Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Rent dispute rattles new musical

Chang You-jeong, left, director of the musical “The Days,” reacts with one of her actors after a Seoul court allowed her cast and crew to access the Daehangno Musical Center for rehearsal.                                                   / YonhapBy Kwon Mee-yooThe creators of "The Days’’ will be able to put on a show, but just barely. The highly anticipated musical is based on the songs of late folk rock singer Kim Kwang-seok, who continues to enjoy a posthumous career surge after his death in 1996, and features stars including Yu Jun-sang, Oh Man-seok and Ji Chang-wook.However, the directors, actors and crew members of the show were locked out of the Daehangno Musical Center until just before their first performance on Thursday, in a dispute over rent.The squabble serves as an indicator for Korea’s increasingly Darwinist theatrical scene, where money is drying up quickly for everyone except the big production companies

Apr 3, 2013

When tradition meets tomorrow

Art group AES+F’s “The Feast of Trimalchio: Arrival of Golden Boat,” which portrays a Roman Empire-era feast at a contemporary resort hotel, is currently on display at the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art inHannam-dong, central Seoul.                                                   / Courtesy of LeeumArt museum's dual exhibition pairs traditional craft with 21st century mediaBy Kwon Mee-yooLeeum, Samsung Museum of Art in Hannam-dong, central Seoul, is an unlikely source of mischievousness. Its latest oddball attempt is pairing Korea’s treasured, traditional craftwork with a separate display on cutting-edge contemporary art and movies, and the end result is an inspiring and enjoyable experience.The museum’s upper-floor Black Box gallery is the venue for the ``Opulence: Treasures of Korean Traditional Craft,’’ featuring 65 items, including metal jars, glass-bead necklaces, gold Buddhist statues and crowns, wh

Apr 2, 2013By Kwon Mee-yoo

Are indigenous musicals next 'it' item?

This is a scene from the musial “Gwanghwamun Sonata.”By Baek Byung-yeulThe Korean cultural boom of recent years ― which gave birth to the overused term ``hallyu’’ ― was driven by pop music and television dramas. It bears further watching whether musical theater could provide a third growth engine.While the Korean market for musicals has grown explosively in the past decade, the catalyst has been big-budget imports such as ``Phantom of the Opera,’’ while works written and produced at home represented a smaller part of the market.So it’s inspiring for thespians here that local works such as ``Gwanghwamun Sonata’’ and ``Goong’’ are gaining impressive audience numbers in Japan. They are quick to point out that Japan was ground zero for the hallyu phenomenon, triggered when ``Winter Sonata’’ first aired on NHK television a decade ago.According to statistics from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, “Gwanghwamun Sonata,” built around the works of the late Lee Young-hoon, the songwri

Apr 1, 2013

Sculptor John Pai weaves life into wires

“Lost in a Finite Space,” John Pai                        / Courtesy of Gallery HyundaiBy Kwon Mee-yoo John PaiIn the most traditional sense, sculptures are immovable as are those of John Pai.  So it’s a testament to his talent that his works so vibrantly exude energy and the drama of music.The Korean-American sculptor is featuring 20 of his works at Gallery Hyundai in central Seoul in an exhibition titled "In Memory’s Lair.’’His works, distinguished by a heavy use of wires and other metallic materials, are an exercise in calculated dynamism. There is a rhythmical sense to how the lines and shapes are constructed, but constructed they are with architectural balance and geometric perfection.Pai’s sculptures begin with a small unit of rectangles and semicircles, which add up to create an entirely new form. Skillfully designed lightings create layers of shadows from the works, giving them visual depth.Unlike many contemporary sculptors who draw a sketch and let metalworkers do

Apr 1, 2013

Sculptor John Pai weaves life into wires

Talk isn't cheap

Ra Seung-yun says people are increasingly realizing how important communications skills are, but because they are in desperate search of better ways to do so.                                                                        / Courtesy of Arirang TVRah Seung-yun, Korea’s most in-demand interpreter and presenter, shares her ideas about the art of communicationsBy Jung Min-hoAccording to a dictionary definition, art is an "activity or educational subject for people to look at and admire." For Rah Seung-yun, perhaps the country’s most in-demand interpreter and presenter, her art is her words.Rah's presentation on behalf of PyeongChang’s bid at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) congress in 2011 in Durban, South Africa, where the sleepy Gangwon Province ski resort won the rights to host the 2018 Winter Games, was admired by a nation of red-eyed viewers.Rah is now a transcenden

