Musicals in North Korea?
Musicals in North Korea?
#1Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/11/17 at 11:46am
Do you think western musicals will ever make its way to North Korea? Maybe not with the current regime in charge, but if productions of western musicals can make it to China and Cuba, why not North Korea?
Besides China and Cuba, are there other communist countries that ever hosted productions of western musicals? Did the Soviet Union ever get a visit from a Broadway show?
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henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#2Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/11/17 at 12:57pm
Yes. Including Threepenny Opera (and I'd assume other Brecht Weill musicals), Porgy & Bess, My Fair Lady and Annie Get Your Gun.
http://www.wendemuseum.org/programs/american-musical-theatre-soviet-bloc-countries
#3Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/11/17 at 2:07pm
Besides China and Cuba, are there other communist countries that ever hosted productions of western musicals? Did the Soviet Union ever get a visit from a Broadway show?
The only other Communist country in the world today (aside from China, Cuba and North Korea) is Vietnam, which in many ways is communist in name only. (I was there last year, very interesting place to visit.) Here's a story about attempts to bring musical theater to that country:
http://tuoitrenews.vn/lifestyle/23860/a-long-way-to-go-for-musical-theater-in-vietnam
CZJ at opening night party for A Little Night Music, Dec 13, 2009.
JennH
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/14/13
#4Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/11/17 at 2:09pm
My best guess is that this hasn't happened because NK is SUPER nationalist/isolated to the point, that even Cuba looks tame. There's nationalist then there's the NK which literally wants nothing to do with any other country except destroy them. Even Russia, while not perfect by any means, the people have more freedom of movement there. Jon Un is seriously that much much of a tyrant that anything that's that's considered western culture or represents freedom in any way is non existent. I now have a cousin living in SK with his fiancé, and I'd love to pick their brains about this when I see them again. At least SK, while also imperfect, I could travel to without feeling like I have a gun to my head at all times while being there. That's how much hold that evil dictator has over his population. As Dumbledore said "Do you know how much tyrants fear the people they oppress?". He is the best current example of what too much power in the hands of one individual can do to that person.
Updated On: 9/11/17 at 02:09 PM
#5Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/11/17 at 2:41pm
JennH said: "My best guess is that this hasn'thappened because NK is SUPER nationalist/isolated to the point, that even Cuba looks tame. There's nationalist then there's the NK which literally wants nothing to do with any othercountry except destroy them.Even Russia, while not perfect by any means, the people have more freedom of movement there. Jon Un is seriously that much much of a tyrant that anything that's that's considered western culture orrepresents freedom in any way is non existent. I now have a cousinliving in SK with his fiancé, and I'd love to pick their brains about this when I see them again. At least SK,while also imperfect, I could travel to without feeling like I have a gun to my head at all times while being there. That's how much hold that evil dictator has over his population. As Dumbledore said "Do you know how much tyrants fear the people they oppress?". He is the best current example of what too much power in the hands of one individual can do to that person."
South Korea has nothing to do with the regime in NK, so I don't think anyone should expect any sort of "gun to your head" at all...
SeanD2
Stand-by Joined: 5/2/17
#6Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/11/17 at 3:22pm
Call_me_jorge said: "Do you think western musicals will ever make its way to North Korea? Maybe not with the current regime in charge, but if productions of western musicals can make it to China and Cuba, why not North Korea?
Besides China and Cuba, are there other communist countries that ever hosted productions of western musicals? Did the Soviet Union ever get a visit from a Broadway show?
"
There was an outdoor production of Les Miserables in Budapest while Hungary was still technically a communist country. There's footage of it in the Les Miserables Stage By Stage documentary where Cameron Mackintosh also talks about how they were one of the only theaters in an Eastern Block country that had much interest in doing musicals as they had been evolving in the west.
#7Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/12/17 at 12:00am
If they allow them in NK...what would be a good first show? Cats?
Fan123
Broadway Star Joined: 8/30/08
#8Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/12/17 at 4:28am
A couple more USSR examples: there was a 1986 production of 'Rag Dolly', later seen on Broadway as the flop 'Raggedy-Ann'. The below article also mentions a 'Wizard of Oz' production in Moscow in the 70s.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-01-10/news/8601030383_1_joe-raposo-rag-dolly-moscow-theater
There's a short documentary on the production, called 'Rag Dolly in the USSR', which I haven't seen: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4054100/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1.
(I'm actually curious about 'Raggedy-Ann', BTW; apparently it was a bad show but parts of it do sound interesting, if you're in the mood for a morbid fairy tale-type story.)
Sunny11
Broadway Star Joined: 9/3/14
#9Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/12/17 at 6:33am
Billy Elliot went to Korea.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YYQHB3rJHkc
Cute and talented kids dancing to Elton John music is winning in any culture even if they probably didn't fully follow the cultural impact of the 1980s miners stike/Thatcher in Britain.
jo
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#10Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/12/17 at 6:42am
The stats are not for the stage production but for the live-action film version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, but it is a good indication of the taste for musicals of various countries. Asia, whatever the political system, seems to like musicals a lot!
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=beautyandthebeast2017.htm
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#11Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/12/17 at 7:36am
Sunny11 said: "Billy Elliot went to Korea.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YYQHB3rJHkc
Cute and talented kids dancing to Elton John music iswinning in any culture even if they probably didn't fully follow the cultural impact of the1980s miners stike/Thatcher in Britain."
But was that North Korea? Because there's no question that western musicals are often performed in South Korea.
And I would think that South Koreans might have at least as much an understanding of labor's struggles against Thatcher's government as we do in the U.S..
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#12Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/12/17 at 7:57am
Precisely what I was going to say, Henrik.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#13Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/12/17 at 9:18am
A friend who worked in the German embassy in Pyongyang a few years ago told me North Korean students learning English have watched Disney's The Lion King (cartoon version) Given that content is allowed, I can see how the Lion King stage musical version may possibly be allowed to be performed in Pyongyang hopefully someday. Ultimately I think it just depends on content. Anything controversial or critical to its current regime or Juche philosophy would be banned.
JennH
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/14/13
#14Musicals in North Korea?
Posted: 9/12/17 at 7:04pm
phan24 said: "JennH said: "My best guess is that this hasn'thappened because NK is SUPER nationalist/isolated to the point, that even Cuba looks tame. There's nationalist then there's the NK which literally wants nothing to do with any othercountry except destroy them.Even Russia, while not perfect by any means, the people have more freedom of movement there. Jon Un is seriously that much much of a tyrant that anything that's that's considered western culture orrepresents freedom in any way is non existent. I now have a cousinliving in SK with his fiancé, and I'd love to pick their brains about this when I see them again. At least SK,while also imperfect, I could travel to without feeling like I have a gun to my head at all times while being there. That's how much hold that evil dictator has over his population. As Dumbledore said "Do you know how much tyrants fear the people they oppress?". He is the best current example of what too much power in the hands of one individual can do to that person."
South Korea has nothing to do with the regime in NK, so I don't think anyone should expect any sort of "gun to your head" at all..."
I know it doesn't, that's my point. But just being a border country, what NK does can and does affect SK. Juts because their regime has nothing to do with each other doesn't mean that what one does won't affect the other somehow.
