'Once' singers perform in Korea
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From left, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of the Irish band Swell Season, Jeun Mi-do (playing Girl in Korean “Once”) and Lee Chang-hee (Guy in Korean “Once”) speak at the curtain call of the musical’s Korean production at CJ Towol Theater of Seoul Arts Center on Jan. 9. / Courtesy of Seensee Company
By Emilee Jennings
“Bo-go-shi-paw-yo, I missed you” Glen Hansard announced in broken Korean to a full house in the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Seoul, last Saturday.
Hansard and Marketa Irglova of the Swell Season, the band from the 2006 indie movie “Once” were together again for the first time since they split up four years ago. Hansard said he chose Seoul for their reunion “because this is the best place that the Swell Season has ever played.”
On the other side of the city, the musical adaptation of the Irish movie is in its second month of a four month run. The first non English version of “Once the Musical” has been running here with great popularity since Dec. 3.
Hansard and Irglova paid a visit to the Korean production of “Once” on Jan. 9 and appeared on stage after the performance.
The duo covered Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" with the Korean cast and the audience. "Korean people are great. Whenever we come here, we get the best and are treated the best. Just thank you," Hansard said.
In return, Yoon Do-hyun, a rocker who plays the role of Guy in the Korean “Once,” visited the Swell Season’s concert on Sunday and sang “Say it to Me Now” from the sound track of “Once” together with the band.
“Once the Musical” is focused around sessions -- social gatherings where musicians come together to create an emotional driven musical experience. Capturing the feeling of a session, where your emoticons lead the music can be quite difficult, something the Korean cast of “Once” worked hard to achieve.
To ensure the atmosphere was right some “Once” performers joined the “Sunday Sessions” with Irish Association of Korea (IAK) members in The Wolfhound, an Itaewon-based Irish bar, before the four month production premiered in December.
The award winning musical began with a pre-show, in which cast members sang Irish and Czech traditional songs while the audience slipped into their seats. The house lights dimmed as the cast captured the deep emotion of Irish ballad “On Raglan Road,” despite being sung in Korean.
Unlike big shows with spectacular backdrops, loud music and dramatic plots, “Once” is very simple. It takes place on a bar styled set at the 1,000-seat CJ Towol Theater of the Seoul Arts Center.
There is a distinctively different feeling portrayed by this musical, this is helped by the fact that there is no orchestra in the pit, but then again why would you need one when each character is armed with an instrument.
From the offset the show reflects a relaxed intimate feeling as though you are sitting by the fireside of a local bar in any county in Ireland. The ensemble plays culturally rich music in a lively manner allowing for a real sense of traditional Irish music and a realistic portrayal of street musicians.
The musical runs until March 29 and the IAK’s St. Patrick’s Day festival takes place on March 14.
Emilee Jennings is music and arts editor of Groove Korea, English magazine based in Seoul.