The entertainment industry nowadays is trying their best to promote diversity which means, more roles open up for Asians. The same as the rest of the f the global entertainment industry, the musical theater scene has been focusing on the issue of racial diversity. Supported by this movement, more Korean stage actors are making their way to overseas productions, including on Broadway and West End.
The 2020 Korea Musical Awards took place last Monday the Korean stage actors who performed in overseas musical productions namely Kim So-hyang, Kim Soo-ha, Park Young-ju and Choi Eun-sil gave comments on their experiences at the Musical Global Network Conference at Blue Square in Hannam-dong, central Seoul. The Korea Musical Theatre Association organized this particular event.
Famous singer Kim So-hyang, also known as Sophie Kim, who is tagged as the "Korean Mariah Carey" is a member of the Actors Equity Association which is a labor union representing American Actors and Stage Managers in the theatre. She made her her musical debut in 2001 in Korea right after her debut, he transferred to New York in 2010 and studied musical theater there.
Having hundreds of auditions failed, the singer became the first Asian to be part of the cast in "Sister Act," playing as Sister Mary Robert in their 2017-18 Asian tour production.
Kim So-hyang shared that she did the "Chicago" play, "Miss Saigon" but the show "Sister Act" had so many lines that singing was a lot easier. She also added that she knows that she is not perfect in the auditions, but the production team informed her that they picked her because this was an Asian tour and they saw great potential in her.
One of the few musicals in the musical theater that regularly employs Asian actors is the show "Miss Saigon". Even in the early days they cast white actors in the Asian roles.
Another actor who also was a part of the "Miss Saigon" cast is actor Park Young-ju who was also present at the conference. He starred in the West End and international tour productions of the show as the understudy.
Not like the other actors present at the conference, Choi Eun-sil made her overseas experience in the country of Japan. Choi Eun-sil was a part of the famous theater troupe Shiki Theatre Company, where she portrayed the famous lead role of Christine in "The Phantom of the Opera" in 2005-2007 and Belle of "The Beauty and the Beast" in 2012 and 2014.
The same as the other actors, language was the most strenous part for her. But she claimed that once she understood the language, it made it much easier for her to sing in Japanese language than in Korean because of the pronunciation.
Musical actor Jo Hyung-gyun and actress Kim Sun-young won the top prizes for acting, respectively in the musicals "Cyrano" and "Hope" in the fourth edition of the Korea Musical Awards. The Original musical "Hope" brought home the grand prize added with seven other prizes.
