"Our Story Musical, Actors Also Became Happier"

Interview with Kim Deok-hee, Director of Seoul Municipal Musical Theater
Sejong Center for the Performing Arts Declares Itself a Production Theater
Dedicated to Developing Repertoire... Three Original Musicals This Year Alone
From Producing Two Works Annually to Four, Each Receiving Individual Spotlight and Praise

Kim Deok-hee, director of the Seoul Municipal Musical Group, poses before an interview on the 30th at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] "We wanted to build a repertoire of original musicals based on our own stories and present them to the audience."

Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, which declared a transformation from a rental theater to a production theater, has faced the challenge of establishing its role as a distribution platform and its identity as a creative factory. After COVID-19, digital platforms such as Netflix emerged as new powerful distribution platforms, giving theaters strong competitors while threatening their solid status as creative spaces.

Amid a critical crisis, Kim Deokhee, the director leading the Seoul Municipal Musical Group, boldly embarked on building a repertoire through original musical productions. He explained, "Until last year, we operated with two regular performances and licensed shows annually, but this year, we boldly produced three original musicals to secure a repertoire."

As the group increased production from two to four works annually, the same budget and human resources were stretched, increasing the workload. However, both the members and the director found great meaning and motivation in this bold attempt.

A scene from the musical 'Wonder Boy'. Photo by Seoul Municipal Musical Group

The first original musical repertoire was Wonder Boy, based on the novel of the same name by writer Kim Yeonsu, which was praised as a fine work that translated the emotional impact of the text onto the stage. Director Kim said, "Since the novel is quite complex, the time to refine it during the staging process was somewhat tight, which is regrettable," but he also evaluated, "Wonder Boy, which depicts a boy who loses his father in an accident and gains supernatural powers, has a clear narrative and attractive characters, leaving a strong impression on the audience when brought to the stage."

Director Kim noted that adapting a Korean author's novel for the stage was an effort proactively undertaken by a public organization, something difficult for private musical producers. He is fulfilling the public organization's responsibility by pioneering experimental areas that private entities hesitate to challenge.

The original musical Again, Spring, which portrays the worries, dreams, and lives of women in their 50s, is also part of this ongoing challenge. Director Kim emphasized, "To develop a new audience base, we focused on the 50s generation, who have moved from the past X generation into middle age, recognizing the need to develop content targeting those with rich cultural experiences and purchasing power. Additionally, we started planning with the goal of motivating the members, which is as important as the works themselves in running an arts organization."

Kim Deok-hee, head of the Seoul Municipal Musical Group, is being interviewed on the 30th at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

For this purpose, seven female members of the Seoul Municipal Musical Group aged 50 and above, who have moved from their glamorous leading roles to standing behind the scenes, directly shared their own stories with other women in their 50s, creating a story based on sincerity. The original musical Again, Spring, devised through a devising method (created based on research on actors performing without a script), opened a new genre by gaining understanding and response not only from audiences in their 50s but also from husbands and children who have wives and mothers in their 50s.

Director Kim said, "Although it is not a flashy show, the audience empathized and was moved by the honest confessions of the 50-something actors on stage. Through this, I believe we achieved the original goal of creating a work that makes participants happy rather than just a commercially successful one." He added, "'Again, Spring' will undergo a content upgrade process next year to reinforce elements that contemporary audiences can relate to, followed by plans for a regional tour including Seoul."

The currently running original musical Aloha, My Mothers is based on the novel of the same name, which tells the story of three girls from Eojinmal, a small village in Gimhae, Gyeongnam, during the Japanese colonial period in the 1920s, who leave to find their husbands in Hawaii through a single photograph and settle there as picture brides. He confessed that he had many concerns about this work, which was recommended during the repertoire development process.

A scene from the musical 'Aloha, My Moms'. Photo by Sejong Center for the Performing Arts

"The common issues when adapting a novel written in the first person into a musical are converting the narrative into a third-person story on stage and how to dramatically express the often internally reflective endings of many novels, which can feel flat when staged," he defined. He explained, "To dramatically reconstruct the original work, which was a flatly listed story, drama guide writer Moon Jeongyeon joined the project to rebuild the cinematic structure, and playwright Oh Miyoung layered the dialogue, boldly expressing the flow of time and space, resulting in a newly reborn musical."

Firmly believing that the competitiveness of an arts organization comes from securing a repertoire, Director Kim said he plans to continue producing various original musicals next year and present four works. He emphasized, "The declaration to transform into a creative production theater has become a great opportunity for the arts group. The first step to establishing our unique status, brand, and loyal customers is our own reliable repertoire." He added, "Since musicals are a genre based on commercial viability, rather than considering private groups as competitors, the goal of the Seoul Municipal Musical Group is to develop various infrastructures as a public organization through original musical production and continue expanded musical experiments."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.