Musicals in North Korea?

Yes. Including Threepenny Opera (and I'd assume other Brecht Weill musicals), Porgy & Bess, My Fair Lady and Annie Get Your Gun.

http://www.wendemuseum.org/programs/american-musical-theatre-soviet-bloc-countries

My best guess is that this hasn't happened because NK is SUPER nationalist/isolated to the point, that even Cuba looks tame. There's nationalist then there's the NK which literally wants nothing to do with any other country except destroy them. Even Russia, while not perfect by any means, the people have more freedom of movement there. Jon Un is seriously that much much of a tyrant that anything that's that's considered western culture or represents freedom in any way is non existent. I now have a cousin living in SK with his fiancé, and I'd love to pick their brains about this when I see them again. At least SK, while also imperfect, I could travel to without feeling like I have a gun to my head at all times while being there. That's how much hold that evil dictator has over his population. As Dumbledore said "Do you know how much tyrants fear the people they oppress?". He is the best current example of what too much power in the hands of one individual can do to that person.

Updated On: 9/11/17 at 02:09 PM

Call_me_jorge said: "Do you think western musicals will ever make its way to North Korea? Maybe not with the current regime in charge, but if productions of western musicals can make it to China and Cuba, why not North Korea?

Besides China and Cuba, are there other communist countries that ever hosted productions of western musicals? Did the Soviet Union ever get a visit from a Broadway show?

"

There was an outdoor production of Les Miserables in Budapest while Hungary was still technically a communist country. There's footage of it in the Les Miserables Stage By Stage documentary where Cameron Mackintosh also talks about how they were one of the only theaters in an Eastern Block country that had much interest in doing musicals as they had been evolving in the west.

A couple more USSR examples: there was a 1986 production of 'Rag Dolly', later seen on Broadway as the flop 'Raggedy-Ann'. The below article also mentions a 'Wizard of Oz' production in Moscow in the 70s.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-01-10/news/8601030383_1_joe-raposo-rag-dolly-moscow-theater

There's a short documentary on the production, called 'Rag Dolly in the USSR', which I haven't seen: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4054100/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1.

(I'm actually curious about 'Raggedy-Ann', BTW; apparently it was a bad show but parts of it do sound interesting, if you're in the mood for a morbid fairy tale-type story.)

The stats are not for the stage production but for the live-action film version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, but it is a good indication of the taste for musicals of various countries. Asia, whatever the political system, seems to like musicals a lot!

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=beautyandthebeast2017.htm

Precisely what I was going to say, Henrik.

phan24 said: "JennH said: "My best guess is that this hasn'thappened because NK is SUPER nationalist/isolated to the point, that even Cuba looks tame. There's nationalist then there's the NK which literally wants nothing to do with any othercountry except destroy them.Even Russia, while not perfect by any means, the people have more freedom of movement there. Jon Un is seriously that much much of a tyrant that anything that's that's considered western culture orrepresents freedom in any way is non existent. I now have a cousinliving in SK with his fiancé, and I'd love to pick their brains about this when I see them again. At least SK,while also imperfect, I could travel to without feeling like I have a gun to my head at all times while being there. That's how much hold that evil dictator has over his population. As Dumbledore said "Do you know how much tyrants fear the people they oppress?". He is the best current example of what too much power in the hands of one individual can do to that person."



South Korea has nothing to do with the regime in NK, so I don't think anyone should expect any sort of "gun to your head" at all..."

I know it doesn't, that's my point. But just being a border country, what NK does can and does affect SK. Juts because their regime has nothing to do with each other doesn't mean that what one does won't affect the other somehow.