ReviewInside Sejong Center: New backstage tour reveals Seoul’s cultural heart

Visitors listen to the history and architecture of the Sejong Grand Theater at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts during a backstage tour in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts

Seoul’s Sejong Center for the Performing Arts is inviting foreign visitors past the velvet rope and into spaces usually reserved for artists and staff, turning one of the city’s most imposing cultural landmarks into a site for intimate experience.

On Thursday, some 20 students from Yonsei University’s Korean Language Institute were invited for an early look before the tour officially begins next month. The participants tiptoed through staff-only corridors, quietly gasped as backstage doors opened onto the Grand Theater and explored the stage set for Verdi’s opera “Nabucco,” which was scheduled to open that evening.

“The area we are in now, together with the passageways we've just been through, are spaces reserved exclusively for performers and staff and are not accessible to the general audience,” tour guide Yoo Jung-a told the group in English.

When the group stood facing rows of over 3,000 red seats in the Sejong Grand Theater, they fell briefly silent, taking in the sweeping expanse of the venue's grand interior and exploring the stage.

Yoo Jung-a, a former KBS news anchor and the guide for the backstage tour addresses visitors at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts

"Let’s think for a moment about the artists who have walked on this stage," Yoo said, mentioning star conductors, singers and directors who made working at the center a rite of passage in Korean performing arts since the building's completion in 1978.

Maestro Chung Myung-whun, the former music director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, is “probably the single artist who has stood on this stage more often than anyone else,” she noted.

One of the highlights of the tour was the rehearsal studio for the resident Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theater.

Director Yoon Hye-jung welcomed the group and said, "You know the wide-brimmed ‘gat’ hat from ‘Saja Boys’ (in the film 'Kpop Demon Hunters')? Its original form actually comes from the traditional 'Hallyangmu' dance, and this will be your chance to see that original version up close.” Dancers in black hanbok, holding white fans, moved slowly and rhythmically across the floor as the participants watched in silence.

“Would anyone like to try? If you are ready, please join!” tour manager Choi Byung-hoon joyfully invited the participants, and some stepped into a line behind the professionals to follow their dance moves.

Participants of the backstage tour follow the moves of a fan dance demonstrated by members of Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre in a rehearsal room at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts

Conducted entirely in English, the backstage tour is a new program designed for international visitors who wish to go beyond watching a show at the center and better understand the theater’s history, architecture and production process.

The 70-minute program meets in Gwanghwamun Square in front of the statue of King Sejong, the Joseon-era monarch the center is named after, then moves into the center and through several performance halls, backstage areas and rehearsal rooms before ending on the rooftop observatory, where the participants enjoy a rare view of the capital.

For Yoo, who grew up visiting the Sejong Center, the tour revived sentimental memories.

“In my youth, this was where we came to see classical performances,” she said. “The kids who sat in these seats back then grew into adults who love concerts. For my generation, this place is full of memories. New halls with better acoustics have opened since, but this venue has an atmosphere all its own.”

The young international participants were moved by what they had discovered.

“What I liked the most was that every stage has a story behind it, which adds to its beauty,” said Beatrice Selmane, 25, from Bulgaria. “When you go to a theater, you don’t think that much about the story of the stage, you think more about the performance. Now we had the opportunity to hear more about the place."

Daria Ziolkowska, 23, from Poland, said “Before I came to Korea I never thought about touring a theater, even going to see a play. But the moment we entered the Grand Theater, I was mesmerized and thought, ‘I have to come back to see a play here.’”

A backstage tour participant goes over a brochure at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts

Choi, who brainstormed and developed the tour program, hoped the visitors will find it interesting and relaxing.

“I hope people can forget their daily lives for a couple of hours and enjoy this place as if they were the owners, not guests of the theater,” he said.

The tour will officially open in May.