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[UPGRADING KOREAN CULTURE (2)]Musicals dominate performing arts scene

Industry should try to focus on producing more creative 'Made in Korea' musicals

This is the second in an eight-part series of articles that looks into the country's cultural and entertainment sectors and explores ways to help sharpen their competitive edge. - Ed.

By Cho Chung-un

On the first day of March, Independence Day, the production company of the blockbuster musical "The Last Empress" announced that the show's total audience exceeded 1 million.

The record was quite significant as it was the first time a homegrown musical production drew over 1 million viewers and because it reassured the struggling local stage industry.

Mostly reproduced by local musical companies, foreign musicals have achieved enormous success so far, as exemplified by "Miss Saigon", "Mamma Mia", "Jekyll and Hyde" and "Evita". A number of French musicals, such as "Don Juan", "Notre Dame de Paris" and "Les Dix Commandements", hit the stage with remarkable success despite high ticket prices. The dramatic increase in the number of musicals is matched with a continuing rise in the number of musical fans. About 2.6 million people or nearly half of the number of all theater-goers went to see musicals last year, according to a survey conducted by Ticketlink, a local promoter.

The increase in the number of foreign productions has helped enlarge the size of the local market, although critics warned it would negatively affect efforts to nurture creative Korean musical productions.

"The inflow of foreign musicals in recent years has largely caused local audiences to increase their expectations of upcoming musical productions. There should be more new creations including blockbuster projects which could break the existing record, just like the smash-hit film 'Swiri' opened a new phase for the film industry (in 1999)", said Ko Jung-min, a senior research fellow at the Samsung Economic Research Institute, who specializes in the culture industry.

The government is taking an active role in nurturing more homegrown musicals, saying it also agrees with the need to industrialize the sector, not just leave it as an art form.

"Society needs to recognize performing arts as a service-oriented industry and understand it as an important part of society that deserves everyone's attention, not only that of the government. There's no doubt that performing arts can make a huge success as Korean films did in recently years", said Lee Jin-sik, director of the Performing Arts Team at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The government of President Roh Moo-hyun allocated 98.5 billion won ($105 million) for nurturing the arts sector this year, a more than 30 percent increase over 74.3 billion won last year.

Especially, nearly 52.5 billion won, or about 55 percent of the total amount, will be spent on supporting the performing arts sector.

Starting this year, the government is to offer tax cuts for businesses that have been active in a wide range of activities supporting the arts, the so-called "corporate mecenat", a term coined after the name of Roman politician Gaius Maecenas, who was known for his patronage of the arts.

Under the program titled "Art and Business", the ministry is also to encourage small and medium businesses to take part in arts sponsorship.

The government also plans to raise a 10 billion won fund that will be invested in musical productions. But the plan is still facing an opposing voice that questions its efficiency.

"The fund is more likely to invest in foreign productions to secure its profit. Thus, big companies like CJ Entertainment and PMC should put more attention toward producing original musicals. Companies also should make a series of direct investment in local productions", said Ko.

CJ Entertainment, one of a few big production companies in Korea, said it will try to focus on producing homegrown creations but is taking a slow step since the production business is quite risky. The company is mostly investing indirectly in 20 productions every year. Last year, it enjoyed total sales of 12 billion won.

"Unlike other arts industries, performances are something that appeal to the public for a long time. The company will put more effort into producing homegrown musicals as we have witnessed potential in original musicals. But it won't be all about musicals made here. We will also continue to introduce foreign productions", said Yang Hye-young, publicist of the CJ Entertainment, said.

Industry insiders are urging the government to help construct more theaters to stage more productions.

"What is the most urgent thing is that we should have more theaters to stage more productions. If we are to produce more homegrown productions, we desperately need to have more free space to actually share the time with audiences", said Song Seung-hwan, co-chairman of PMC Production.

Borrowing the line of development used in the musical industry, other performing arts sectors - dance and drama theater - have made relatively slower progress.

Creativity was also the keyword in the country's performing arts scene with creative performances staged by local troupes. Break dancing and b-boying, a dynamic style of dance originating from Western hip-hop culture, have especially gained momentum as Korea's b-boys earned recognition by winning international competitions. The nonverbal break dance show "B-Boy Korea" made its debut last month, while "The Ballerina who loved the B-boy" achieved success at Daehangno, a cultural Mecca for small stage performances in Seoul.

Another nonverbal performance, "Jump", made its debut in London when it was invited to the annual Royal Variety Performance late last year. The show is also scheduled to make its off-Broadway debut in September when it starts an open run at the Union Square Theater in New York.

Exemplifying those successful cases listed above, the SERI researcher urged the government to support other performing arts sectors. He also advised theaters to add more audience-friendly contents as a way to popularize pure art contents.

"The government should make efforts to nurture non-commercial performing arts because it is something that cannot be controlled by a market theory. But basic arts like dance and drama should also have more audience-friendly content", said Ko.

"There should be a number of successful cases to encourage locals to visit theaters", he added.

The government plans to select six Korean theater groups which are set to present their performance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world.

Stressing hopes for introducing Korean performances to a wider range of audiences in overseas markets, the Culture Ministry will cooperate with the Seoul City Government to provide each local theater troupe with about 50-70 million won.

The government's decision to support Korean theater troupes heading to the festival is chiefly inspired by the success of "Nanta", a local nonverbal percussion performance that debuted on New York's Off-Broadway scene a few years ago with the English title "Cookin".

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