The curtains are pulling up and the lights are on. Actors who appear with the background music write their stories on stage. The actors try to convey their emotions to the audience with facial expressions and gestures, and the audience gets carried away with their performance and emotions. At that very moment, the boundaries between the actors and the audience are broken down. They breathe and communicate together on one stage.
1. <The Goddess Is Watching>
(Kim Minju, Division of Korean Language and Literature '21)
The musical is set during the Korean War, and the play unfolds as the main character undertakes a mission to escort some hostages of the North Korean People's Army by ship with his peers. But on the way, the ship is wrecked and they are isolated on a deserted island. To make matters worse, the only soldier who knows how to repair the ship suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Meanwhile, that soldier finds stability in the story of the goddess made up by the main character, and the soldiers in the ship decide to conduct a 'Goddess Operation' to survive. Will they be able to succeed in the operation and survive? This play delightfully depicts the peace and solidarity that ordinary people wanted by focusing on individual stories in the background of the war. The images of people in conflict solving problems together seems to convey hope to us, who are exhausted in the era of COVID-19. I hope this play will help students get rid of their COVID-19 fatigue and find laughter and strength.
2. <The Days>
(Kim Doyeon, Department of Japanese Studies '21)
The musical <The Days> tells the story of two characters named 'Junghak' and 'Muyoung'. They are bodyguards in the Presidential Secret Service, who at times are adversarial as rivals, and at other times build their friendship together. In 1992, facing the establishment of diplomatic relations with China, they were given their first mission to protect a woman whose identity was unknown. But she soon disappeared with Muyoung. Time passed and in 2012, Junghak, who was left alone, gradually discovers the traces they left behind, and the play unfolds as the facts of the past incidents are revealed. The musical numbers (which refers to a musical's songs) consist of the late Kim Kwangseok's masterpieces. This became an unforgettable musical for me as the story development and the songs have an attractive flow. Since its theme is a subject that everyone can enjoy comfortably, I would like to recommend it to those who want to experience a musical and who enjoy listening to Kim Kwangseok's songs.