Apr 1, 2013

Around Town 2

Clubs The OctagonNonhyeon Near the New Hilltop Hotel in Nonhyeon, this club is notable for its stylish interior and elite clientele. The venue offers a club stage, lounge bar and dining area to satisfy any night out after work or on the weekend. Near exit 4 of Hakdong Station on subway line 7. For more information, call (02) 516-8847. Club VolumeItaewon Offering a venue for specially-themed weekly events and world-class DJs, Club Volume is located in the Crown Hotel near Noksapyeong Station. Club Volume was listed by Time magazine among the “10 things to do in 24 hours in Seoul.” For more information, call 1544-2635. Once in a Blue MoonApgujeong Once in a Blue Moon is one of the best known and well established jazz clubs in the city. It features live jazz sets from two different bands every night, usually starting at 7:30 p.m. It is located between the Hakdong intersection and the Galleria department stores in the posh district of Apgujeong. For more information, call (02) 549-5490 or visit www.onceinabluemoon.co.kr. Club AnswerCheongdam Club Answer, chosen as one of the

Mar 28, 2013By Baek Byung-yeul

Around Town 1

Classical ConcertsLim Hyun-jeongSeoul Arts Center*May 23Lim Hyun-jeong, who left a stunning impression performing Beethoven’s entire piano sonatas in Paris in 2010, will play in front of Korean fans next month. The France-based 26-year-old is also known for her recorded collection of Beethoven piano sonatas, released for EMI Classics, which reached first place in the Billboard Classical Overall Chart. She will play Maurice Ravel’s “Les Valses nobles et sentimentales, Op. 51,” Chopin’s four Ballades and Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 (best known as Hammerklavier).” Tickets cost 30,000 to 70,000 won. For more information, call (02) 541-3184 or visit www.sac.or.kr.‘Aida’Sejong Center for the Performing Arts*April 25-28Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Aida” will be staged in downtown Seoul. Soprano Lim Se-kyung, Son Hyun-kyung and Son Hyun-hee was cast in the role as Ethiopian princess Aida, who is sent to Egypt as a slave and falls in love with Egyptian general Radames, played by tenor Shin Dong-won, Yoon By

Mar 28, 2013By Baek Byung-yeul

Celebration of Verdi

A scene from “Aida,” a large-scale production set in ancient Egypt.                                                  / Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing ArtsSejong Center's 'Aida' undoubtfully one of the year's highlights in performing artsBy Do Je-haeVerdi’s “Aida” will be staged at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts on April 25-28.The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts has joined the global celebration to mark the Verdi bi-centennial by staging "Aida," an opera set in ancient Egypt.Although it is one of the Italian composer’s finest works, it has rarely been staged in Korea because it is such a large-scale, expensive production.The production is one of the center’s highlights of the year, according to a briefing by Bagh In-bae, the center’s CEO, Monday.What is unique about this production is that the audience can participate in it.Beside the Seoul Metropolitan Choir, an amateur cho

Mar 26, 2013

Crazy, sexy, ghoul

Theo Mercier’s “La famille invisible”                                                                                                 / Courtesy of SongEun Art SpaceSeoul museum creates 'haunted house' of innovative French artBy Kwon Mee-yooIt would be hard to dispute that a large part of the history of art has been written by the French. The nation boasts a wealth of innovative and era-defining artists, such as impressionist pioneers Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir post-work maverick Marcel Duchamp.It remains to be seen whether the young French artists featured at the SongEun Art Space will eventually contribute their own part to the shaping of contemporary art. The southern Seoul gallery is currently displaying the works of 12 of the country’s up-and-coming artists in an exhibition entitled "France in SongEun:

Mar 25, 2013By Kwon Mee-yoo

Worse than useless

Seoul National University professor Kim Ran-do, author of “You are Suffering Because You are Young,” speaks during a press conference held to promote his second self-help book, “It Takes a Thousand Hardships to Become an Adult,” this time for those in their 30s, in August last year when the book was released.                                               / Korea Times photos by Park Seo-gangHow a sea of self-help books deepens Korea’s intellectual vacuumBy Jung Min-ho Kim Mi-kyung, author of self-help books, “Dream On” and“Biting Remarks from Your Elder Sister,” and host of the “KimMi-kyung Show” on cable network tvNHave you ever met anyone who has realized their dreams through self-help books? You may have, though it is probably not the readers; it must be the writers.A recent plagiarism scandal surrounding self-help writer Kim Mi-kyung’s master’s degree at Ewha Womans Universit

Mar 24, 2013By Jung Min-ho

Arts & Theater

Arts & Theater

Rent dispute rattles new musical

When tradition meets tomorrow

Are indigenous musicals next 'it' item?

Sculptor John Pai weaves life into wires

Talk isn't cheap

Around Town 2

Around Town 1

Celebration of Verdi

Crazy, sexy, ghoul

Worse than useless

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