Though 2021 has begun with a gloomy outlook for the theater scene amid prolonged social distancing rules, small musical productions in the theater district of Daehangno are continuing their run, even recording sold-out performances. With the government’s social distancing scheme requiring performing arts venues to leave two-thirds of audience seats empty, several big musical productions have hal...

The classical music scene hopes to feature soloists -- who have agreed to the two-week, self-quarantine rule -- instead of inviting large orchestras from abroad. Cellist Mischa Maisky will go onstage in Seoul in May, Beethoven specialist Rudolf Buchbinder is to come to Seoul in September, American pianist Robert Levin in November, followed by pianists Eliso Virsaladze and Lang Lang in December. ...

The pandemic also accelerated a transition to OTT platforms such as Netflix. OTT platforms were already expected to surpass cinemas in 2020, with PwC predicting that the global OTT market would surpass the theater market without knowing of the pandemic to come. In 2017, Netflix created its first original content in Korea, the film “Okja” directed by Bong Joon-ho. Netflix invested 60 billion won ...

Conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing hopes to bring KNO to global stage

At year-end peak season, performing arts scene braces for worst wave of virus

The Korea National Ballet’s firing of a member earlier this year for traveling abroad during the home-quarantine period has come to the center of a legal dispute, as the state labor committee viewed it to be an “unfair dismissal.” According to the performing arts scene on Monday, the National Labor Relations Commission officially acknowledged that the national ballet troupe’s dismissal of Na in ...

The Korea National Ballet canceled its “The Nutcracker” show slated for the Christmas holidays, following the recent resurgence of COVID-19 infection cases here. The national ballet troupe announced Friday that the iconic performance of “The Nutcracker” in December would have to be fully canceled due to the rapid spread of COVID-19. The ballet troupe was to hold the performances at the Seoul Ar...

The concert will feature seven stage actors with Korean heritage, including Hwang Joo-min from the Broadway musical “The Prom,” Lim Q who starred in “The King and I,” Jung Jin-woo from the Broadway tour of “Miss Saigon,” and Korean-American adoptee Daniel Edwards who performed in “The King and I.” The actors will perform celebrated numbers from musicals “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Jekyll and Hy...

At 30 percent audience capacity, large musical productions pushed to the brink

Level 2.5 social distancing rule inflicts performing arts venues to leave two thirds of seats empty

Though inspired by the well-known “Mary Poppins” series, local original musical “Black Mary Poppins” tells a different story of the famous nanny with a magical, black umbrella. The story is loosely based on Australian novelist P. L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins” series, which has been made into numerous films. However, different from other films or drama adaptations, the musical is set in 1926 German...

Local performing arts scene continues run under strict social distancing rules inflicted by the Korean government

A new high-tech musical is to promote “peace travel” in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, according to the Korea Tourism Organization. “Wonder Ticket,” organized by the KTO, will stream online from Nov. 28 to Dec. 31, promoting the travel industry in the DMZ. The story of the musical takes off at an abandoned steam locomotive -- which currently sits at Jangdan Station in Imjingak, ...

French original musical kicks off Seoul run after staff recover from COVID-19

The number of moviegoers in South Korea jumped 55 percent in October from a month earlier thanks to sleeper hits and eased virus fears, a report showed Friday. A total of 4.63 million went to theaters last month, up 1.64 million, or 55 percent, from 2.99 million tallied in September, according to the monthly report by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). The on-month gain was led by the releases of...