2005-09-23 10:02"The Sword of Fire," a Korean musical about fateful love in Korea`s prehistoric era, has two distinctive features. First, it`s based on Kim Hye-rin`s hugely popular comic strip. Second, it`s one of the biggest homegrown musicals this year.The musical, which is now running at the National Theater of Korea, attempts to extend the unprecedented success of the original cartoon series by putting the flesh on the popular characters, Ara and Asa.
Ara, the fighter, loses his memory in the battle and falls in love with a kind-hearted girl named Asa. Their happiness, however, breaks apart soon due to the brewing conflict in the region.
Kim Hye-rin`s original cartoon series sold out more than 1 million copies in Korea, creating a large group of ardent fans and receiving a slew of awards. To repeat and go beyond the unprecedented success, the organizers of the musical version have poured resources into the project worth some 1.2 billion won, a sum that far exceeds the average production cost of a homegrown musical.
Furthermore, the musical features Im Tae-kyung and Lee So-jung as Ara and Asa, respectively. It is notable that Im, a cross-over tenor who has a solid fan base here, teams up with Lee, who has a high-profile career including the lead performance for Broadway musical "Miss Saigon" under her belt.
Indeed, the performances of Im and Lee were largely impressive during the press preview on Tuesday, but the overall quality of "The Sword of Fire" failed to meet the high expectations.
The initial failure to impress the audiences chiefly came from the organizer`s outsized ambition to make a large-scale original Korean musical that could compete with Broadway rivals on an equal footing.
But the main hall of the National Theater seemed too big for the musical. With actors occupying only part of the stage without a clear purpose, it was hard to focus on the major developments in the plot.
Another problem was that there were relatively too many dialogue-packed scenes while memorable musical scores were in short supply. It seemed somewhat inevitable that dialogues were employed frequently to get the story to roll forward in accordance with the original cartoon series, but such structure was not favored by today`s musical lovers, many of whom are familiar with the fast-paced, heart-pumping foreign musicals armed with a continuous stream of refined scores.
The story`s ancient background also backfired. Organizers claimed the musical differs from other Broadway imports since it deals with Korea`s unique historical settings. But such faithfulness to the historical element led to not-so-spectacular dancing performances.
"The Sword of Fire" will run through Oct. 23 at the main hall of the National Theater of Korea in Seoul. Tickets are 30,000 won to 120,000 won. For ticket reservations, call 1588-7890.
