthusiastic enough to dash onto stage and hug the actor,” the director said. “It was strange and interesting to see her enjoying participating in the show and leaving with a Choco Pie, a famous Korea snack, in her hand.”

“Special Letter” runs through Dec. 31. Tickets cost 40,000 won. Call (02) 764-8760 for more information.