The play I watched was not just a normal play but a musical. The musical was called ‘Dal Go Na’ which is a Korean sugar candy that we use to eat when we were young. The musical was held in Han Jun Art Center which is in Seo Cho, Seoul. The date I watched the play was the 3rd of November. The author of the play was ‘Eun Hee Oh’ and it was produced by ‘PMC production’. The musical had strong storylines chich made me understand the script easier while getting entertained. The actors all had different characteristics and especially the songs were really addicting. I founded out after watching the musical that it was one of the long running musicals in Korea and it is also originated from Korea. The first run was on 2004, and it is being played until now. The really surprising thing was that it is so fun even the script was written 3 years ago. Many people love this musical and they say it is better but not worse than the famous ‘NanTa’. Not like other musicals such as ‘Mamma Mia’ or Chicago, the musical shows and expresses about the Korean’s love, memories and people.
The story is about one male student whose dream is to be a movie scenario writer called Sae Woo. He had a girlfriend who always supported him until he became a writer called Jee Hee. She bought a typing machine for him and they were trusting and loving each other. With the typing machine he could continue on his dream. But badly, his scenario failed on the first try converting to the movie, because of the director. It didn’t exactly failed, but the movie didn’t turn into the way that he wanted it to be. Later he breaks up with his girlfriend and goes out with a movie star to be successful. Sae Woo and Jee Hee both marry other person rather than each other. A little different from his dream but Sae Woo successes in writing the scenario of one famous home shopping program. He successes, but he misses Jee Hee so much that he drinks alcohol everyday. One day he decides to sell the typing machine that Jee Hee gave to him. But surprisingly Jee Hee sees it and buys it. She takes it and leaves it back to their memorial place which is the roof. Sae Woo goes to the roof one day, and sees it than realizes Jee Hee’s love. The story had a lot of conflicts between characters and the biggest one was Jee Hee and Sae Woo. The story seems to talk about love but I think it also talks about the memory more than the love. When I heard the title of the musical and when I actually watched the musical, I got the theme right away-‘Looking back to the memories’. The script was really comic at the first time, but it got serious as the time went by. The story made me feel sympathy because it expressed and showed the entire thing we do and remember in teenage memories: watching R rated movie; going to the beach with friends and watching TV- all I have done as well. When they were acting in a high school characters, they used a lot of slang, funny dances and songs and even parodies. But when it got serious, I thought this was kind of a different play. The ambience of the stage was slightly different, and the songs they sang were sad. But even in the serious parts, there were comedy. So the overall tone was ‘Comic’. Which everybody in the audience laughed as the conversation between the actors were going on.
There was one part where they put a popping dance with the story of Little Prince; where he leaves the flower. I think the director put this in to a metaphor on the story. Realizing the real love and how meaningful it was.
There were many actors with different moves and voices. There were B-boys, popping dancers and aerobic dancers as well. The main character Sae Woo was played by Hyung Jun Park, who he had acted in many famous musicals. He was very skilled in all the musical aspects of acting. His voice was very calm but strong. All the songs he sang were great and the feelings went straight to me. He’s acting was very good and I think it was a really good casting. He wasn’t really good looking but with his skills, he made him self the most attractive guy in the play. But the best cast in this musical was the comic uncle played by Dong Yoon Lee. He is a comedian. Comedians are known as the entertainer who can do everything such as dancing, acting and singing which those are the main facts of the musical. As a comedian he played well in the comic character. He made the audience feel like if they were watching ‘Gag concert’. When he said something, acted like a little child, and trying to make a girl out, the whole audience was laughing. He made the character even funnier. This was a outstanding casting.
The B-boys dances were very fancy and brilliant. I think it was a good idea to cast the professional dancers to entertain and make the play more enjoyable- watching different shows in one play. After the play, when I hear that all the actors were singing live while acting and dancing. I couldn’t believe it and also was amazed by their work. Even the singers make mistakes while singing, but they never did. The harmony and the pitch of the voice was just right.
The costumes were all old in fact of that it was based on 1850 century. The actors who acted children wore dirty but cut clothes. The change of the costume during the play was one of the noticeable things as well. As the characters gain more years and success, their clothes changed and fitted their characters. But one thing that seemed like a mistake was that, the shoes were ‘Converse’ for most of the time. This didn’t actually seem to match the children that time, because in my memory they should have worn old rubber shoes. The make ups were red chicks and nose running down to the lips for the children. I think the child make up well described the child of that time. Running nose and red chicks in the winter.
Lightening was very colorful when there was a happy and loud music or dance going on, but went darker and only lighted one actor to show how deep and sad the actor felt.
The sound effect and songs were the biggest theme in the musical. In Dal Go Na, they put all the famous songs that were popular long time ago. But the songs were not only known by the adults who lived on that time, but the teenagers as well. Because it was a famous song, there has been many remixes. I think the choice was awesome because everybody can sing along and while doing that, there were no age between adults and teenagers. Many people stood up and danced. I was laughing when I saw an old man next to me singing along. The other sound effects were great, when there was a fight, the music was low and the punching sounds made the audience feel like if it was a real punch.
The story was overall really good and for my first time watching the musical, I enjoyed a lot. This was a really new experience for me to learn about many things and look back on my memories and laugh when I am having a hard time. I would like to see musical such as Dal Go Na again, where music is fun and actors become one with the audience. Even it was good, some parts that the actors didn’t sing, I kind of felt really sleepy and boring. So if they work on that part more, it could be the best musical and run for about 10 more years.
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