The annual Daegu International Musical Festival, the world’s first established international musical festival, is celebrating its 10th year with more than 20 productions from Korea and abroad.

Hosted by the city of Daegu and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the annual event was first established in 2006 to promote the city of Daegu as a musical hub in Asia.

This year’s festivities will be held from June 24 to July 11 and will feature 22 musicals from five countries: the United Kingdom, Russia, Slovakia, China and Korea.

“Daegu is Korea’s musical city, I believe the city captures the culture of musicals like no other city in the country,” said Jang Ik-hyeon, president of DIMF, during a press conference held at the Korea Press Center in Seoul on Monday.

“I remember when we first asked ourselves if we could successfully launch an international musical festival in Daegu ... and now it’s been 10 years,” Jang added. “We’re not only seeing a rise in the number of musical performances in Korea, but over the past several years we have also been seeing a rise in the number of indie musicals. I have every confidence that the DIMF will continue on for another 10, 20, 30 years, and that Daegu will truly be recognized as the city of musicals on a global scale.” 

Kicking off this year’s festivities as DIMF’s opening performance will be the U.K.-original cast production of the popular Broadway-hit musical, “Legally Blonde.”

Best known as one of Reese Witherspoon’s breakout film performances, the musical version of “Legally Blonde” mirrors the tale of a the young, ditzy fashionista Elle Woods who breaks the popular Western stereotype of “dumb blondes” and is accepted into Harvard in order to pursue the man she loves.

This year’s DIMF will also play host to overseas productions “Madame de Pompadour” -- the closing performance -- from Slovakia, Russian musical “Gambrinus” and China’s “Shanghai, the Melody.” Local cast musicals include “The Doomsday 30 Days Ago,” “Turandot,” “The Frog Expedition,” “Choe Chi-won” and “Won’s Mom.”

“I have not missed a single year of the Daegu International Musical Festival since it first launched 10 years ago,” said local musical actress Choi Jeong-won, who attended the press conference Monday.

“What I’ve noticed over the past decade of attending the festival is not only has it gotten better each year, I also noticed the growth in local audiences who show interest in the musical theater.” 

As part of this year’s DIMF program, Daegu will also play host to the College Musical Festival, inviting university musical ensembles from across the country to perform. The student productions include big-time Broadway classics such as “Les Miserables,” “Dreamgirls” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

For more information on performance schedules and ticket pricing, visit www.dimf.or.kr.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)