Friday, May 27, 2011

Musical Awards nominees


The Musical Awards, Korea’s version of the Tonys, enters its fifth year in the first week of June and is hoping that two major changes to this year’s ceremony will bring it greater prestige.

Twenty-six musicals will vie for awards in 21 categories this year, including best creative musical, best small theater creative musical, best foreign licensed musical and best revival, as well as awards for best director, actress and actor.

Awards are given to musicals performed from May 1, 2010, to April 30, 2011, in theaters with a capacity of 400 or more. There are also various technical awards for best lighting and sound, best stage setting and best costumes.


“Tears of Heaven” leads the nominations with eight, including best direction and best creative musical. The musical, which opened in February at the National Theater of Korea, grabbed local attention with a score by renowned composer Frank Wildhorn, who is known for his work on “Jekyll and Hyde,” and a performance by leading actor Kim Junsu, formerly of the Korean band TVXQ.

Kim won the best actor award last year and is working this year to promote the awards ceremony as one of its ambassadors along with Cho Jung-eun, who plays Emma in “Jekyll and Hyde.”

As ambassadors, their job is to promote the ceremony.

The two performers are also competing for the best actor and actress awards.

The musical’s main competition is “Gwanghwamun Younga” which opened last March at the Sejong Center. It has six nominations including best musical. The music was composed by the late Lee Young-hoon, whose song “Red Sunset” was a hit for Lee Moon-sae in 1988 and was remade by K-pop boy band Big Bang in 2008.

The other nominees for the marquee award are “Pitmagol Sonata” and “Seopyeonje.”

This year’s award ceremony shocked theater insiders by selling tickets to the event, which in previous years has either been free or by invitation. Tickets were sold out about 10 minutes after online sales began.

Profits from the ticket sales will go toward paying artist fees for guests performing at the ceremony, organizers said.

The other innovation is that fans can vote for the “most popular star” until June 2 on the Shinhan Card Web site (www.shinhancard.com). The credit card company is the sponsor of this year’s event, which will be broadcast live on cable channels QTV, ETN and ystar.

*The 5th Musical Awards will be held on June 7 at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts’ Grand Theater. Tickets are sold out. The red carpet event starts at 6:30 p.m. and the awards ceremony starts at 8 p.m. Times are subject to change. For details, call (02) 2000-6196, or go to www.themusicalawards.co.kr.


By Lee Sun-min [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]
Korean version:

한글 관련 기사 [중앙일보]
더 뮤지컬 어워즈 10분 만에 1200석 매진
시상식 사상 첫 티켓 판매
‘한국의 토니상’ 더 뮤지컬 어워즈가 또 한번 일을 냈다. “시상식은 공짜로 와서 보는 것”이라는 고정관념을 깼다.

중앙일보가 신한카드와 함께하는 ‘더 뮤지컬 어워즈’는 지난 한 해 한국 뮤지컬의 성과를 총결산하는 자리다. 올해부터 티켓을 판매하기로 결정했다. 가격은 2층 3만원, 3층 1만원이다. 18일 오전 11시부터 인터파크 등 여섯 곳의 예매 사이트에서 판매에 들어갔다. 시작 10분 만에 1200여 좌석이 매진됐다. 조승우·김준수가 출연하는 뮤지컬이 판매 개시 몇 분 만에 매진되는 것과 비슷한 풍경이었다.

문화행사 시상식에서 티켓을 판매하는 건 ‘더 뮤지컬 어워즈’가 사실상 처음이다. 티켓 판매에 대해 “시상식이 상업적으로 변질된다”는 우려가 적지 않았다. 하지만 시상식을 진행하기 위해선 예산이 들어갈 수밖에 없다. 대한민국 대부분의 시상식은 이를 기업 협찬에만 의존한다.

더 뮤지컬 어워즈는 자생력을 갖추기 위해 티켓 판매를 결정했다. 티켓 판매로 벌어들인 수익금은 100% 축하공연에 재투입된다. 축하공연의 수준이 높아지고, 관객은 더 큰 만족을 얻게 된다. 선순환구조인 셈이다.


티켓을 구할 방법은 아직 남아 있다. 신한카드 홈페이지(www.shinhancard.com)에서 ‘신한카드 인기스타상’에 투표하면 그중 일부를 추첨해 티켓을 준다. 인기스타상 티켓 이벤트는 26일까지다.