ENTERTAINMENT
Kai becomes the first Korean musical actor to hold a world tour.
On the 16th, I met musical actor Kai at the EMK Musical Company building in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
Kai, a musical actor in his 16th year of debut, begins his first world tour recital this month. Starting with Toppan Hall in Tokyo, Japan on the 28th, performances will be held at Carnegie Hall in New York, USA, The Broad Stage in Los Angeles (LA), Chongqing University of Foreign Affairs and Business Concert Hall in China, and the Seoul Arts Center in Korea. .
Kai is the first Korean musical actor to go on a world tour alone. Kai said, “I always have fun imagining how I can achieve things that other musical actors haven’t tried.” He added, “It’s great to be a musical actor in Korea, but it’s great to know that there are musical actors like this in Korea.” “I had a dream and idea to let people know that there are beautiful musicals and to showcase my music to the wider world,” he said. Kai, now 43 years old, laughed and joked, “I’m at an age where I’m very curious.”
Kai explained, "I have performed briefly in the United States and have performed solo concerts once a year in Japan, but as if I were an idol, I tied this together under the name of a world tour." He continued, “Looking back, I boldly took on the challenge with the thought that it would bring me growth and experience.”
At the same time, Kai expressed his trembling heart, saying, "I've worked hard like this, but now the time has come." “I feel like I’m speaking English in front of American people,” he said, laughing. “Going to Broadway and singing Broadway songs in English, I feel a lot of pressure and weight creeping in on me. I also feel like I did something pointless.”
Regarding the program structure, Kai said, "The broad framework is similar. The first stage will feature representative works such as 'Cats', 'Les Miserables', 'Miss Saigon', and 'Famous of the Opera', which are considered the world's four major musicals by world-renowned musical producer Cameron Mackintosh. “This kind of program is the history of musicals and the reason for my existence,” he explained.
However, the composition of each country's programs was differentiated to suit each country. Kai said, "In China, Japan, and the United States, we are preparing special wraptories that match those countries. In the case of Japan, we are preparing musicals that were performed simultaneously in Korea and Japan, or Japanese versions of Korean musicals that were exported to Japan." In some cases, we tried to select songs by composers loved by Americans, even if they were not introduced in Korea, and put them on at least one stage to suit local tastes.”
A stage was also created to showcase the unique charm of Korean musicals. Kai said, "We put in a stage of a Korean original musical. There may be a question mark as to whether it can be called a Korean musical because there are American and Korean composers as composers, but it was produced in Korea by a Korean producer, and it was the first time a Korean actor played a musical in the world. “It is meaningful in that it is the premiere, and it can be seen as a Korean original musical. By performing a Korean musical that was first performed in Korea, it also contains the purpose of showing that Korean musicals are developing and are cool.”
We have prepared something special not only for overseas performances but also for Korean performances. Kai predicted, "Until now, I have selected songs mainly based on the works I have done, but this Korean performance will be different. I plan to perform songs that have not been performed in public. It will be a new repertoire for fans."
Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr
