KPOP Previews

I hope you’re all ready to blast off!

The new musical KPOP begins previews tomorrow at the Circle in the Square Theatre before a November 20 opening night. Directed by Teddy Bergman and choreographed by Jennifer Weber, KPOP features an original score by Helen Park and Max Vernon and a book by Jason Kim. Real-life K-pop star Luna leads the cast; rounding out the company are Julia Abueva, BoHyung, Major Curda, Jinwoo Jung, Jiho Kang, Amy Keum, James Kho, Marina Kondo, Eddy Lee, Joshua Lee, Jully Lee, Lina Rose Lee, Timothy H. Lee, Abraham Lim, Kate Mina Lin, Aubie Merrylees, Min, Patrick Park, Zachary Noah Piser, Kevin Woo, and John Yi.

After missing the chance to see it Ars Nova back in 2017, I’m seeing this soon for the first time and I am super excited!

“As global superstars put everything on the line for a special one-night-only concert, they face struggles both cultural and personal that threaten to dismantle one of the industry’s hottest labels. Featuring a cast of K-pop and musical theatre stars, including Luna — founding member of f(x) — KPOP is a multimedia experience that explores the relentless discipline, raw talent, and commercial ambition behind the international sensation.”

누가 갈거야  ?

Updated On: 10/12/22 at 12:00 AM

I was intrigued by this until I saw the promotional photos and video footage they released...

I’ll be going tonight courtesy of TDF. Will report back

Now that I’ve had some sleep and time to process, I have to say that KPOP is an assault all senses in the best way.

Normally, I don’t laud shows that rely heavily on their production elements over the book/score, but here, the set, lighting, and sound design are of great service to the flashy and stimulating (though ultimately mechanical) environment that K-Pop is known for. They make GREAT use of the space for sure, and it feels very immersive. I don’t think the Circle in the Square has ever felt so large to me before. Special credit to the choreography, which was TIGHT and SYNCHRONIZED within an inch of its life. You could tell that they have been rehearsing that non-stop for a while. I hesitate to say that it even beats the kinetic energy and showmanship of MJ.

I mentioned the premise in another post, so I won’t reiterate it all here, except that it uses the filming a “Behind The Music”-style documentary as a framing device for the stories of three K-Pop acts. Here is where the show needs to be tightened and fixed a bit since it can be easy to lose the narrative thread given how they rotate between the acts. This is not helped by the fact that roughly half of the show is spoken or sung in Korean with no supertitles, so the use of context is relied upon heavily.

In terms of performance, the cast is uniformly excellent, but the standouts are Luna, who is not only a magnificent singer and dancer, but also one heck of an actress, and Zachary Noah Piser, who has a great character arc, but also one heck of a voice himself, especially during his Act I number, “Halfway”.

I’m pretty sure the Tonys would go ape over this show if it opened in April, but I’m not entirely sure what the audience will look like since this reminds me very much of “A Strange Loop” - a daringly new show that explores stories that most don’t/won’t understand, and gives the footlights to those stories to be told. I’ll be interested to see how it plays out over the next few months.

I echo the two posts above. I recall in one of Helen Park's interviews that they really wanted to make this experience as authentic as possible. This is why there's a lot of Korean in the dialogue and lyrics. After all, only a few KPOP songs are entirely sung in English. Most are in Korean and a good number have a mix of English and Korean. Regardless, music is a universal language and even though I didn't literally understand the Korean words, I felt their meanings through the music. Even the page listing the cast & creatives were in both English and Korean Hangul which I thought was pretty cool!

Luna impressed me. I can see why they cast her especially to help make this show as authentic as possible. She's a real KPOP star and has lived through a similar life to MwE's. I got teary eyed when she sang "Mute Bird" and really wanted to stand up and start dancing during "Phoenix." There was a slight scare during that song last night when MwE's cape got caught on part of the stage and thankfully Luna didn't get hurt. 

At curtain call, you can see the joy of each and every member of that cast. They worked so hard and it was great to see them perform the first preview. Also, I sat in the front row and it was cool to see the excitement of other fellow KPOP fans across the stage. I recall seeing 3 Asian women sitting across from me on the other side who were really into the music and their energy was so infectious I cannot help but also get excited. :) 

YvanEhtNioj said: "Could y'all see Luna getting a Tony nom based on her performance?"

Without a doubt, and I think she could be a contender for a win depending on who else enters the race. She’s making a Broadway debut for the ages, much like how Solea Pfeiffer (who would be a Featured Actress) is at Almost Famous.

Of any of the musicals I’ve seen so far, I think she and Sara Bareilles are the only ones who could realistically be in the race. Crystal Lucas-Perry is ditching 1776 two-and a half weeks after opening and Solea Pfeiffer, while arguably a large part of Almost Famous, is a featured role.

This is said without having seen Kimberly Akimbo, & Juliet, and Some Like It Hot, not to mention anything opening in the spring