[TRANS] 200825 The afterglow of deep love…The 20th Anniversary History of the Musical ‘Werther’26 agosto, 2020 xiahgirl21
The musical “Werther” which marks its 20th anniversary this year, is set to open on August 28. The musical “Werther” is Korea’s representative creative musical that has moved to the stage the classic “Sorrow of Young Werther” by German writer Goethe, and depicts the love story between pure young Werther and Lotte. The original novel written by Goethe is a diary-style novel written in 1774, after the author saw his experience of loving his friend’s fiancee and his friend who committed suicide by shooting himself while loving a married woman. At that time, the number of suicides among young people who saw the work soared, and the impact of the novel was enormous to the point where the word “Werther effect” was coined.
The main character, Werther, is a pure and passionate person. It is a character that has to delicately portray complex inner feelings such as longing, excitement and anguish for Lotte, and it is a role that should be supported by such solid acting skills. So far, Seo Young-joo, Min Young-ki, Cho Seung-woo, Um Ki-joon, Kim Da-hyun, Park Gun-hyung, Song Chang-ui, Kim Jae-beom, Sung Doo-sup, and Jeon Dong-seok have been in the spotlight for each season.
For the 20th anniversary, Um Ki-joon, Kai, Yoo Yeon-seok, Kyu-hyun and Na Hyun-woo will play five-color Werthers, while Kim Ye-won and Lee Ji-hye have been cast as Lotte. In addition, Lee Sang-hyun, Park Eun-seok, Kim Hyun-sook, Choi Na-rae, Song Yoo-taek, and Lim Joon-hyuk were cast, and Cho Kwang-hwa, director of the collaboration and music director, Koo So-young, and choreographer Noh Ji-hyun will participate. We looked back on the past 20 years of history before the opening of “Werther” which is coming back in five years.
1.- The 2000s, the historic premiere. The birth of the creative musical ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’.
The creative musical “Werther” which was participated by scriptwriter Ko Sun-woong and composer Jung Min-sun, premiered in 2000 under the name “The Sorrows of Young Werther” at the Doosan Art Center’s Yonkang Hall. The premiere, led by director Kim Kwang-bo, was the most silent performance of all time. A stringed five-member chamber orchestra, including the violin, cello and viola, were exposed to the audience, giving the performers the feeling of performing chamber music, not the accompaniment of the musical. At that time, this type of musical was the first to be tried, and in 2001, it was nominated for seven awards at the Korea Musical Awards and won the Music Award. After the first performance, “Besamo” an online group that loves “Werther” was formed.
Seo Young-joo, who is adding weight to his work with his role as Judge Turpin, the villain in the musical “Sweeney todd” and Komarovski, a high-ranking judge in “Doctor Zhivago” plays Werther, the musical “! Lee Hye-kyung of Carol and The Story of Two Cities, and Kim Beop-rae, who plays Nostradamus in the recently opened “Something Rotten” are the main characters of the premiere stage.
2-. Joining Director Ko Sun-woong in 2001…Emerald Castle’s Jiwoo, Starring Cho Seung-yeon, Kim Sun-kyung, etc.
The 2001 season was the closest performance to the current “Werther” directed by Ko Sun-woong, who was in charge of the play. “Werther” was released in an easier-to-understand manner, adding to the cheerfulness of director Ko Sun-woong’s performance. Since then, 70% of the current music has been completed, including “Werther” musical number “Can’t Take Off” Kainz‘ song, and Albert’s song.
Jiwoo of the group “Emerald Castle” famous for her hit song “Footsteps” and Cho Seung-yeon, who played the main role of the hospital’s director in the drama “Prison Playbook” which recently ended, took the stage as Werther. Kim Sun-kyung, who starred in the popular drama “The World of Couples” in the first half of this year, Kim Beop-rae as Albert, Choo Jung-hwa as Orca, and Choi Min-chul and Chung Eui-wook as Keynes.