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Kwon Mee-yoo

Korea Times Politics & City Reporter

Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.

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Travel & Food

Weekender From beaches to culinary treats

California's central coast has everything By Kwon Mee-yoo SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — The state of California has a thousand charms. San Francisco, the city of free spirits, and Los Angeles, the glamorous city of Hollywood, are two metropolises and the central coast connects them with breathtaking scenery and culinary treats including local wineries. There are numerous ways to travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles, but one of the best ways would be the California State Route 1, more commonly known as Highway 1. The highway runs along some of the most beautiful coastlines of California and guarantees a pleasant scenic drive. The coastal highway was partially closed due to a landslide in April but is scheduled to reopen this week, providing full access for travelers to see the Big Sur coastline. Monterey Bay Delve into the beauty of this coastal region by heading south from San Francisco to Los Angeles and the first stop would be Monterey. The city cannot be missed for those who loved John Steinbeck’s famed novel “Cannery Row.” This is the place where the

Jun 9, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

Seopyeonje named best homegrown show at Musical Awards

By Kwon Mee-yoo “Seopyeonje” scooped five awards, including Best Original Musical, Best Director, Best Drama, Best Female Actress and Best New Actress, at the fifth Musical Awards at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul, Tuesday. The musical, based on the 1976 novel of the same title by Lee Cheong-joon and the 1993 movie, portrays the life and bitter sorrow of a “sorikkun,” or traditional singer. Rather than reproducing traditional Korean style on stage, its unique abstract costumes and set added a modern twist to the musical and imbued a new life to the traditional vocal music of “pansori.” Cho Kwang-hwa, the writer of the musical, received the award instead of the producer who was found dead in an apparent suicide in May. The producer was said to be in financial difficulties after the commercial failure of the musical. Cho said his death was a tragedy for the Korean musical scene. “‘Seopyoenje’ was unappreciated since it was about pansori, an old-fashioned subject,” he said. “We felt as if we were in an independence movement.” Actress Cha Ji-ye

Jun 8, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
People & Events

Girls Generation tops Oricon Chart

By Kwon Mee-yoo Korean girl band Girls' Generation topped the Japanese Oricon Weekly Chart with its first album there. The group's first studio album in Japan was released on June 1 and sold 232,000 copies, according to S.M. Entertainment, the group's agency. The album sold some 73,000 copies on the day of its release. It marks record sales for an overseas artist's first album in Japan and the second time for a foreign female group to take first place on the Oricon Chart for first week sales, after Russian duo t.A.T.u. The group is in the middle of a tour of six Japanese cities with 14 concerts from Osaka and Tokyo to Hiroshima and Nagoya, expecting to draw some 140,000 concertgoers. The girls left for Paris Tuesday to take part in the SMTOWN Live World Tour on Friday and Saturday. The group will attend the MTV Video Music Aid Japan at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on June 25 with K-pop group SHINee. Girls' Generation will hold their second concert in Korea on July 23 and 24.

Jun 7, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Shows & Dramas

Reality TV gets a spin as stars challenge skating, dancing

By Kwon Mee-yoo Stars are being kept busy. They have to prove their singing ability on MBC’s “I Am a Singer” and hone their vocal skills on tvN’s “Operastar 2011.” Now, two new shows bring celebrities into the professional fields of skating and dance. Riding the popularity of figure skating queen Kim Yu-na, SBS started airing “Kiss and Cry” on May 22, bringing singers and actors to the ice rink. The broadcaster created a small skating rink at its production center in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, to shoot the show. The line-up includes comedian Kim Byung-man, U-Know from TVXQ, signer IU, Son Dambi, Krystal from f(x), actor Seo Ji-suk, Lee Ah-hyun, Park Jun-geum, child actress Jin Ji-hee and speed skating gold medalist Lee Kyu-hyuk. On Sunday’s episode, the stars engaged in practice with professional skaters. U-Know combined his dance skills with skating and tried to adapt to the new situation with help from his partner Claudia Muller. The couple danced to “Summer Nights” from the musical “Grease,” but U-Know tripped on the ice due to a lack of practice and was criticized fo

Jun 7, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

Don Quixote eager to enter Broadway

This is the first in a series of interviews of heads of Korea’s top theatrical companies. — ED. By Kwon Mee-yoo “Jekyll and Hyde” is one of the most popular musicals in Korea, drawing more than 620,000 people as of May. Don Quixote of the musical “Man of La Mancha” is one of the most sought-after roles among male musical actors. The musical “Grease” has been a nest for aspiring actors, nurturing top performers such as Oh Man-seok, Um Ki-joon and Kang Ji-hwan. In 2009, a revival of the musical “Dreamgirls” premiered in Korea, with state-of-the-art LED panels depicting the backdrop of the legendary Apollo Theater and also the airport where the Dreamgirls held a press conference. All these musicals are produced by OD Musical Company led by Shin Chun-soo, 44. He is a man not afraid of challenge, just like Don Quixote. The company name OD stands for “Open the Door” and also is pronounced the same as mulberry in Korean. “The name first started with mulberry which is nourishing and healthy and I came up with the English meaning later,” Shin said in an interview with The Kor

