The musical 'Subway Line #1' takes the stage today (Wednesday) for performance number 3,000. It's a miracle. When it began at the Hakchon Theater in Seoul's Dongsungdong in 1994, the theater community worried about the mental state of the production staff and indeed, it had all the ingredients for failure. Musicals cost a lot and so are generally only meant for major theaters and have popular themes. Subway Line #1, however, was produced by a small theater with only 180 seats and is full of social commentary. The landscape of the nineties now seems obscure, but with characters like a young ethnic Korean lady from China, a biracial person, unemployed individuals, and a prostitute, it is not something you can watch and enjoy in total comfort.
This is a "subway" has spend up over the years. It took six years for the one thousandth performance, but then the two thousandth rendition took only three years nine months, and now it has been done 3,000 times only to years four months since then. That would be hard to see happen in the United Kingdom, the home of the musical.
There are a few reasons why Subway Line #1 has been a success.
For starters, it faithfully reflects the pain of the era and sings of despair as hope, and hate as love.
It is also the result of the highly authored and professional spirit of the people behind it. The producer chose the performers based on their singing ability, skill with words, and capacity for working with everyone else. It is no accident that actors such as Seol Gyeong Gu, Bang Eun Jin, Hwang Jeong Min, Jo Seung U, and others all made names for themselves as part of Subway Line #1. Despite being a small theater, the music has always been done by a live band.
Finally, operations are transparent. Income and spending is made entirely public, and staff members get a certain percentage of the income.
We are happy to see Subway Line #1 be a success, but at the same time you get sad when you think about Korean musicals as a whole. There are a lot of musicals, but only those that are "imported" succeed at the box office. Musicals are the fruit of a society's cultural strength, in drama, dance, music, literature, art, and other areas. The growth of musicals contributes to greater cultural strength. That can happen if there is a union of government support, highly authored production, and the public's love.
The Hankyoreh, 29 March 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Musical 'Subway Line #1' A Lesson For All |
