KPop Comes To Broadway
KPop Comes To Broadway
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K-pop is short for Korean pop music, but the genre has long since transcended geographic boundaries. It's truly a global sensation when groups like BTS and BLACKPINK keep topping the streaming charts.
Now the genre has gone even further: K-pop has become a hit on Broadway.
It came in the form of KPOP , which opened at the Circle at the Square Theater over the weekend with an almost all Asian-American cast. Written by playwright Jason Kim, this musical follows a variety of K-pop artists, including solo artists, girl groups and boy bands, as they prepare for their debut performance in New York. In the process, the artists experience interpersonal conflicts and the pressure to break into the American music industry, which is not always willing to accommodate artists of all kinds.
According to the Associated Press (AP) Deepti Hujel, Kim first conceived the K-pop-inspired Broadway musical a decade ago. Born in South Korea and raised in the US Midwest, Kim grew up loving K-pop and musical theater, he told the AP. Her dream came true in 2017 when KPOP debuted Off-Broadway with music and lyrics by Helen Park and Max Vernon.
The performance of the play on Broadway is a major step forward for the representation of the Asian diaspora in musical theatre. "It's very important to me to get these Asians on stage and see them play rock stars, play pop stars, dance with their faces covered and covered, and look unusual, not in the typical roles they play," Kim said the AP.
KPOP 's lineup includes former K-pop artists like Moon, who was once a member of girl group f(x). He plays MwE, a solo singer mid-show, and will share the stage with other K-pop artists like Kevin Woo, Min, and Bohyun.
Moon says the trials and tribulations they portray on stage largely reflect their real-life experiences as artists.
"It really reflects what I, Moon, have been through in my life," said Moon Kat Moon of Time magazine. "There have been times when I've felt really stupid as a K-pop idol — I can't express what I'm going through because of this situation."
Moon says it's not always easy to understand MwE. "Character development can be a bit traumatic at times," he told Time magazine. "I need to go back into my own life and bring back memories from the past, which are sometimes triggers." But in the end, he added, "The character development has brought me a kind of healing."
Park told AP that composing music for KPOP is a dream come true.
“K-Pop and Broadway have long been my passion; K-pop became my comfort food and Broadway was my dream that seemed out of reach considering there aren't many Asian songwriters, let alone Asian songwriters who aspire to look and be," she says. "Being able to bring something that feels like home to the Broadway stage of my dreams feels like the greatest gift I will cherish for the rest of my life."
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