Korean pop star Moon comes to Opera in ‘KPOP’

The South Korean cultural phenomenon of K-pop is now Opera music – simply put KPOP. It’s a kind of MTV show After the music a story about a fake Korean label, RBY presenting a concert in New York City.

Shortly after the start KPOPThe audience is immersed in the song “This is my Korea”. A girl group with five singers, RTMIS (pronounced Artemis), sings in Korean while onstage. Arms and hips in sync, repetitive movements, moving, the singers will switch to the English language, as in many K-Pop songs.

They follow a boy band with nine singers, F8 (pronounced lot), same material, but macho, slow movement. And then they all sing together, doing a moving point choreographed by Jennifer Weber, where the actors make a “K” with their hands every time they sing the word “Korea.”

“What keeps it coming back is that it’s a visual hook at the same time it’s a vocal hook,” Weber said.

KPOP the music is unusual – there are no traditional solos or duets in which the characters sing their emotions directly to the audience or to each other.

But director Teddy Bergman said “This Is My Korea” still functions as an old Broadway opening number.

“There are many ways that song is like our version of ‘Tradition.’ Fiddler [on the Roof]. He introduces the statute [characters]; a great thematic sign of the evening,” he said.

The Off Broadway show asked: “Why isn’t K-pop a hit in the US?” Now it has changed s.

The show was first performed as an immersive off-Broadway piece in 2017, where the audience went from room to room — with bits and pieces of reviews, auditions and recording sessions — before gathering in the grand hall to watch the concert. At the time, K-Pop hadn’t really cracked the consciousness of American culture, beyond PSY’s monster hit, “Gang Style.”

“The animating question of the off-Broadway show was, why is K-pop so successful all over the world, with the notable exception of the United States?” said Bergman. “And most happily, that’s what has changed over the last five years with K-pop, increasing its huge and amazing success in the United States.”

So the current production switched things up, immersing the audience in the dynamic performance of the songs in various ways, with extravagant costumes. As the story is a documentary with flashbacks, the audience gets a glimpse inside the pressure-packed K-pop factories where performers are driven to perfection, often at personal sacrifice.

“What I’m really interested in this entry is the psychology behind the international star,” said Jason Kim, the creator of the show’s Korean-born writer. He says he uses some of the tropes of Korean television melodramas. “What people like BTS, what people? [like] CL… What does he think when he gets up in the morning and what is his day? And what is it like before he goes on stage and what does he think about his stage, and how does it relate to your relationships?

Kim examines the show’s dynamic between “this very Eastern concept of duty that accompanies self-expression… What does it look like when two people fight each other? So for me, it’s thematic. The principle that ties everything together.”

The show has several actors who are actual! K-pop idols, including Luna, who is a star show, MwE. Luna has also appeared in many musicals, such as Right Blondein Korea His presence lends an air of authenticity.

“He’s one of those people who has that rare gift of being almost transparent on stage,” Bergman said. “You can just read everything that’s going on with her effortlessly. And as a singer and dancer, she’s just a virtuoso.”

One of the show’s songwriters is Helena Park, who was born in South Korea and grew up loving K-pop. She was the first Asian female singer-songwriter on Broadway and created all the electronic tracks of the bike, which are accompanied by a small band inside. Park said the score shows the variety of K-pop styles.

“Every kind of musical moment is different from one another,” Ortus said. “We have songs, we have reggaeton, we have new disco, we have progressive house. We put everything into the pop medium.”

Max Vernon, who wrote the score with Park, like the songs are with the music, said he wanted the songs to reflect the emotions and situations of the characters.

One song, called “Wind Up Doll”, is performed by MwE after being recited by an abusive choreographer.

“That song is so slow, so effervescent. It puts a smile on your face,” says Vernon. “True, if you actually listen to the lyrics, you’re pretty sinister. You know, it’s like, ‘You push/touch me that way/Come on me like a clock/and I’ll obey.’

Sometimes the audience KPOP he behaves as if he were in a concert, not a Broadway show: people whoop and cheer and move on to the music.

“I think K-pop as a genre and K-pop as a phenomenon should be welcomed,” said Park. “It’s inclusive, inviting.”

Fans learn K-pop dances from videos, then post their own versions on social media. Now, choreographer Jennifer Weber said, some music fans are doing the same.

“In our audience it was so cool to see that people are already starting to watch the cover dances and the band become a group [in the show].

The show is now in previews on Broadway — it opens on November 27th.

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