Jun 6, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

The Steins Collect sheds new light on Matisse, Picasso

By Kwon Mee-yoo SAN FRANCISCO — Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso are recognized as masters of cubism, appearing in art textbooks and their works displayed in museums across the world. However, for the Stein family, these artists were their friends. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) presents “The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde,” an exhibition that shows works collected by American author Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) and her brothers Leo and Michael and Michael’s wife, Sarah. The exhibition weaves the family history of the Steins and the Parisian avant-garde movement in an interesting way, offering a chance to think back to the fledgling era of now-reputed master artists and the patrons behind them. The Steins encouraged young, aspiring artists and new art trends with an open mind. Originally based in the San Francisco Bay Area, they moved to Paris and created a private art collection which made them well-known. They met and bought works by artists on top of Matisse and Picasso, who were then eager young painters in need of patro

Jun 3, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

Painting forests of hopes, dreams

By Kwon Mee-yoo Colorful dots congregate to create forests, on display at artist Kim Soup’s 15th solo exhibition at Gallery I in Nakwon-dong, central Seoul. Not a single forest is the same — they are all from different places and time. Some paintings reflect snow-covered trees in winter, while others depict flowers blooming in springtime or autumn foliage. “It’s always a forest, but a new one,” Kim said in an interview at the gallery Tuesday. She changed her name from Kim Myung-sook to Kim Soup. “My original name was too common and there are many people with the same name. I have used the name for decades, but I thought it is time for a new start,” the painter said. Her new name “soup” is the Chinese character for learning. “The name refers to my endless pursuit of learning,” she said. It is also pronounced similarly to the Korean word for forest, reflecting her deep affection to the main object of her paintings. When observed closely, Kim’s paintings glitter softly. The sparkle comes from the rock powder she uses. It takes much endeavor

Jun 1, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

Wash off weariness of urban life in musical Laundry

By Kwon Mee-yoo A semi-basement apartment, a tiny mom-and-pop store and a clothesline on a rooftop make up the set of “Laundry.” The musical is currently playing at Hakchon Green Theater in Daehangno, central Seoul. Such a setting is typical of neighborhoods in the Korean capital and the musical portrays the everyday life of ordinary Seoulites. “Laundry” is a long-running musical in Daehangno, having been staged more than 1,000 times since its official debut in 2005. The story revolves around Na-yeong, a 27-year-old bookstore clerk, Solongo, an immigrant worker from Mongolia, and their neighbors’daily lives in Seoul. “It is basically based on my life in Seoul. I first lived in a semi-basement room like Na-yeong and met an immigrant worker when I went up to the rooftop to hang out my laundry,” Choo Min-joo, the writer and director of the musical, said in an interview with The Korea Times. The musical was first performed as a graduation piece by Choo at Korea National University of Arts in 2003 and later moved to the commercial stage. She thought a musical would be a goo

May 31, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Shows & Dramas

Love, ambitions & lies in Miss Ripley

By Kwon Mee-yoo Liars are dominating the small screen in the Monday/Tuesday time slot. Gong A-jeong of “True Romance” on SBS is faking a marriage to defend her pride, while Lee So-yeong of “Baby-Faced Beauty” on KBS lies about her age to get a job. Another impostor is joining the race for fake lives — actress Lee Da-hae stars as Jang Mi-ri in MBC’s new soap “Miss Ripley,” and this heroine is a woman of large caliber compared to other leading ladies. Jang grew up in an orphanage and was adopted by a family in Japan. However, she had to survive on the streets before escaping to Korea. Life in Korea proves to be tough as well, as she finds employment difficult with just a high school degree, and she even gets sexually molested by an executive during a job interview. Her breakthrough comes when she is hired at a top-class hotel after fabricating her academic record, making herself a graduate of the University of Tokyo. On her way up the social ladder, she takes advantage of two men in the hospitality business that fall for her. As the title indicates, the drama

May 24, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

Park portrays tragedy of Mozart

By Kwon Mee-yoo Park Eun-tae, playing the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the musical “Mozart!” which opens Tuesday, is obviously one of the hottest actors on the Korean musical scene. He is dedicated — the first thing he was concerned about with regard to the time of the interview was rehearsals, which he left for right afterwards. Park was an ordinary student studying business administration at Hanyang University before auditioning for the musical “The Lion King” in 2006. He was in a singing club and took part in MBC’s Riverside Song Festival, but didn’t think of becoming a musical actor. In his debut, he was No. 5 in the chorus, playing roles such as grass and the front legs of a rhinoceros. “It was a whole new experience for me. I found out a new world in musicals and it felt great on stage,” Park said. He played Gringoire in the musical “Notre Dame de Paris” from 2007 to 2009 and Kim Saeng in the homegrown “Pimatgol Sonata” last year. Park played the role of the prodigy in the Korean premiere of “Mozart!” in 2009. The Austrian musical, written by Michae

May 23, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
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