In the last week of May, I attended my first musical, titled A Thousand Blues (천개의 파랑). I was excited to see it because one of my favorite K-Pop idols, Jinho from Pentagon, was playing the lead role. Pentagon had a boost of popularity in 2018 with their hit song “Shine,” though their popularity unfortunately didn't sustain long-term success in the industry. I feel that I am going off on a tangent, but they are incredibly talented. If you're interested, Jinho's cover series called Magazineho, where he releases a new cover at the end of each month, is definitely worth checking out.
I purchased the tickets on Interpark for 90,000 won (around $66), securing seats in the closest section. I knew this might be my only chance to see Jinho up close. My friend and I were in the sixth row, which was pretty close, but I couldn't help but wish we were even closer.
This musical is based on the bestselling science fiction written by author Cheon Seonran, "A Thousand Blues." Here is the official synopsis of the musical on Interpark:
In the year 2035, factories in Korea manufacture humanoid jockeys for horse racing. Among them is C-27, who is accidentally given a learning humanoid chip by a researcher, enabling him to acquire a vocabulary of a thousand words. When C-27 notices that his partner horse, Today, is no longer happy while running, he sacrifices himself by falling off the horse, resulting in severe dismemberment of the lower half of his body. Later, as C-27 lies in a dilapidated state awaiting disposal, someone stumbles upon him. Having survived a fire in the past with only a three percent chance of survival, Bo-gyeong raises her two daughters, Yeon-jae and Eun-hye, with an immense sense of responsibility. Eun-hye, confined to a wheelchair, visits the stable at the racetrack every day to observe Today, who is soon to be euthanized. Meanwhile, Yeon-jae is fascinated by C-27, who gazes up at the sky while awaiting disposal. She spends all her money to buy C-27 and names him Collie. Collie thus enters the tranquil lives of the three women, creating gentle ripples...
I completely missed the synopsis when purchasing tickets, so I went into the musical knowing nothing about the story. We expected the audience to be mostly Korean, and we assumed there wouldn’t be any subtitles—something we were fine with, given our decent level of Korean comprehension. To our surprise, there were English subtitles on a screen to the right of the stage. In hindsight, I’m really glad they were there, as I probably wouldn’t have fully grasped all the discussions about technology and robots, which was a running theme throughout.
I left the theater completely blown away by the musical. Maybe it's because I'm not too familiar with musical productions, but they had a stage conveyor belt or moving walkway (I’m not sure what the proper term is), which allowed the actors to seamlessly enter and exit the stage. I thought this, combined with the use of LED screen displays for dynamic and customizable backgrounds, was incredibly impressive. At times, it felt like I was watching a movie. The design of Today, the horse, and Collie, the humanoid jockey, was particularly fascinating. According to an article I read, they were both handcrafted puppets with movable parts. Whenever Today or Collie appeared on stage, puppeteers were also in the background controlling their movements.
The acting was amazing, and the performance and live vocals were nothing short of perfect, in my opinion. I couldn’t help but wonder how much practice it must have taken to memorize all the lines, lyrics, and choreography. I walked away with a newfound respect for musicals and all the effort that goes into the production behind the scenes. All of the actors were amazing. This is probably me being biased (yes it is), but Jinho's live vocals were outstanding. He was lifted into the air at one point in the musical, and his singing was still so stable. My jaw was probably dropped while watching that scene.
If I had the time, I would have definitely bought another ticket. For anyone visiting Korea, I highly recommend catching a musical while you're there. Be sure to check if the musical has subtitles, but rest assured that the quality of musical productions in Korea is amazing. It’s worth every bit of your time and money.
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